Pathways to Discovery

Fülszöveg

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Once, before the railway, the automobile, and the airplane began shuttling us about at landscape-blurring speeds, footpaths were the links of a far-flung land. As routes of settlement or nameless byways, they gave their users an intimate acquaintance with the environment.
Now, millions of Americans are reclaiming that heritage, one step at a time. On trails old, new, and still in the making, they're finding that enjoyment grows when going, rather than getting there, becomes the goal.
Perspective changes and focus deepens at a walker's pace. The subtle and the spectacular play against each other like light and shadow: On the Colorado Trail, tiny wildflowers take their place among 14,000-foot peaks. On the Florida Trail, where an elevation gain of one foot can usher in an entirely distinct plant community, the subtle is the... Tovább

Fülszöveg

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Once, before the railway, the automobile, and the airplane began shuttling us about at landscape-blurring speeds, footpaths were the links of a far-flung land. As routes of settlement or nameless byways, they gave their users an intimate acquaintance with the environment.
Now, millions of Americans are reclaiming that heritage, one step at a time. On trails old, new, and still in the making, they're finding that enjoyment grows when going, rather than getting there, becomes the goal.
Perspective changes and focus deepens at a walker's pace. The subtle and the spectacular play against each other like light and shadow: On the Colorado Trail, tiny wildflowers take their place among 14,000-foot peaks. On the Florida Trail, where an elevation gain of one foot can usher in an entirely distinct plant community, the subtle is the spectacular.
On nationally acclaimed trails across the United States, this volume's contributors have discovered an astonishing variety of themes. The 15,000-year-old record of a land reshaped is writ large along the Ice Age Trail's glacier-scoured route. Hikers on Mount St. Helens scan the scene of a contemporary cataclysm.
The human legacy also comes to life. Ancient Indian mounds intrigue visitors in southern Ohio, near Quaker hamlets where runaway slaves took refuge. And where a young nation's people once began westward treks, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal's towpath now draws hikers, bicyclists, and runners in Washington, D.C.
Often, trails bear the imprint of individual vision—Benton MacKaye's, for example, in Georgia's rhododendron-splashed mountains. Almost always, the passion of volunteers— who explore, map, raise funds and interest, blaze, bushwhack, lobby lawmakers and cajole landowners—is the guiding force that allows others to enjoy the delights of a trail. As one put it, "This trail will last longer than any of us. It's our gift to the future."
North of Capitol Peak in the White River National Forest, hikers on a public trail explore Colorado's high wilderness terrain. Vissza