As avid hikers know, bushwhacking means making your way through thick woods without a trail. It’s tough going. Personally, I prefer to hike on established trails, and, thankfully, there are plenty of them for people like me. In 1819, Abel Crawford and his son, Ethan, began the first cut of the Crawford Path in New Hampshire. Now considered the oldest continually maintained hiking trail in America, it leads to the summit of Mount Washington, the highest elevation in the northeastern United States. While the elevation of the mountain hasn’t changed, it was a more difficult ascent for the Crawfords because they were clearing the path as they climbed it. Thanks to their efforts, hikers now have the joy of climbing all the way to the summit on an established trail.
The White Mountains of New Hampshire are maintained in part by “trail adopters.” These are individuals who love the mountains, and, out of that love, “adopt” a given trail to maintain. This responsibility requires regular hiking on the trail and performing the needed maintenance to ensure that the path can be traveled by all.
I love to think about this concept of “trail adoption” in relation to Christianity and Christian Science.
