The Backpack at the Trailhead

Maria Chen had been hiking the Appalachian Trail for three days with a sixty-pound pack when she met a ridge runner named Dale outside Franklin, North Carolina. She was limping, her shoulders raw from the straps, her knees aching on every downhill step. She had packed everything she thought she might need — extra clothes, hardcover books, a cast-iron skillet, even a portable chair.…