The Trail That Split at Katahdin

In 1997, married hikers Doug and Sheryl Garfield attempted a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail starting from Mount Katahdin in Maine. They had trained separately — Doug logging miles on rocky Vermont terrain, Sheryl preferring flat loops around their neighborhood in Albany. By the second week, they were arguing about pace, rest stops, and whether to push through rain or wait it out. Near Monson, Maine, they made a quiet decision. Sheryl hitched a ride to Bangor. Doug kept walking south alone.

They later told a reporter the problem was never fitness. It was that they had never sat down before the trip and agreed on what kind of hike they were taking.

Amos asks the people of Israel a deceptively simple question: "Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?" The prophet is not making small talk about hiking companions. He is confronting a nation that claimed covenant with the Almighty while crushing the poor under their sandals. Israel wanted the privilege of walking with God — the protection, the prosperity, the identity — without agreeing to walk God's direction. They wanted the trail without the terms.

Agreement with God is not a handshake between equals. It is the surrender of our route to His. When we oppress, exploit, or simply look away from injustice, we have quietly hitched a ride to Bangor — leaving the path where God actually walks.