The Trail That Split on Katahdin

In the summer of 1987, two hikers named Paul Engstrom and David Chae set out to summit Mount Katahdin along Maine's Knife Edge Trail. They had trained together for months, shared the same maps, packed identical gear. But halfway across the narrow ridge, a dense fog rolled in. David wanted to press forward. Paul wanted to wait it out. Neither was wrong about the weather — they were simply no longer agreed about the path.…