MOUNT DESERT, Maine — In the first week of April, Carey Kish went out for a walk. His journey began in southern New Mexico, where he stuck one foot through the border fence that separates the United States and Mexico and touched Mexican soil.
Moments later, with both feet back in the U.S., he knelt and said a prayer. Then he started walking, with the goal of following the Continental Divide Trail—one of the great treks this country has to offer long-distance hikers—for 2,600 miles until he reached the Canadian border.
Kish, who is 65, has been a passionate hiker since he was a boy and has written several hiking guides. He thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail in 1977 and did it again in 2015. Four years later he finished the Pacific Crest Trail, which runs from Mexico to Canada through California, Oregon, and Washington.
Tackling the Continental Divide Trail was special, though. Kish said it was the most spiritual hike he’s ever done.
"I lost my mom last year," he explained. "She was almost 97, so I carried her picture with me. I felt like she was with me the entire time."
Although spiritually rewarding, this hike was also exhausting.
"Far, far and away the hardest thing I’ve ever done," he told me.
The trail runs along the spine of the Rockies, over mountains that are 10-, 11-, and 12,000 feet high, through heat, cold, snow, wind, and the threat of grizzly bears. The elevation changes alone beat up even the fittest of hikers.
"The average day was like climbing Katahdin one and a half, two times in a day, with your pack on and at altitudes twice as high as Katahdin," Kish said.
Depending on how much food and water he was carrying, his pack weighed between 25 and 35 pounds.
"From about the middle of Colorado on, I was tired all the time," he recalled. "You rest at night, yeah, but do you fully recover? No. But you just decide you’re going to get up in the morning and do it all over again."
On Sept. 23, Kish stepped across the border into Alberta, Canada. He’d avoided blisters, falls, injuries, illness. He’d lost at least 30 pounds and was back to what he weighed as a student at Bangor High School. He had prevailed.
"I might have been the oldest guy to finish this year," he said. "I don’t know."
What is clear is that by persevering Kish entered an extraordinarily select group. It’s believed only about 700 hikers have completed the Appalachian, Pacific Crest, and Continental Divide Trails, what’s known as the Triple Crown of long-distance hiking.
When we spoke at his home in Maine, Kish had been back for only a few weeks and admitted he hadn’t fully processed the memories and experiences of his time on the trail this year. About one thing, though, he was certain.
"I’m glad I did it," he said. Then he began to laugh and finished the thought. "I’m glad I don’t have to do it again."
Check out these sites to learn more about Carey's hiking adventures.