A 55-year-old man with a yen for the outdoors feels time running out. One day he decides to dig out his old backpack from the basement and hike a section of the Appalachian Trail. He does not know that this weeklong hike through Georgia and North Carolina will propel him into other mountain adventures, culminating in a mystical trip to the Continental Divide to follow the footsteps of a childhood friend.
The author leads the reader along dirt paths across multiple mountains, meeting eccentric characters, battling blisters and boulders, and sharing one campsite with a disgruntled bear. Along the way, he candidly shares his thoughts on age, environment, culture, and technology. His walking stick, which he names Kip, becomes a companion and talisman, helping to trigger potent memories that eventually result in a hike into the red-orange glow of the West to get closer to the real Kip.
Evergreen Dreaming is a story about memory, aging, and the pursuit of natural in an increasingly artificial society. It is also a tale of friendship and love.
