Stephen Rose was famished by the time thoughts of stopping for the night crept into his head. These last few days the trails stretched straight up the North Carolina mountainside without relief. His muscles ached. And he hadn't anticipated getting wet nearly every other day. Looking up into the twilight through the rustling trees, he hoped for the breeze to pick up. A little wind might help break up any clouds that threatened rain for the next morning. Hiking in saturated socks didn't help the blisters that had formed from the boots he had not had time to break in properly before embarking on his 900-mile journey. He was determined to continue his pace of 20 miles a day, and dry feet would make the going that much easier.
Rose almost stumbled with exhaustion as he hurried to set up camp and make his dinner before darkness fell. He thought that when he finally arrived to his destination in Pittsburgh, he'd buy some ice cream, maybe some milk. He hadn't expected the kinds of foods he'd miss on the trail. Pecan praline ice cream began to rank high. For now, he chewed on his instant macaroni and cheese.
While he dined, the rustling around him grew louder. It wasn't from the wind. He had a dinner guest—a fully grown bear. Rose wasn't panicked, but he was concerned. He stood and yelled, waving his arms until the bear lost interest and disappeared back into the wilderness.
The next morning Rose continued his journey. With each step he took toward Pittsburgh, new challenges arose: how to keep in touch with his family as pay phones near extinction; how to navigate the nearly 300-mile expanse of trail in West Virginia that he had little information about; how to correctly calculate his arrival date at his final destination: Carnegie Mellon's campus.
Wind became his friend in keeping the skies clear. In a way, wind had gotten him started on this adventure in the first place. He plans to study wind energy and how to better harness it for electricity in Carnegie Mellon's Engineering and Public Policy graduate school program. Before conquering the wind, Rose wanted to experience the adventure of walking to school from his Greenville, S.C., home.
It took him seven weeks, but he made it to class on time.
—Elizabeth O'Brien
