Nathan Bartlett is a trailblazer—not because he follows established routes in the White Mountains, or on Kaua'i, or on Mt. Desert Island, but because he explores and then follows that inner path that tells him who he is and how he relates to the world around him. Forging his path doesn't mean he finds all the answers. It means he identifies the questions that matter.
In On Chocorua, Nathan begins his journey as a college freshman. He makes a life-long friend, feels the pain of losing a lover to addiction, and loses his adored older brother Neil in a tragic accident. Although Nathan steps figuratively into the hiking boots Neil can no longer wear, he can’t leave behind him the guilt he feels that he didn’t know Neil—or his other family members—as well as he’d thought. He also can’t seem to find the sense of being loved, the sense of belonging that Neil had given him, no matter how many mountain peaks he claims, no matter how deep the existential forgiveness he feels hiking on the island of Kaua’i (On the Kalalau Trail). He’s had his fill of relationships that go nowhere, of men who’ve led him astray emotionally and on the mountains he climbs in memory of Neil
Then, in On The Precipice, Nathan meets Drew Madden, a true mountain man who fell from a cliff and now uses a wheelchair. Nathan’s relationship with Drew helps him realize he’s been looking for himself in all the wrong places and guides him toward his own personal trail, which includes a career in addiction recovery.
Nathan is a trailblazer on his own journey. And his success will be measured not by how well he follows someone else's path, but by whether he can forge his own. Walk with him.
