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 Cal

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