What the Wintergreen Tree Taught Me

I couldn’t remember, for years

The rocky, eroded cart road climbs a steep slope. As I lean into it and focus on one step at a time, I picture a horse-drawn wagon navigating this angle. More recently, heavy equipment for logging used this road, tearing out the edges of the narrow track and chewing up the ground.

With backpacks and metal detectors slung over our shoulders, my brother Ro…