Walking Toward Peace

April 1, 2021
Can walking heal all wounds? Perhaps. Pennsylvania-based adventure writer Ross, a long-distance backpacker and cyclist, takes war-scarred veterans hiking. She herself has completed the Appalachian Trail--at 2,180 miles, extending from Georgia to Maine, the longest continuously marked footpath in the world. In chapters devoted to individual veterans who have experienced such hardships as parachute accidents and serious brain injuries, Ross chronicles how being in nature helps heal people who have seen unimaginable horrors. Walking outside gives these marines, army, and air force men and women a way to experience life free of explosions and gunfire and a path to a new sense of well-being. And this is critical. Approximately 17 veterans die by suicide every day, and one-in-five have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Walking in nature provides "time away from the sorrows of the world, and the space to think, accept, and forgive." In her epilogue, Ross provides updates on some of the veterans whose lives improved after "ecotherapy." After being wounded physically and mentally, they find peace in nature.

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