Issue link: http://bluemagazine.uberflip.com/i/25178
letter • • • • Take everything you need to surVIve, pack it up on your back, and walk into the unknown. What a compelling thought! Surely such an act would simpli fy many worldly complications . You could trek away problems, SO[( heights of awareness. Just you, your thoughts and your feet. It's this sentiment we're getting at here in The Trail Issue. A different kind of "Take a Walk on the Wild Side." More Henry David Thoreau than Boy Scouts. Just think: Siddhartha Gautama Buddha left his world of wealrh and security, walking out into the world with norhing but the clothes on his back, and eventually found enlightenment-not to mention founding a whole new religion, Buddhism. Abraham, Moses and Jesus all took long walks in the desert. Even Forrest Gump found peace by crossing rhe country on his feet. It's a truth of human history and philosophy: There's more wisdom to be found on foot than behind the accelerator of your four-wheel drive. through life step by step, climb to new Here at blue, we are aware of many kinds of trails to hike along, through both urban and natural landscapes. It's nice to have the choice. For anyone who has ever been pushed off the sidewalk by crowds, in any major city from New York to Hong Kong, it's a scary thought that there mighr one day be no well-preserved natural trails left. It is rhis realization that motivated our decision to donate five percent of the revenues of this issue to trail preservation and promoting sustainable human access to the outdoors. As a result, every Trail Issue advertiser and reader has contributed to maintaining trails and the narurallandscapes they reside in-a small earth tax, or call it a media tollbooth, on the well-trodden footpaths of our planet. AMY SCHRIER Founder