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GAP Mile 148.8, Downtown Pittsburgh

B odhi King stood and slung his backpack over his shoulder. Then he leaned in through the open door and across the minivan’s passenger compartment to pat his friend on the arm. “Thanks for the lift, Saul.”

“You got it, buddy. Still don’t understand why you can’t take normal vacations.”

Bodhi smiled.

“I’m serious,” Saul persisted. “Whose idea of relaxation involves walking 150 miles?”

“Mine,” Bodhi told him.

Saul shook his head. “I’m glad you decided against camping on the trail, at least. That could’ve been dangerous.”

Bodhi gave him a bemused look. “Dangerous? I doubt it. Possibly uncomfortable—to some.”

“Right. Who needs comfort?” Saul cracked.

Bodhi would have been happy to rough it, to hang his camping hammock between two trees and be rocked to sleep by the early spring breeze. Instead, he’d decided to stop for meals and shelter in some of the trail towns lining the Great Allegheny Passage. After recent trips to two small towns—one in the mountains of Vermont, one on the Emerald Coast of Florida—he’d become attuned to the unique challenges facing overlooked rural communities and wanted to offer some small measure of support and solidarity as he traveled.

Now, Saul went on. “But I’m serious. It’s not safe to sleep on the trail.”

Bodhi cocked his head. “What are we talking about here—a twisted ankle? Poison oak? A bear?”

Saul frowned, shaking his head. “I’m just saying … some portions of the trail may have been taken over.”

“Taken over by what?”

“Not what. Whom.” Saul’s voice dropped. “The city’s made a concerted effort to empty the encampment at the trailhead. Apparently, all they accomplished was relocating the homeless further along the trail.”

“Not having a home doesn’t make a person a threat.” He paused. “In fact, if anyone’s endangered, it’s probably the unhoused people living on the trail.”

“How do you figure?”

“They’re more isolated and less visible than they were before. And they’re further away from accessible social services, shelter, and medical care so they’ll be vulnerable to hunger, illness, and the elements.”

Saul drew his brows together and screwed up his face in thought. “I never looked at it that way. Still, promise me you’ll be careful.”

“I always take care, Saul.”

“You have a first-aid kit?”

“Of course.”

“Do you carry Narcan in it?”

Bodhi blinked. “Well … no.”

He’d prepared his first-aid kit in response to any dangers he expected to encounter: bee stings, splinters, wounds, fevers. It hadn’t occurred to him that he could come across someone overdosing on opioids.

Saul popped his glove compartment open and gestured inside. “Take a couple.”

Bodhi studied the boxes of naloxone nasal spray. “Why do you have these?”

Saul laughed bleakly. “It’s a massive problem. The morgues are full of folks who overdosed—especially on fentanyl. These sprays are an easy way to prevent deaths.”

Forensic pathologists, unlike most professionals, hated nothing more than a boom in business.

“Sure, but that doesn’t explain why you have these. Your patients are beyond saving.”

“I think everyone should carry naloxone.”

“Everyone?”

“Everyone. You know they have it on college campuses now? They train the students how to administer it.”

Bodhi paused, considering this. “No, I didn’t realize.”

“Shopkeepers on the West Coast keep it behind the counter in case someone collapses on the street in front of their business or in their bathroom. As far as I’m concerned it’s basic safety preparedness—like having a defibrillator or a fire extinguisher.”

He had a point, Bodhi thought.

“I will take some, thank you.” He removed a handful of the spray vials from the compartment, slipped them into the kit in his backpack, and closed the minivan door.

He crossed the parking lot, noting the large boulders—hostile architecture—at the trailhead where the encampment had once stood. He took a deep breath and exhaled before his hiking boots landed on the path with a gentle, almost reverent, motion. Then Bodhi King took his first step on the one-hundred-and-fifty-mile trek from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, Maryland.

Six miles outside of Pittsburgh, he encountered what Saul had warned of. Three makeshift shelters nestled in a copse of trees just off the trail. The occupants eyed him warily at first, but his calm demeanor and open hands eventually earned him tentative smiles.

Finally, a woman with sunbaked skin and a threadbare coat emerged from the smallest tent, an orange cat perched on her shoulder like a parrot. The cat studied Bodhi with feline indifference, but the woman’s gaze held a mix of wariness and pride.

“You have quite a companion,” Bodhi observed, his voice soft.

“This is George,” she’d replied, stroking the cat’s head. “He takes care of the mice, and I take care of him.”

George purred in loud agreement.

As she ran her hand over her pet’s head and cheeks, the sleeve of her oversized coat slid up and Bodhi noticed the angry red line running along her forearm—clearly infected. Without comment, he kneeled and opened his pack, retrieving his first-aid kit. She allowed him to clean and dress the wound. Aside from one loud gasp, she remained silent during the process.

After he packed up his kit, he offered her a bottle of water and a handful of protein bars, along with enough cash to buy some food for herself and George.

Her eyes conveyed gratitude, and she said simply, “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” He gestured toward the other two tents up on the hill. Their occupants hung back in the trees, watching closely. “Do your friends need any medical attention?”

She shook her head.

He removed the rest of his dried foods and snacks from his pack and placed them in front of her along with some more cash. “For your companions.”

She turned and waved for them to come down. The other two women shook their heads, still unsure.

“It’s okay,” he told her. “You can give it to them.”

“I’m Gracie,” she said suddenly.

He sensed she didn’t share her name often or easily. “I’m Bodhi. Have a peaceful day, Gracie. And George.”

As he headed back to the trail, Gracie called up to her friends and they began to make their way down the hillside. Bodhi walked on.