Into the Forest

A child's first real hike is rarely about getting anywhere. The trail climbs, bends out of sight, and the adult holding the hand says it isn't far, which is true often enough to keep everyone going.

What a father does on a walk like this is mostly arithmetic: shorten the stride, carry the heavy things, let the boy set the pace. He keeps one hand for the boy and leaves the other free in case the rock turns out to be slippery. The boy has a pack of his own, and he is much more serious about it than about anything inside it.

Drawn in dark green on cream, in the heavy, gouged lines of a block print, the scene climbs a stony trail between tall spruce and fir toward distant ridgelines. The man, bearded and carrying a large pack, steps forward. The small boy beside him, in his own pack, holds his hand and looks at his feet. It is two colors and one gesture, which is all it needs.