....:~††*@ @*††~:....
...:~††*@# #@*††~:...
..:~††*@## ##@*††~:..
.:~††*@### ###@*††~:.
..:~††*@## ##@*††~:..
...:~††*@# W1NDS 3SKER #@*††~:...
....:~††*@ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @*††~:....
.....:~††* *††~:.....
......:~†† TH3RE W4S TH1S PL4C3 TH4T FOR TWO Y34RS ††~:......
.....:~††* 1 COULDN'T GO TO. R3G4RDLESS HOW MUCH *††~:.....
....:~††*@ D1SCUSS3D W1TH OTH3RS, OR PO1NT3D OUT @*††~:....
...:~††*@# ON M4PS, 1 COULD NOT TH1NK OF 1T WH3N #@*††~:...
..:~††*@## 4LON3. 1 WOULD OFT3N TR4V3L P4ST TH3 ##@*††~:..
.:~††*@### FORK, WH3RE 4 R1GHT TURN WOULD SUR3LY ###@*††~:.
..:~††*@## T4K3 M3 TH3RE, BUT 3VEN TH3N, SOM3TH1NG ##@*††~:..
...:~††*@# K3PT M3 4WAY. #@*††~:...
....:~††*@ @*††~:....
.....:~††* WH3N 1 F1N4LLY GOT TH3RE, 4FT3R SOM3 *††~:.....
......:~†† H34VY SUBCONSC1OUS B4TTL3 1 MUST ††~:......
.....:~††* 4SSUM3, TH3 PL4C3 W4S SURR34L. 4N *††~:.....
....:~††*@ 3SKER, L1K3 4 N3EDLE-TH1N R1FT OUT 1N @*††~:....
...:~††*@# TH3 L4K3, BUT T3N M3TERS H1GH 4ND #@*††~:...
..:~††*@## 4DORN3D 1N B1RCH, W1LLOW, BR4CK3N, 4ND ##@*††~:..
.:~††*@### BLU3BERR1ES. ###@*††~:.
..:~††*@## ##@*††~:..
...:~††*@# W4LK1NG 4TOP TH4T SP1N3, 1 C4M3 TO #@*††~:...
....:~††*@ NOT1C3 TH3 V13W TO 31THER S1D3. TH3RE @*††~:....
.....:~††* SHOULD B3 SHOR3S, OF COURS3, BUT 1 *††~:.....
......:~†† D1DN'T R3COGN1ZE TH3M. F1RST OFF, TH3Y ††~:......
.....:~††* W3RE MUCH TOO CLOS3, 4S TH3 L4K3 SHOULD *††~:.....
....:~††*@ STR3TCH FOR 4 HUNDR3D M3TERS MOR3 ON @*††~:....
...:~††*@# BOTH S1D3S. BUT NOW 1 F3LT 1 COULD #@*††~:...
..:~††*@## 4LMOST R34CH OUT 4ND TOUCH TH3M. 4ND ##@*††~:..
.:~††*@### TH3N, WH3N 1 R34L1ZED WH1CH SHOR3S TH3Y ###@*††~:.
..:~††*@## W3RE, 1 H4D TO STOP. ##@*††~:..
...:~††*@# #@*††~:...
....:~††*@ TH3Y W3RE OF TH3 R1GHT L4K3. BUT TH1S @*††~:....
.....:~††* L4K3 1S L4RG3, FR4CTUR3D, 4ND *††~:.....
......:~†† B1P4RTIT3. L1K3 4 P41R OF LUNGS C4RV3D ††~:......
.....:~††* 1NTO TH3 GR4N1T3, 4ND W1TH NO L3SS TH4N *††~:.....
....:~††*@ F1V3 COMMUN1TI3S 4NCHOR3D 4T V4R1OUS @*††~:....
...:~††*@# PO1NTS. 4ND SO, STUDY1NG TH3SE #@*††~:...
..:~††*@## 1MPOSSIBLY CLOS3 SHOR3S, 1 SLOWLY ##@*††~:..
.:~††*@### UND3RSTOOD TH3M 4S B3LONG1NG M4NY M1L3S ###@*††~:.
..:~††*@## 4WAY. ##@*††~:..
...:~††*@# #@*††~:...
....:~††*@ 1 3X4M1NED TH3 R1DG3, TH3 TR3EL1NE @*††~:....
.....:~††* 4BOV3. W4S TH1S WH4T YOU S4W OPPOS1T3, *††~:.....
......:~†† FROM THOS3 OTH3R SHOR3S? 1 COULDN'T ††~:......
.....:~††* R3MEMBER. *††~:.....
....:~††*@ @*††~:....
...:~††*@# C4RRY1NG FORW4RD, ON TH3 V3RY T1P OF #@*††~:...
..:~††*@## TH3 3SKER, 1 FOUND TH3 RU1NS OF SOM3 ##@*††~:..
.:~††*@### OLD BU1LDING. TH3RE W3RE OV3RGROWN ###@*††~:.
..:~††*@## M4RBL3 ST41RCAS3S, STON3 FLOORS B3NE4TH ##@*††~:..
...:~††*@# TH3 MOSS, 4ND STR4NG3 SL4BS 1NS3RTED #@*††~:...
....:~††*@ 1NTO TH3 SLOP3 L1K3 D4MS 4GA1NST TH3 @*††~:....
.....:~††* GROUND 1TS3LF. *††~:.....
......:~†† ††~:......
.....:~††* S1TTING TH3RE, 1 COULD S3E 4CROSS TH3 *††~:.....
....:~††*@ N4RROW3D L4K3 MY 3NT1RE P4TH TO WH3RE 1 @*††~:....
...:~††*@# S4T: FROM TH3 ST41RW3LL OF MY HOUS3, #@*††~:...
..:~††*@## THROUGH TH3 OLD WOODS B3H1ND TH3 T1L3 ##@*††~:..
.:~††*@### F4CTORY, TH3 BR1DG3 OV3R ROUT3 ###@*††~:.
..:~††*@## TW3NTY THREE 4ND TH3N B4CK UND3R 1T, ##@*††~:..
...:~††*@# THROUGH TH3 F4NCY V1LL4S, OV3R TH3 #@*††~:...
....:~††*@ F13LDS, 4ND TH3N TH4T R1GHT TURN 4T TH3 @*††~:....
.....:~††* FORK. *††~:.....
......:~†† ††~:......
.....:~††* 4ND TH3N TH3 ST41RS UP ON TH3 R1DG3. *††~:.....
....:~††*@ TH1NKING B4CK, TH1S W4S PROB4BLY 1T. @*††~:....
...:~††*@# H1DD3N 1N 4 GROV3, TH3RE W3RE ST41RS #@*††~:...
..:~††*@## MUCH L1K3 TH3 ON3S 1 CURR3NTLY S4T ON, ##@*††~:..
.:~††*@### OLD 4ND WORN DOWN, TH4T L34D YOU UP ###@*††~:.
..:~††*@## ONTO TH3 3SKER. TH3 PO1NT OF 3NTRY. H4D ##@*††~:..
...:~††*@# 1 1NST3D OPT3D TO W4LK TH3 P4TH 4T 1TS #@*††~:...
....:~††*@ FOOT, 1'M SUR3 MY 3XPER1ENCE WOULD'V3 @*††~:....
.....:~††* B3EN D1FF3RENT 1ND3ED. *††~:.....
......:~†† ††~:......
.....:~††* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *††~:.....
....:~††*@ @*††~:....
...:~††*@# ON TH3 L4K3, TH3RE W3RE P3OPLE 1N #@*††~:...
..:~††*@## BO4TS. 1 WOND3RED, COULD TH3Y 3VEN S3E ##@*††~:..
.:~††*@### M3? 1F 1 SHOUT3D, WOULD TH3Y TURN TO ###@*††~:.
..:~††*@## ST4R3 R1GHT THROUGH M3? ##@*††~:..
...:~††*@# #@*††~:...
....:~††*@ @*††~:....
.....:~††* *††~:.....
......:~†† ††~:......
.....:~††* *††~:.....