My native place is Apple Pie Hill, but it was not planned this way. I have so many native places that I wasn't sure which to choose. I was once obsessed with these places but had to pack it away, grow up, and get on with my life. As it turns out, I didn't so much choose Apple Pie Hill as it chose me. In The Art of the Common Place, Wendell Berry writes that "Anytime one crosses a given stretch of country with some frequency, no matter how wanderingly one begins, the tendency is always toward habit." (14) When I left the house Friday, I didn't know which way to drive. Alas, I steered "toward habit" and ended up on my way to the highest point in South Jersey.
I parked the car and found the trailhead. Here, the path is well-defined. Like Berry, I notice how "the gate has gathered thousands of passings." (15)
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