I walked with Freebird for a couple of miles. For the first part of our walk, we could see a train that had just passed through Mullan Tunnel.
We crossed Mullan Road, which was part of a 624-mile military road built by U.S. Army troops and civilian workers between 1859 and 1862. Their commander was Lt. John Mullan.
The road was the first inland route across the Rocky Mountains to the northwest territories. It soon fell into disuse as the Army and Congress became preoccupied with the Civil War, and no funds were appropriated to maintain it.
I didn't know much about Freebird before we started walking together. We only met briefly when Top O' and I were slackpacking our way back to Whitehall on Day 133. All I knew about him was he was nearing the end of his third Triple Crown, and Raven was his hiking companion.
While we walked together today, I had an opportunity to learn more about him. At first, I had trouble believing all that he told me.
Freebird said he graduated from Yale with honors, and soon after graduation, he was offered a job to run a mobster's "legit" business. He turned down the offer and decided to ditch his career path in economics to become a professional windsurfer in Hawaii. He was so successful at the sport, it remained his career for nearly 20 years.
His stories seemed to become more far-fetched as we walked, including when he said he lived in a cave in Utah. I started to wonder if anything he was telling me was true. And yet, the more he talked, the more his stories pieced together. It took me a while, but I gradually lost my skepticism and came to realize this guy was for real. Freebird was an extraordinary individual.
Of course, it's unlikely that anyone who has hiked the Triple Crown three times has otherwise lived a "normal" life.