A Divided Life: Why I agree with McKibben's love of the 'Dacks yet disagree with his disdain for New England

I've spent my entire life growing up in the "small New England town" that McKibben refers to in his argument for the wildness of the Adirondacks, but I've also spent every summer in the depths of the wilderness of the Western Adirondacks. I love my town. The stark white steeple of the Protestant Church looms over the Town Hall where our two annual town meetings are held, right next to the town green with its white bandstand that hosts shows every Friday night throughout the summer. By the time I was seven I was allowed to bike across town with my friends to get ice cream without our parents. My school district covered seven towns and there were still only 200 kids in each grade. It was, and still is, a quintessential New England town. We're self-governed, self-sufficient, and frankly rather wary of outsiders - you're not "local" until you've been around for a few generations. But every summer for the last 52 years, my family members have packed up the kids and the dogs and taken off across Vermont for our favorite place in the world, a place only reachable by hours of unmarked pavement and 20 miles of the barely-maintained dirt Big Moose Road. New Hampshire is my home, and always will be. It has shaped who I am and carries a very special place in my heart, but the Stillwater Reservoir is where my heart always longs to be. That is a place where I can always fine pure peace. No matter what is waiting for me on the civilized end of that long dirt road, the Adirondacks are the one place in the world where I can feel truly peaceful, truly rested, and truly connected to the natural world - something I need to remind myself of as often as possible. That is the true value of the Adirondack Wilderness in my opinion. At a time in this country when young adults are ever more quickly turning away from religion, myself included, a deep understanding of wilderness and wildness can give anyone a spiritual moment, no matter what they believe in, and I really do think that that natural connection of spirit is something that everyone should experience, and in the Adirondacks anyone could.