“Thank You” Is Enough

Near Rochester, New York, a prominent, cliff-like ridge erupts from the landscape and runs west for hundreds of miles: Through New York, across parts of Ontario, into the upper peninsula of Michigan, hugging the coastline of three of the Great Lakes, and finally terminating in Wisconsin, just north of Chicago, Illinois.

It is called the Niagara Escarpment, and gets its name from the fact that the Niagara River runs over this steep slope, falls 167 feet to the basin below, and forms Niagara Falls. All along the way there are scenic views, high cliffs, beaches, caves, deep valleys, rolling hills, and a sprawling ecosystem with all manner of flora, fauna, animal life, and old growth forest.

A poet and preacher would leave the parsonage of his little Presbyterian church in Lockport, New York and hike all along the Escarpment. Into the wilderness he would trek, and from the top of…