The Wisdom of Souter

A justice of the United States Supreme Court has just announced his imminent retirement. You get one question. What do you ask?

One of D.C.'s virtues is that it occasionally allows you to play these sorts of games for real.
One day after news of Justice Souter's retirement breaks, I find myself face-to-face with him at a downtown luncheon. More than one article about Souter's retirement from what he's called the "world's best job in the world's worst city," mentions that there are forty-seven 4,000-foot peaks in the White Mountains, and Justice Souter has climbed them all.

Now, as it happens, I walked to Maryland last Friday and, on Saturday, did it again. The routes -- trails in Rock Creek Park -- were pleasant enough, but definitely fell a little short of the "national park" experience. (The Western Ridge Trail's multiple road crossings do it in.) What's a newly minted member of the Alaska's D.C. diaspora to do?

A person in need of some guidance, I figure, hey, why not appeal to the Justice's special expertise?

I tell Souter that I'd read about his track-record of mountaineering in New Hampshire and thought that he, a long-time D.C. resident, would know: if I'm looking for some local Great Outsdoors, where should I go?

Souter gives a little smile and then a two-part answer.

First, he tells me I'm out of luck--if I'm looking for a trail, I should get out my compass and head north. There's no good hiking south of the Massachusetts border.

Disappointing, but not surprising.

What I didn't expect was the unsolicited follow-up: Souter tells me that since he officially made his decision to retire, not one day has gone by that he hasn't found himself drifting off into the same daydream---a bright sunny day, perched atop the highest mountain in New Hampshire, he sees himself above the tree line, a meandering path in front of him, trailing off into the distance.

I think the man knows exactly what he's doing.