Wilderness Justice

Went for a quick hike at Great Falls, Maryland this week, and ran across a plaque commemorating how the park became a park. Usually, these are pretty dry affairs, but it turns out that the story behind this one involved a Supreme Court Justice -- Douglas -- responding to Washington Post editorial by challenging the reporters to hike the old C&O canal path with him. 189 miles of wilderness, handled by a bunch of Washington lawers and reporters. There's a novel in there somewhere, most likely something comic.

Link to some primary source excerpts.
Link to the National Park Service account, which includes a fourteen-stanza poem commemorating the hike. Awful poetry, but gives a good idea of the route traveled and the complaints lodged.