Liam digested this in silence for a moment. “Why not just use the Spit?”

“There wasn’t any harbor on it back in the day, and therefore no shelter from the big storms, not if they wanted to leave their boats there while they were trading in the interior. There isn’t much shelter on the Spit now, come to that. Next big quake and whoosh. But here, they would have had the Spit as a barrier between them and the big swells and the high winds.” He turned and faced the cliff and pointed upward, although they couldn’t see anything through the roof of the tent. “I think this trail is a lot older than everyone thinks today. There’s a creek, a small one, that zigs and zags all the way up and over the bluff.”

He nodded to the left and Liam saw water trickling out of a gap in the cliff. “The driveway follows it down.”

Erik nodded. “I haven’t walked all of it but what I’ve seen so far suggests a foot trail that follows the creek and climbs all the way up and over the back bluff. From there they could have traveled to portages across Tustumena and Skilak Lakes and on to trade with the tribes in Kenai and Soldotna.”

Liam scratched his head. “Why not just take their boats around? The Alutiiq were seriously good at long distance rowing. Baranov used them to get around.”

“Ah, but if they went around they’d miss trading with all the people along the way.”

Liam shrugged. “It’s a theory.”

Erik laughed, unoffended. “I’m buying a drone to take pictures from the air. Next summer I’m walking the trail until I lose it or it loses me. There are traditional trails all over Alaska. The Chilkoot and the Iditarod are the most famous but they aren’t the only ones. You know the old Iditarod starts in Seward, right?”

Seward was on the eastern side of the Peninsula and considerably farther north. “Yes.”

“I don’t want to theorize ahead of my data, but I’m hoping this trail connected with that one and I’m hoping to find proof of it.”

“How far back do you think this trail goes?”

“How far back did the first Alaska Natives get here?”

“That’s a long time for a trail to last.”

“Trails don’t just disappear. They get overgrown and flooded out, but they never completely disappear. Look at the Roman roads.”

Liam looked toward the trail. “Not exactly Roman engineering, there.”

“Trails don’t just disappear,” Erik said again. “If it’s there, I’ll find it.”

“What happens if you do?”

“I used to work for UNESCO. If I can find enough to prove my theory, I can start agitating for them to consider making the trail a World Heritage Site.”

Liam was impressed and showed it. “You mean like the Grand Canyon?”

“More like Taos Pueblo or Mesa Verde. Man-made.”

Liam looked out at the drill rig parked in plain view, and wondered what RPetCo thought about Erik Berglund’s ideas.