He Was Too Young to Die

Bob Brugmann, 17, was enjoying the adventure of his life: A summer-long hike down the Appalachian Trail from Maine. Then came two weeks of disastrous rain. Under internalized pressure to keep hiking, Bob attempted to cross a normally placid Vermont river where a bridge had washed away just days earlier. Brugmann, a decorated student and skilled backpacker, fell and was swept to death in the floodwaters. Bob's accident shocked family and schoolmates back home; much later, it would inspire his clo