They set out to hike America’s 3 longest trails in less than a year. What could possibly go wrong?

Their itinerary: The Appalachian Trail, the Continental Divide Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail.

By

National News

November 26, 2021 - 12:20 PM

Jackson Parell of Florida emerges from the Kennebec River carrying his hiking poles after forgetting them on the other side of the river and having to swim back across to retrieve, along the Appalachian Trail on May 21, 2021, near Caratunk, Maine. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

LOS ANGELES — A thunderstorm in Colorado sent the two college students racing for cover down a mountain ridge. A black bear charged at one of them in Washington state. A wildfire’s flames spurred a harrowing escape in Northern California. And a raging infection waylaid the travelers for days in the Wyoming wilderness.

While much of the world was locked down during the first year of the pandemic, Jackson Parell and Sammy Potter were busy planning their escape. The Stanford University students had weathered shared coronavirus infections and quarantines. And after spending months cooped up in online classrooms, they were itching to break free.

So they hatched an ambitious plan: to hike three of the nation’s most arduous trails — the Appalachian, Pacific Crest and Continental Divide — all in a single year.

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