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.
The two meticulously planned their trip, tracing their projected paths along the country’s most difficult terrain. They transformed the ground floor of the Parell family’s New Hampshire cottage into a situation room, taping paper maps to the walls and stockpiling boxes packed with trail provisions. They saved roughly $25,000 from summer jobs, internships and Stanford research projects to fund the trek.
“At the end of the day, there was a lot that went into this that had nothing to do with our will and desire for it to happen,” said Parell, 21. “A lot of it had to do with the luck and privilege that we’ve been blessed with.”
In the fall of 2020, they began working out twice a day to build up strength for a journey that would take them more than 7,000 miles, from snowy climes in the Eastern U.S. to desert pathways in the Southwest and lush forests in the Pacific Northwest.
The trek, dubbed the Calendar Year Triple Crown, has been conquered by fewer than a dozen people. Potter and Parell set out to be the youngest known hikers to accomplish the feat.
But on the trail — as in life — things happened.
Appalachian Trail
With trimmed hair and wide smiles, Parell and Potter set off on New Year’s Day from Springer Mountain in Georgia, in a misty rain.
The Appalachian Trail runs through Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire before ending at Baxter State Park in Maine.
As East Coast natives — Potter is from Maine, Parell from Florida — the two hikers adored the ruggedly beautiful mountainous trail, even in the winter weather that accompanied the early stages of their ambitious journey.
Their days began to take on a familiar rhythm. Waking about 5:45 a.m. and munching on oatmeal or bagels, Parell and Potter would hoist their packs, which weighed more than 20 pounds each, and start walking.
The pair, who adopted the trail names Woody and Buzz, would cover an average of 27 miles a day, excluding “zero days” when they went off-trail to rest and resupply. Breathtaking views, the kind that command the attention of day hikers, bled together, but Potter and Parell still relished their surroundings.
“We’ve seen a lot of stuff this year, and our portfolio of views has definitely filled out. The thing is, I think it’s always just so nice to make yourself stop and appreciate a view,” Parell said. “Because we’re moving so much that those few seconds or minutes that you just get to … take in what’s around usually end up being really special.”
Each day brought a fresh set of delights, as well as challenges. A cool river could refresh their aching feet and legs, but craggy rocks could threaten a twisted ankle.
Sometimes they adopted different paces, one hiking a mile or more ahead of the other for part of the day before reuniting at night. A day’s journey would typically not stop until after 8 p.m., when they would set up camp. If they were near a water source, the friends brushed their teeth or took a cold bath before zipping into their tents — one in winter, two in summer. Once tucked in, they plotted the next day’s course, journaled and sent a quick message to their parents on satellite phones: “I’m stopping here xo love you.”
