WCSH-TV6 • November 1, 2021
On the first day of 2021, Sammy Potter set out with Jackson Parell, a friend and fellow classmate from Stanford University, in pursuit of a dream. Their goal: to hike America’s three great hiking trails—the Appalachian, Continental Divide and Pacific Crest—before the end of December and achieve what is known in hiking circles as the Calendar-Year Triple Crown. It’s an enormously difficult feat—and they pulled it off. What’s even more impressive is that Potter and Parell, both 21, are the youngest hikers ever to complete the Calendar-Year Triple Crown. “I think the biggest thing I took away from this year,” Potter said, “is just leading life with a really large sense of gratitude.”