 I am Leslie McVane, the Development Director at Portland Media Center, and today I am interviewing someone who is getting ready to do something that very few people in the world have done. No one from Maine has done, and he will be the youngest person to do this. My guest is Sammy Potter, and his feet that he is about to undertake is known as the Triple Crown of Hiking. Is that right, Sammy? Yeah, the calendar year triple crown. That's why I meant to say that. The calendar year, and only about 10 people have done it. Yeah, exactly. I was speaking the other day with a historian of the trails, and he's only found nine folks who have done it. We like to leave a little bit of room in there in case there's folks who haven't documented it or announced or anything, but it's definitely a small list of folks who have done it for sure. And why don't you explain what the triple crown is, the three-year-old horse? I think when people hear the word triple crown, they're usually thinking about horses. This is a little bit different. I don't have any experience with horses. The triple crown of hiking is made up of the three longest in trails in the United States. So that's the Appalachian Trail here on the East Coast, the Continental Divide Trail, which follows the Continental Divide, and the Pacific Crest Trail, which runs through California, Oregon, and Washington. So each of these trails is between 2,000 and 3,000 miles, and together they all make up the triple crown. Which is about 8,000 miles. Exactly. It's just under 8,000. Yeah, and it takes most people about three years to do it. They do up to six months for each leg of the trip. Yeah, exactly. Usually when folks get into through hiking, they'll do one through hike a year is pretty standard and itself like an amazing accomplishment. And they kind of range between four and six months depending on the trail. The longest is the Continental Divide, which is just under 3,000. Well, that may be the longest, but it's not considered the most difficult, is it? No, that's a really good question. Actually, right here in Maine, we have some of the most difficult trail, and overall of those three trails, the Appalachian is considered by far the most difficult, because there's so much elevation change. It's funny that the track that the Appalachian Trail follows goes out of its way to hit every mountain that's possible on the East Coast. And because of that, I think there's something like a million feet of elevation or something like that. Yeah, and we have the end of that trail right here. And we don't realize how prominent it is in the hiking world always. Totally, yeah. We have the 100-mile wilderness here at the end of the Appalachian Trail. When you hit Monson, you don't hit another town for 100 miles before you get to Baxter. And in the hiking community, it's kind of marveled as one of the biggest, one of the biggest accomplishments within long-distance hiking. And it's pretty awesome that it's right here in Maine. And I honestly didn't think about it much when I was growing up. And I don't think most folks here do. So let's talk about you. First of all, you have to have a whole year to do this. So you're a student at Stanford University, and you've had some time off during the pandemic, right? Yeah, that's right. So is that when you got this great idea to do this, that you had some time to think about your life and what you want to do? And you are an active man. So tell us how this came about. Yeah, totally. So when the pandemic hit in February or March, I was at Stanford at the time finishing up my second quarter of my sophomore year. Very quickly, it went from something that we were hearing about in the news to immediately being booted off campus. We were all of us students were asked to leave. I came home back to Maine. And for that third quarter of that academic year, I took classes online. And I also worked at Preble Street Homeless Shelter because I was really curious what it would be like to work on the front lines during this pandemic. That's kind of around the time when I started thinking about what I wanted to spend this time doing it. It was kind of a long process for me to realize that I wasn't going to go back to school for a long time and school is a place that I love. So I was understandably really, really sad about that. And, you know, it took a while, but eventually I just had to change my mindset and kind of think about instead of what burdens is this situation giving me, what opportunities is this also giving me that I wouldn't have had if I was just in school. And at that point, I had always been thinking about long distance hiking as something maybe I wanted to do. Upon graduation, a lot of folks on the East Coast attempt the Appalachian Trail after graduation or in interim periods of their life. And I started thinking about maybe doing that this past summer. Talked to a lot of mentors and some other folks in the hiking community and learned about this insane challenge called the calendar year triple crown. And, you know, I've been wanting for a long time to do something like this where I'm just able to simplify my life and have one core goal that I'm devoting everything to. And this seemed like the perfect one. It really combines everything that I love, which is the outdoors, pushing myself physically and mentally and, you know, having a sense of purpose that's related to nature. My family is definitely big into the outdoors. My mom is on a mission currently to hike all of the 4000 footers throughout New England. And she's pretty close. So that tells you a little bit about who I was raised by. You know, how do you get ready for something like this? You know, you've got to have gear. You've got to be in shape. You've got to, you know, think about, you know, what happens if you fall and injure yourself? Tell us about how, you know, what the steps are. Totally. Yeah. You hit on a few of the big ones. I kind of have broken down the preparation for this insane challenge into three categories. One being physical training, as you mentioned. The second being gear. And the third being sort of overarching logistics. Training itself was kind of insane. I talked to some former triple crowners about what they did. And I won't bore you with the details, but it's a lot of running, a lot of hiking, and a lot of squats wearing like a backpack that's like 60 pounds. And, you know, from there, the gear was something I was a little bit nervous about. Because, you know, understandably, I'm a college kid. I was working at Preble Street, but I'm not a wealthy dude. You know, I'm just a college kid. And I was fortunate enough to get LLB to supply most of our gear, which is a huge blessing. And then the third one, which, you know, it takes by far the most time is trail logistics. And the reason that is, is because these trails are really not built to be all hiked in one year. So you're inevitably going to hike some of them in winter, some of them in summer, some of them in fall, and then a bit of it in winter again at the tail end. But navigating even when you're going to be able to hike which trail because of what the environment is like, takes a lot of effort as well. So our first challenge that we're going to be tested with on the first leg of the journey is the Smoky Mountains. So timing the Smoky Mountains, timing the White Mountains once you get up here to New Hampshire, timing Baxter State Park, on the CDT, timing the San Juan Mountains as well as the Montana section. And then another big one is timing the Sierra Nevada's in California. So there's really only a few, few ways that you can logistically piece this trail to get, or piece these three trails together and sort of navigating that was, was really difficult. And then the last one, which I forgot and is a big one is, is food. You know, it takes a lot of fuel to do this. And we've actually spent like the last two and a half weeks or so, basically dehydrating all the food that we're going to eat throughout the trail. I'll send you, I'll send you folks some, some pictures of that afterwards because it's like literally a mountain of, of, of trail food. But that's a pretty big process as well. Our big constraints around this challenge are obviously finishing it within a year time span as, as is in the name. But for us, our goal is to get back to school at the end of September. So we're actually trying to, trying to do this in just under, under nine months, which puts us, puts us, puts us in a little bit more of a constraint as well. So that's pretty quick to, to do it in that amount of time. Yeah, it is, it is quick. We're not going for any, any speed record. The speed record is 252 days and we anticipate finishing it a little bit later than that in about between 265 and 270 days. You know, which is pretty close to the speed record, but is not, is not any, any one of the reasons why we're, why we're doing it is to, is to break a speed record. You know, we want to experience these trails as deeply as we can. But it, it averages what, about 27 miles a day or something like that? Yeah, it's definitely variable based on the trail. Like the Appalachian Trail, we're really only averaging like 23 miles a day. But the PCT and especially sections of the Continental Divide Trail that are just like on flat desert, you know, you can crank out miles there. So in the end, it's going to average just over 30 miles a day actually. Wow. So have you actually done part of each of those trails? I've never done any parts of the Continental Divide Trail before. So that's one of the, probably the one I'm most excited for because it's most new to me. I've hiked a lot of the California section of the Pacific Crest Trail. And then, you know, being from Maine, I've hiked a lot of the Appalachian Trail everywhere north of, north of Pennsylvania. And also I've hiked sections of it in Tennessee and North Carolina as well. But I think the one I'm most excited for is definitely the CDT because it's really a part of the country I've really hardly been to before. Yeah, oh my gosh. So I want to just go back to the food for a minute. Yeah. So what sort of things are you taking that you, you know, dehydrated or whatever? What are you taking? Totally, yeah. So I'll preface this by saying it's far from gourmet. Trail food, there's a saying in the trail community that the best spice is hunger, which is definitely true after, you know, like a 25, 26 mile day or something. So our breakfasts are generally pancakes and dehydrated pancakes and oatmeal. We mix in some raisins, almond butter, cinnamon, spices here and there to spice things up. Throughout the day, we're mostly eating granola bars. We made a huge thing of trail mix. Like we filled this massive bucket with like mounds and mounds of trail mix. And in that is all different types of nuts. So almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, as well as granola. We mix in some skittles for like a little bit of a sugar rush there. And then we drizzled like our, we drizzled it all in maple syrup and then, and then baked it. So it's, our trail mix is actually pretty gourmet, I think. And, and then for dinners, we're doing, it's, I'll, if I, if I get to see you sometime soon, I'll bring you a little bit so you can try it. And then for dinners, we're doing beans and rice, quesadillas and, and like cheesy mashed potatoes. So when I was working at Preble Street, after I finished up that job, I had some time when I wanted to cross train and wasn't starting any other job yet. I had about three weeks before I was starting another job. And I decided to cross train. I would bike down the east coast. And along the way, I was fortunate enough to camp in the backyards of friends. I didn't like go into anybody's houses or anything. Cause I was too nervous about COVID, but I just like we camp in people's backyards. And one of my, one of my best buddies who I go to Stanford with, has a house in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire. So I stayed there. We spent the next day together hiking in the White Mountains in New Hampshire. And throughout that process, I was telling him about this journey. His name is Jackson Pharrell, by the way. I was telling him about this, this proposed journey I was thinking about, because I still hadn't decided and asked him if you would join me for, for a section of it. He said yes. And then we spoke about a week later or maybe two weeks later. And at the end of that phone call decided that we would do the whole thing together. And I kind of, I wasn't going to ask anybody to do it with me because, you know, it's an insane thing to ask somebody to do. But the fact that he was as crazy as me and wanting to do it, you know, showed me that he would be an awesome partner. And it's been a huge team effort since then. It'd be nice too to, to have that reference, you know, someone to, to, you know, 50 years from now, sit around with, you know, our clients and talk about that wonderful adventure you had. Totally. And you know, we've also, we've also already been through like a few, you know, tough times throughout, throughout like this preparation process with, you know, for example, like ordering food or figuring out like all these logistics. It's just, it's really nice to have somebody to be, to be in it with rather than trying to figure, figure everything out, everything out yourself. Yeah. And, and, and, you know, that teamwork is, is nice. When you're, when you do come across something unexpected, it's nice to have someone else. What about books now and you have a candle or whatever those things are. All right. I don't read that way, but most people do, I guess. So you can take as many books as you want with you on this trip. Yeah. I actually, I'm kind of with you in that camp. I can't do kindles. There's something about like a physical book that is just like way too important to me. So we're trying to keep our pack weight as low as possible, you know, so that we're able to do more miles and not get us tired. But one of the like quote unquote luxury items I always take when I go backpacking is, is a physical book. And, you know, I have like a long list of books that I'm, I'm planning to bring, but I'm, I'm definitely not going to carry all of them at once. I'll just bring one and then figure out how to pick up, pick up the rest of them, you know, throughout because that would be a lot of extra weight. So then once you do the first trail, how do you get to the second trail? Yeah. So, so we're, we're doing the continental divide trail second, which begins in New Mexico and goes all the way up to, to Montana. So we're, we're unfortunately going to have to take a plane flight for that. We looked into like all sorts of options of how we could transport from one trail to the other. So we're unfortunately going to have to take one flight there. You know, we're kind of rationalizing it in a sense that we'll be able to quarantine or quote unquote quarantine by being in isolation on the Appalachian Trail two weeks before. And then when we begin that trek, we'll also be isolating in the, in the New Mexico wilderness in terms of, in terms of the COVID situation. So we'll have to take a plane there though. Yeah. And then after that trail, you go to the trail and you'll get there. How like just, Yeah. So the northern terminus of the continental divide trail and the northern terminus of the Pacific crest trail are definitely drivable. It's like a very, it's a quite a long distance. So we'll either take a, we'll either take a flight there or be able to drive it if we can navigate renting a car. I'm hoping by that situation it's a little, it's a little safer to fly and, and you know, we won't have to think too much about that, but that's kind of something we'll have to evaluate when we're, when we're getting a little closer. And talking about safety, in many ways now, I mean, we're all, we all think about time now. What are you taking with you for medical supplies? Yeah. A lot is the short answer. In, in terms of the COVID situation, you know, we're taking lots of PPE as well as a ton of hand sanitizer, medical gloves, masks, you know, the regular things there. In addition to that, we have a first aid kit and a foot health kit. In our first aid kit, we have everything from, you know, emodium to antihistamine to, you know, issues for dealing with ticks, as well as scissors, bandages, crevats, tweezers, you know, just those typical things. And then the biggest one that I think I'm worried about is, is foot health, because you know, putting, we'll be putting so much stress on our feet that we, we really have to take care of them. And for that, we have tons of moleskins, sort of different kinds of specialized cream that, that decrease friction between our socks and our, and our feet, as well as, you know, things for taking care and draining blisters as well. Yeah. And how many pair of shoes are you taking to an extra in case, or how does that work? Yeah. So it's actually insane how many pairs of shoes we're likely to go through. I've talked to, you know, a few triple crowners before, as I mentioned, and the amount of shoes that they use throughout this journey range from 12 to 18, depending on who you talk to. Wow. Yeah. And, you know, I'm someone who like, hates to buy new shoes. I try to get, I literally use them until they're like, not even shoes anymore. But for this, I think, you know, we want to have like super, super good protection. So we're, we're only bringing one pair at a time, but there are certain places that will be throughout the journey where we'll be able to order shoes a few days ahead and then pick them up when our, the shoes that we're currently wearing are getting too old. And that's where you'll have mail or whatever and make contact with people. Exactly. Yeah. That's where we'll have resupply boxes or have our resupply boxes mailed for food or, you know, if there's some medical thing that we need to, need to get taken care of as well. That'll be great. Well, I'm, I'm really excited for you. And for all of us in Maine, what, you know, we're hearing about you doing this great adventure and representing, representing the state is, you know, I think of it that way. What, what do you hope in the end to come away from this? How do you hope to feel coming away from this or, or have you not thought about that? Is it all about going forward and not thinking about, you know, how this will be for you in the end? Yeah, that's a really good question. I just want to touch on what you mentioned about, about Maine, throughout like this whole journey of, of planning this. I think one of the things I've realized is I think Maine is pretty underrepresented in the hiking community. You know, there's, there's, there's great hikers all over, all over the country. But, you know, as, as we were speaking about before, Maine has some of like the best hiking in the world. And I just, I personally think it's very underrated. So that's, that's one of my goals in this is to, is to, is to bring a little bit more attention to, to hiking in the, in Maine as well. On, on your other question, you know, I've thought a lot about it. And I think the biggest thing that I'm, that I'm looking for throughout this, throughout this journey is to like feel a really pure sense of freedom as well as purpose, especially in this past year, I think I've kind of been starved for like a sense of purpose and, and meaning. And we're speaking about Thoreau earlier, and he has this quote that I really love, which is that so many people are living lives of quiet desperation. And that term really stuck out to me this past year. I felt like I was kind of stuck in one place and, you know, quietly desperate for, for something out there. And that's a feeling that I, that I feel really fulfilled when I'm, when I'm in nature. And I think throughout this, I just want to explore like how, how far I can push that and how, how in touch with, in touch with the nature around me, I can, I can, I can get. And I don't think there's anybody, any better way to do that than, than basically living outside for like nine months. So who knows if that'll happen, but I'll keep you updated. I think it's wonderful. And, and, and after this, what's next? You do the long trail in Norway. Have you heard about that? I'm sure, I'm sure, has Roger had a chance to do any of that? I'm sure he's. Oh, we're gonna wait and have you do it. It's a pretty epic trail. Yeah. Well, let's thank you for, you know, spending the time with us. And we look forward to hearing more from you along the trail and see how that goes and send us footage, send us any kind of information. Maybe we could do some zooms. I don't know how that'll work, but however we can keep in touch with you and share with the people in Maine would be great. That sounds awesome. Thank you so much for, for chatting with me. And it's, it's great to see you as well. Yeah. And as Roy Rogers said, happy trails. Hey, thank you. Bye, Sammy.