Rooting for Will

Baxter State Park, Maine

In the summer of 2020, I hiked and biked the Northeast 115 4000-footers, and thru-hiked the New England 67 along the way. As far as I can tell, this was the first time anyone has accomplished either of these. If you’re interested, you can read it about it here. Planning and completing a new route is a great feeling, but it makes me proud in a bigger way to see someone else try it and see what they can do with it.

Will Peterson is “a thru hiker, trail runner, alpine skier, peak bagger, and a Behavioral Neuroscience student at Northeastern University. He hopes to continually push himself to new limits on the trail and in the mountains” according to his bio on Hyperlite Mountain Gear. For his perspective on the start on the hike, check out this article. Since “direttissima” is Italian for "shortest link" and inspired by Emilio Cornici, who said "I wish some day to make a route, and from the summit let fall a drop of water, and this is where my route will have gone," I propose New England 67 Thru-hike, but it’s all good. 

Will in action

The New England portion of the hike I would recommend more than the New York section, but maybe not in May. But if that’s the time you have, take it. Will has encountered more a bunch of snow up high so far on his trip and is jumping around a bit to ‌make the hike work. I’m excited to see him put his own touch on the route, as well as others in the future. 

Follow Will as he hikes on Instagram @fromthebackcountry or on Strava here and wish him well!