On New Year's Eve, two hikers finish at the southernmost point in the continental United States. Two more are there to watch, about to attempt the same thing themselves, starting the next morning. Episode 4 follows the border-to-border expansion of the Calendar Year Triple Crown: 10,000 miles, 24 states, a trail name earned by refusing to stop, a month on the Continental Divide Trail without seeing another hiker, and a series-closing question that's been waiting since episode one: why do any of them do this at all?

Show Notes

On New Year's Eve, Madison Blagden and Philip Witmer finish at the southernmost point in the continental United States. Two hikers are there to watch them, about to attempt the same thing themselves, starting the next morning.


The final episode of The Big Year follows the border-to-border Calendar Year Triple Crown: not Georgia to Maine, but Key West to Canada. 10,000 miles. 24 states. One year. Madison becomes the first woman in history to complete it, with a trail name earned in 2022 by going too hard and refusing to stop, and a nor'easter decision late in her year that costs her three weeks she didn't have to lose.


Philip hikes Colorado and Wyoming as the farthest-north hiker on the Continental Divide Trail. For a month, he doesn't see another soul.


The series closes on the question that's been underneath all of it: why? The answers, gathered across four episodes and 13 guests, land smaller than the mile counts and bigger than the records. One hiker says it's about how deep you can go into yourself. Another says, simpler still, that he's just chasing those moments.


Guests:



  • Madison "Peg Leg" Blagden — 2025 border-to-border CYTC completer, first female in history

  • Philip "Slide" Witmer — 2025 border-to-border CYTC completer

  • Billy "Wahoo" Meredith — 2023 CYTC FKT holder, 234 days

  • Sammy "Buzz" Potter — 2022 CYTC completer (11th in history)

  • Jackson "Woody" Parell — 2022 CYTC completer (12th in history)

  • Carson "Anita" Oliver — 2023 CYTC completer


Topics covered:



  • What the border-to-border Calendar Year Triple Crown is and how it differs from the standard challenge

  • A trail name earned on the PCT by going too hard and refusing to stop

  • The mental weight of 15 hours a day, every day, for a year

  • A nor'easter decision that costs three weeks and nearly the whole year

  • A month alone on the Continental Divide Trail without seeing another hiker

  • A tent that slid downhill on a first night on trail, and the name that followed

  • What 13 guests, across four episodes, say they actually learned


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