{"id":35808,"date":"2025-11-10T14:45:26","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T17:45:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/geartips.club\/blog\/jeff-santos-makes-history-by-completing-the-triple-crown-of-trails\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T14:45:26","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T17:45:26","slug":"jeff-santos-makes-history-by-completing-the-triple-crown-of-trails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/geartips.club\/blog\/en\/jeff-santos-makes-history-by-completing-the-triple-crown-of-trails\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeff Santos makes history by completing the Triple Crown of trails"},"content":{"rendered":"

Until 2015, the Minas Gerais native Jeff Santos led an urban and nightlife-oriented life, far from any athletic profile. His first hiking experiences were the Caminho da F\u00e9, after going through depression, and the Estrada Real, a 1,200 km route between Diamantina and Paraty.<\/p>\n

Ten years later, he became the first non-expatriate Brazilian to complete the Triple Crown of North American long-distance trails, totaling more than 12,000 km on the Appalachian Trail (AT), Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), and Continental Divide Trail (CDT), completed in October 2025.<\/p>\n

His achievement is a historic milestone for Brazil in the international long-distance hiking scene. According to the American Long Distance Hiking Association, only about 700 people worldwide have reached this accomplishment.<\/p>\n

With altitudes ranging from sea level to over 4,000 meters, extreme climates, and vast remote stretches, the three trails demand not only physical endurance but also emotional preparation and logistical planning. Over the course of 369 days, Jeff crossed mountains and deserts, faced snow, intense heat, lightning, and storms, and came face-to-face with wildlife: moose, foxes, wolves, deer, 26 bears, among other animals.<\/p>\n

Amid so many challenges, hardships, and discomforts, he cherishes remarkable memories, such as the moment when, upon opening his tent, he saw two moose playing, or the unexpected encounter with a mother bear and her cub crossing the trail. \u201cWith those huge paws and claws, they could easily have attacked me if they wanted to. But the more I applied what I learned from the safety manual, like making noise to alert them of my presence, the more they ignored me. The same happened with a wolf \u2014 it just looked at me and walked back into the forest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quoting the verse \u201cMundo, mundo, vasto mundo\u201d\u00b9 by Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Jeff reflects on his own existence after all he experienced: \u201cI realized that we are nothing in this world. I prefer to look at the mountains from the bottom up because it reminds me of my insignificance. What am I compared to them, to the forests, to the desert?\u201d<\/p>\n

The unpredictability of the paths and weather forced Jeff to make decisions, stop, and wait \u2014 which deepened his respect for nature and animals, as well as for everyday life. \u201cWhen you go into a primitive survival mode, wondering whether food and water will be enough or where the best place to rest is, you start valuing more the bathroom in your house, electric light, transportation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeff Santos\u2019 journey toward the Triple Crown<\/h2>\n

2017: Appalachian Trail (AT)<\/h3>\n

About 3,540 km, crossing 14 U.S. East Coast states in 131 days.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Jeff <\/p>\n

This was Jeff Santos\u2019 first-ever trekking experience. Upon discovering that only one Brazilian woman with U.S. citizenship had completed the route, he decided to prepare and set out to achieve the first stage of the Triple Crown.<\/p>\n

With a route marked by constant humidity, daily climbs and descents, and intense rain that lasted up to two weeks in a row, Jeff pushed his physical and mental limits.<\/p>\n

The experience inspired the book \u201cAppalachian Trail: Crossing the United States on Foot\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2019: Pacific Crest Trail (PCT)<\/h3>\n

About 4,275 km, from Mexico to Canada, passing through California, Oregon, and Washington, in 127 days.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Jeff <\/p>\n

The second trail of the Triple Crown was marked by an accident that almost cost him his life. Unlike the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail is known for its high mountains and extreme weather.<\/p>\n

During the traverse of Mount Whitney, the highest point in the continental United States, Jeff slipped and fell down the mountain, surviving thanks to proper snow gear, a rock that stopped his fall, and the activation of his SPOT device. Hours later, he was rescued by an emergency team.<\/p>\n

That year, the Sierra Nevada recorded its highest snow levels in decades, which caused two other accidents \u2014 Jeff was the only survivor.<\/p>\n

Despite the scare, he completed the journey and turned the experience into the book \u201cPacific Crest Trail: The Diary of a Journey from Mexico to Canada\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2025: Continental Divide Trail (CDT)<\/h3>\n

About 4,231 km, from the Canadian border to New Mexico, completed in 119 days.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Jeff <\/p>\n

Known among long-distance hikers by the motto \u201cEmbrace the brutality,\u201d the CDT is considered the most demanding of the three trails in the Triple Crown. The route includes the arid desert of New Mexico, long isolated stretches far from any town, and areas inhabited by grizzly bears, mountain lions, and wolves.<\/p>\n

To complete the third trail of the Triple Crown, Jeff took more precautions. His main concerns were snow, the presence of grizzly bears \u2014 absent from the other trails \u2014 and frequent lightning. Furthermore, unlike the other two trails, the Continental Divide Trail features multiple route options: \u201cI was much more aware of the risks I could take, so I chose to follow a path I considered safer under the weather conditions. I decided not to go for high mountains,\u201d Jeff explains.<\/p>\n

The solitude and sense of freedom allowed him to take unplanned pauses to contemplate nature and awaken his creativity. With the help of a notebook, Jeff envisioned new projects \u2014 one of them being his upcoming book, which will complete the Triple Crown trilogy.
\nWhile the book has not yet been released, you can watch Jeff Santos\u2019 daily life on the Continental Divide Trail on his YouTube channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\nWant to know what gear Jeff took to the CDT?<\/strong> Watch the live about Trekking Light and Ultralight<\/a>!\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

To deepen your knowledge about using SPOT in emergencies and learn about other features of the device, access the free course Safety and Communication via SPOT<\/a>.<\/p>\n

1. World, world, vast world \u2014 to read the full poem, visit: https:\/\/www.online-literature.com\/forums\/showthread.php?25752-Poema-de-7-Faces-(-Portugues-to-English) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Until 2015, the Minas Gerais native Jeff Santos led an urban and nightlife-oriented life, far from any athletic profile. His first hiking experiences were the Caminho da F\u00e9, after going through depression, and the Estrada Real, a 1,200 km route between Diamantina and Paraty. Ten years later, he became the first non-expatriate Brazilian to complete […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3586,"featured_media":35573,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1664,1557,1382],"tags":[1737,1846],"class_list":["post-35808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hiking-and-trekking","category-international-destinations","category-news","tag-long-distance-trail","tag-ultralight-trekking"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/geartips.club\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/geartips.club\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/geartips.club\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geartips.club\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3586"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geartips.club\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/geartips.club\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geartips.club\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/geartips.club\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geartips.club\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geartips.club\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}