WILL 'AKUNA' ROBINSON, 40, strides with authority and speed on the trail. He learned long ago that if you're gonna do something, you do it right. After five years of avid thru-hiking, he still pauses to say hello to everyone he can. Some he knows from previous trails, when they shared miles and hardships. Some recognize him from Instagram, or as the first Black man to complete America's nearly 8,000-mile Triple Crown of Hiking in September of 2019, his visage in catalogues and strewn across web banners as a brand ambassador for Merrell footwear.
It's late August, that sleepy part of the calendar full of rich sun one moment and whispering with near-autumn chill the next.