Back in December I posted a short video from a group of multimedia artists that spent 25 days hiking the 219-mile long John Muir Trail last summer. The video was only a small taste of a documentary film the group is currently working on.
Recently, the group published the first official trailer for the documentary, called MILE...MILE & A HALF: A Journey Across The John Muir Trail. I know I said this back in December, but I'm really looking forward to seeing the entire film. The incredible scenery from the Sierra Mountains is pure inspiration. For more information on JMT: the Muir Project, you can visit the film crew's website.
Fresh off his incredible solo trek around the Alaskan and Yukon bush in 2010, Andrew Skurka is at it again. This past summer he guided Gerry Morton, President and CEO of EnergyFirst, on a 7 day hike along the entire 224-mile John Muir Trail. Averaging 32 miles a day, the two hikers trekked from the Yosemite Valley to the summit of 14,505-foot Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the lower 48. The video below documents some of the highlights from their adventure.
In recent years Skurka has become known as a hiking and adventure superstar. During his trek around Alaska and the Yukon he traveled roughly 4680 miles in 176 days. This included 1315 miles of skiing, 2100 miles of trekking, and 1270 miles of packrafting.
In addition to his recent Alaskan and John Muir Trail excursions, he's hiked the Appalachian Trail, and in 2007, became the first person to hike the 6875-mile Great Western Loop, which includes the Continental Divide and Pacific Crest Trails. It's probably safe to say that after all those miles he should be an expert on blisters. Andrew offers some excellent tips on preventing them in the January issue of Backpacker Magazine.
As of today, Skurka is officially an author as well. The Ultimate Hiker's Gear Guide was officially released today by National Geographic Books, and is available on Amazon. In this how-to guide, Skurka "shares the gear, supplies and skills that will allow you to love hiking, while still remaining safe and comfortable while camping."
As many of you are likely already aware, my wife and I launched a new trail website late last year called Hiking in Glacier.com.
As part of our launch we published a video to Youtube a few weeks ago that highlights scenes from around Glacier National Park. The short video is a collection of photos from some of the most popular trails, from deep in the backcountry, as well as from some of the most iconic roadside vantage points.
Hope you enjoy:
If this video has in anyway inspired you to make the trek to Glacier Park this summer, don't forget to visit HikinginGlacier.com beforehand for some help with your trip planning. Our site provides detailed information on more than 60 hikes in the park, as well as general travel information.
In 2011 the Great Smoky Mountains received close to 100 inches of rainfall, making it one of the rainiest spots in the entire United States. It was also one of the wettest years on record. The latest video from the Great Smoky Mountains Association captures the result of all this rainfall in this film footage of waterfalls and streams within the park:
Check out this film from 1922 that documents the first ever winter ascent of Mt. Rainier by Jean and Jacques Landry, Jacques Bergues and newsreel cameraman Charles Perryman. It's also the first motion picture ever taken on the summit of Mount Rainier, and is the oldest known climbing or skiing film in the State of Washington.
The film come courtesy of The Mountaineers. In 2003, Charles Perryman's grandson, Steve Turner, contacted The Mountaineers about the film after reading about Perryman's climb in the Alpenglow Ski Mountaineering History Project. This led to an eight-year effort by Skoog to acquire the newsreel films. The project was completed in October 2011:
Below is an interesting video published about a month ago by Matt Harris. Matt provides a very artistic presentation of his hike to Andrews Bald. Not sure what the horses towards the end have to do with anything, but the overall videography is very beautiful:
Last week I posted a video by Dustin Farrell called "Landscapes: Volume One". It was a time lapse compilation he put together about a year ago. Roughly three weeks ago he published "Volume Two". These were also shot in Arizona and Utah, but he has expanded the number of locations to include Canyonlands and Arches National Parks this time. If you thought Volume One was pretty good, this video will knock your socks off. Looking forward to Volume 3 - no word on when that will be published though....
This is a pretty cool video by Dustin Farrell. The video is a year's compilation of time lapse work he did in the Goblin Valley State Park in Arizona, and Natural Bridges National Monument in Utah:
Check out this video of a mountain biker, Evan van der Spuy, as he gets taken out by a red hartebeest, a member of the antelope family found in the grassland areas of Africa. The video was taken by a teammate during a race near Albert Falls Dam in South Africa.
Roughly 15 years ago I almost had a similar situation with a deer. I was riding down a hill, going about 30 MPH, when I noticed a young buck just ahead of me, standing about 20 feet off the right side of the road. I guess I spooked him as he wheeled around and was about to begin running across the road - right in my path! Fortunately, at that same time, a car was passing me on my left side, and I guess, forced the deer to change his direction. Never forgot that one....
Excellent video on what it's like climbing Mt. Rainier in Washington state with Rainier Mountaineering, Inc. (RMI). Climbing the 14,410-foot peak was put on my radar a couple of years ago after attending a presentation by one of the RMI guides at a local gear shop. This video seems to pretty much show how a typical three-day expedition transpires - just as the RMI representative explained.
Maybe this will bring a little relief from the summer heat....
During one of the major snow events of 2010, Jonathan Ibach, Morgan Harris, Justin Russell and Wes Overvold climbed over snow-covered fallen trees and trudged through 4-foot snow drifts to the summit of 6285-foot Roan Mountain.
I really can't believe this doesn't happen more often. In yesterday's 9th stage of the Tour de France, a French television car crashed into Juan Antonio Flecha as it tried to pass him. Flecha then took out Johnny Hoogerland who flew into a barbed wire fence.
Asked if the driver had apologized to him, Flecha declared: �He�s not come to see me and I think if he did I wouldn�t want to talk to him. France T�l�visions haven�t tried to apologize to me either.�
Here are a couple of photos of Johnny Hoogerland after the crash.
Two weeks ago 3 large ice/rock falls occurred on the upper flanks of 14,411-foot Mt. Rainier. Each sent a large volume of debris down the mountain's Nisqually Glacier, which is adjacent to the Muir Snowfield and the approach route (Disappointment Cleaver) used for climbing Mt. Rainier.
On June 25th a pair of climbers making their way up the Muir Snowfield captured this footage of one of those icefalls:
Below is a beautiful night motion timelapse video of the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
The short video, by Daniel Dragon Films, includes shooting stars, the Milky Way, shots of the Hatteras Lighthouse (the tallest lighthouse in North America), and flames and smoke from the Stumpy Point wildfire.
If your computer has trouble viewing the video, just turn off the HD:
Check out this amazing video from the Great Smoky Mountains Association that shows some of the extensive damage from the EF-4 tornado that ripped across the western end of the park on April 27th.
Earlier in the week I received an email from Nathan Stoll, a hiker and budding film maker. He asked me to take a look at a series of videos he's publishing to Youtube that document his hike across the Colorado Trail - a nearly 500-mile trail that stretches from Denver to Durango:
Nathan hiked the trail with his friend, Jon, in 2010. He's already released the first 6 episodes, and plans to release the final 6-8 episodes next fall. His ultimate goal is to combine all of the short segments into one film that he hopes will be picked up by an outdoor film festival at some point.
For a taste of the series, here's episode 4:
You can watch the other episodes by visiting his Youtube page.
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