The Hiking Documentary: Living (Well) Through Others

Growing up, watching Nature on PBS was as enthralling to me as Scooby Doo and Sesame Street. These days my obsession with reality TV has grown to new heights, and I think that it has something to do with the show that popularized it all - Survivor. What incredible fun it would be, I thought, to be stranded on a deserted island, forced to find food and water, and to build shelter. The only problem I'd have? The people.

A couple years after that first episode of Survivor aired, my husband and I set out on our own adventure. Wouldn't it be cool to hike the entire length of the "AT?" See, it's this trail, marked by a tiny pink line in the Rand McNally. It runs all the way from GEORGIA to MAINE!

To tell you the truth, I'm not even sure if I had known about the Appalachian Trail before seeing it in that atlas. We had no idea what we were in for, and ended up having the adventure of a lifetime. But a thru-hike can be a frustrating thing. First, there is the thru-hiker. He spends months in a different world, and in the end has achieved a great thing. Once back in the "real world" though, he feels alone. "Normal" people just don't seem to understand. On the other side is the person who is trapped in a lifestyle that would never allow them to have even a taste of such freedom. Their only choice is to live vicariously through others.

Thanks to a number of hardy travelers and hikers who have captured the essence of the trails on film, anyone with a DVD player or VCR can now begin to get a feel for an actual thru-hike, to see places only reached by foot, and/or to catch a glimpse of true freedom. The articles in this HikeMore online newsletter are written by the filmmakers themselves. Read on, and watch the videos; from there you will decide if you are truly ready for life on the trail.

If you are the creator of a hiking documentary and would like to include an article about your project, please contact us. We'd be happy to include your story!

Loony

Loony, a 2003 Appalachian Trail thru-hiker, is co-editor of the HikeMore Online Newsletter.

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