Tell It on the Mountain aims to document the Pacific Crest Trail Class of 2007 by sending a bunch of thru-hikers out on the trail with small video cameras to document their experiences. The synopsis:
Who better to punctuate these stories than the few tenacious souls who give up 6 months of their lives to “walk” it – all the way from Mexico to Canada. That’s 2650 miles, in case anyone’s counting. Fifteen of the most loquacious and bodacious hikers on the 2007 “thru-hike” will be armed with tiny video cameras and trained to spin a yarn, as it were. With a modicum of tech training and storytelling tips, we will unleash them on the wilderness (or the wilderness on them). As they undertake their transformative journey, we will live vicariously through their video journals.
Our hikers will walk as many as 40 miles between water sources, hike through the longest uninterrupted stretch of wilderness in the US, cross life-threatening rivers and streams, climb 13,000 foot passes, take the infamous “Pancake Challenge” and generally just push through 20 miles a day for five straight months. Fortunately for us, while they’re off slogging through all those miles, we’ll have plenty of time to meander off on side jaunts and catch glimpses of oases in the desert, the highest peak in the 48 contiguous states and the deepest lake in all of the US and to hear of random acts of “trail magic.”
The movie’s being produced from right here in good ol’ San Jose, California.
With most of this year’s hikers off the trail, I’m looking for new Trail Journals bookmarks in the PCT Class of 2007. I found out about “Tell it on the Mountain” at the journal of Sharon Allen, who hiked the John Muir Trail this summer and seems quite smitten with the concept. As well she should be.