It’s 230am in the Denver international Airport parking lot. I awake from a less than satisfying sleep in the front seat of the work truck with a brief moment of clarity about the next shoot for our public lands documentary.
The thoughts of but It sounds crazy but in about an hr I’ll meet up with our cinematographer for the film, Alex at 330am for a 5am flight to STL, drive 2.5 hours to Southern Illinois, to a rendezvous point through unlabeled national forest back roads that we have no maps to, to walk 2 miles into the wilderness to meet up with a potential character that I’ve only talked to on the phone once, who was introduced to me a by person that I’ve only met once to follow through the wilderness for the next 4 days and 3 nights. This would be Aaron Wolf of Adventures Accessed
All this sounds insane, and it most likely is. However nervous or worried isn’t at all about how I felt going into shooting this scene. I feels comforting, like meeting up with an old good friend, however here, it’s just someone that I haven’t met yet. It’s alot like most backpacking trips without the cameras, that you need to get out of comfort zone to move forward. To learn a new perspective, or have an experience that might change your outlook on the world.
While we can’t disclose what happens over the next 3 days, we can talk about that there is a shared bond of people who loved the outdoors. Our conversations when the cameras weren’t rolling was about the benefits of 65L over 70L bags, tent design, the do’s and don’ts hook-up stories while solo-adventuring, and the best way to Chili Mac out of the bag.
There is a bond between people who love the outdoors. Who look for the greenest spot on a map to explore on the weekends and order maps to explore untracked parts of these areas. Exploring the outdoors, or new stories, keeps us grounded, our perspectives more wide about life, and no matter the miles, we always come back out at the trailhead feeling more present then when we left.
As we head into Spring of 2018 and the first character shoot of On Strange Soil in the can with our tents sitting our packs covered in snowmelt (see photos below) we look forward to our next shoot to continue discovering the powerful and transformational voices of those who are working to protect our public lands.
