Alcove is a story about a backpacking trip that Chris Smead and Ryan Jordan took during the Spring of 2017. It explores Chris’s perspective on doing something different than what he’s used to – hiking in remote canyons on the Colorado Plateau.
Inspiring, I love seeing adventures brought to life. This is one part of the state that I have not seen and CO is my home state. Thank you and curse you for making me miss the wide open out doors. It is a true measure of skill when you can bring out the emotions in others with your words, images, and passion. I hope the two of you can do more of these and bring them to the world.
Chris, I’ve admired your cinematography and your creative editing in your Sierra videos but I really enjoy the more restrained style in this film. I think it honors the landscape and the journey. Definitely my favorite video of yours. Your music is great as always.
This was my first project with my new camera, and the style was out of my comfort zone so I was worried about how it would be received. Glad to see you’re enjoying it! :)
The colours and terrain remind me of various places in arid Australia. Kings Canyon, Palm Valley, Finke Gorge, northern Flinders Ranges come to mind. Its time I visit some of these again.
I was there about two weeks before you. Both access roads to the trailheads were closed (happens every March apparently) so I had to come in from the Pollock Bench TH. Ended up walking some of the roads you drove in on I suspect. My footprints and some MTB tracks were the only ones there.
The Black Ridge Canyon Wilderness is a magical place that I’ve been to a handful of times now. A little bit of Utah without the drive…
Paul: Wow! Amazing huh? What route did you take? It seemed almost impossible to hike from the mouth of Knowles canyon to Mee canyon. The bushwacking was pretty intense, but totally worth it.
In 4 days we saw zero backpackers. We only saw a few rafters on the Colorado river, so it’s amazing to hear from someone else who’s been there. Did you get to see the Mee canyon alcove?
Thanks for noticing the soundtrack Rodney! A fair amount of effort goes into the music for these projects so it’s nice to see someone noticing. :) For this project I went for a style that was more minimalistic. (Ryan’s a minimalist so it seemed appropriate) I kept wanting to add more instruments and had to stop myself.
I tracked it all in my spare bedroom. Durand from “Mile, mile and a half” recommended this guy named Kent from Blue ribbon studios for mastering, and I think that made a big difference.
Nice. Always nice to finish a day with a good thrash. I did a loop that included Jones several years back and ended up saying screw it and crossed the river (pre-runoff) because travel was nearly impossible between Jones and Knowles.
Really fine piece of documentation and story telling. For having never visited the desert, you captured the essence of the landscape and showcased the beauty of the harsh environment well. Dream like.
My brother creates instrumental/environmental music, so I appreciate the work that you put into not only filming,editing, and post; but the music side as well.
I look forward to seeing a lot more great work from you in the future!
Great work Chris. As soon as I saw the thumbnail for your video I immediately thought “Mee”. A couple years back we dropped into Mee Canyon, made the hike out to the mouth, then packrafted down to Knowles. Last year I tried driving to the Knowles Canyon TH after a sneaky spring storm. Almost got my little hatchback stuck in the middle of that road – ended up having to turn around and had to put the pedal to the floor for what felt like miles before getting back to pavement.
Such a neat area, and a special thanks to you and Jordan for talking about the conservation and designation of this particular piece of land we get to enjoy.
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