Great Divide Trail Yo-Yo – 2300km – Videos

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

This summer my wife and I did the first yo-yo thru-hike of the Canadian Rockies via the Great Divide Trail. It’s awesome. Everyone should go.

Over the summer I wrote up trip reports for each section at my blog:
https://intocascadia.com/great-divide-trail/

Recently, I started work on a series of short videos from the hike. The first couple are out now, and the rest will be out over the next few weeks. I think they’re pretty awesome, so please check them out:

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[Greg Mihalik]

Damn!

Kudos, to both of you.

[Ryan Jordan]

@dandydan terrific! Thank you for sharing. You guys are very inspiring, and endearing!

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

Thanks guys!

Part two

[jscott]

Fantastique! Which is a notch past fantastic. Awe inspiring country. And what a great attitude you both have.

The film is well done and very well produced. If I may quibble with a tendency that all backpacking films share, brought on perhaps by mtv, is the tendency for lots of quick cuts. Often when I see a shot of great mountains or whatever, my eyes want to linger. Or if someone is making a snow traverse, I want to watch for a while. This is a personal preference and not at all what’s in style, and most people may disagree, so I admit to possibly being cranky. But I think there’s a place in adventuring films for those slow tracking shots like Kubrick uses. Again, this isn’t really a fault of your film in particular but a tendency of all the back country films I’ve viewed over the last ten years.

But what a wonderful adventure! Thanks for this and alert us when more comes available.

p.s. I haven’t viewed chapter two yet so forgive me if what I wrote is misplaced.

[BlackHatGuy]

Good stuff Dan. Thanks for sharing your wonderful adventure with us.

[Jeffs Eleven]

Very nice.  I like it when whats happening underfoot changes over the course of miles.

 

2jelly

 

[Ryan Tucker]

Thanks for sharing.

[Gunnar H]

Thanks for sharing, looks wonderful!

[Greg Mihalik]

Dan,

What packs are you (two) using?

[Ken Thompson]

Sweet! Thanks Dan

[BlackHatGuy]

“What packs are you (two) using?”

I know Dan’s a fan of the Hanchor Marl pack, so that would be my guess.

[Jeffs Eleven]

I think they are Seek Outside Gila or divide

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

They are Hanchor Marl packs. I wrote up a review of them on my blog:
https://intocascadia.com/2017/05/06/review-hanchor-marl-42l-pack/

They’re awesome packs. A little heavier (~38oz) and more capable (3 frame stays, load lifters) than I usually need but we had some 10 day stretches on this trip. The Marl is a good all around pack if you need to be able to carry a bit of weight. I think of it as one step up in beefiness over a HMG Windrider. For an extra 3-4oz you get tougher fabric, load lifters, horizontal stay and better craftsmanship.

[Greg Mihalik]

Thanks Dan.

(… and Doug)

[Ito Jakuchu]

What a great adventure! Great attitude as well thanks for sharing all the info.

edit – for any other potential question about gear, the man was so nice to share that here…

[William Chilton]

Thanks for sharing. I really enjoyed those and look forward to future instalments.

I wonder how many takes the pole twirling scene took :)

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

@willamc3 Just wait for the next instalment! There is a sweet triple pole flip – this one was only a double.

I actually dialed in the pole flips back on the Pacific Crest Trail, here’s back to back doubles:

I got to the next level on the GDT though – eventually landing my first quintuple flip. Naturally, my wife was very impressed.

[William Chilton]

Impressive stuff! I look forward to seeing the triple. In the meantime, I’ll be going through your PCT videos.

[Ethan A.]

Dan thank you very much for taking the time to edit and share these. My wife and I had been following your adventure on your blogs and it’s so much fun to see the “moving picture” version. Looking forward to enjoying the rest. For anyone looking for more in-depth coverage, read Dan’s blog, it’s very well-written with beautiful photos.

[Brad Rogers]

Thank you for sharing Dan.  That looks like an amazing trip and your videos are top notch.

[Jeffs Eleven]

I just checked out the website (I just watched vids earlier)

 

Man!  Want an amazing trip report!  Amazing

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

Third instalment is up. The much hyped triple pole flip is at 3:15 :)

[Lester Moore]

Wow Dan – excellent, detailed and useful trip report. And the videos look great (love the instrumental version of “Oceans” in chapter 2). You’ve inspired me to put a shorter trip together from South to central Jasper.

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

Thanks Lester! Nice song ID skills ;)

Yeah that section in southern/central Jasper is awesome, other than that 2 hr slog up Owen creek (2:44 – 2:55 in video). The White Goat Wilderness (south of Jasper Park to highway 11) is at least as impressive as what’s in the park. The trail’s not as good, but it’s not that bad and there’s few people plus you don’t need permits/reservations. So it’s all stunning, but a fantastic trip would be starting from highway 11 through the White Goat, into Jasper at Cataract Pass and then exiting out Nigel Pass to Hwy 93. Perhaps 50 miles, but you could easily make this shorter (exit at Surprise Pass near Pinto Lake) or longer (exit at Pobokton).

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