Great Divide Trail Yo-Yo – 2300km – Videos

[William Chilton]

Thanks again. Great again. We’re getting some wonderful vicarious hiking from these videos.

“What do you think of the David Thompson Trail, hon?”

Silence, but if looks could divorce…

[DAN-Y/FANCEE FEEST]

Outrageously Awesome! Will spend a lot of time going over the videos and the info on your blog. Thanks Dan!

[Kevin B]

Read your blog all along and watched the video’s, and it all smells of pro-Canadian propaganda. Seriously, hear me out;)

First, the landscape and scenery. Epic. A scale larger than belief.

But mostly I’m commenting on the main agents, “T” and “Dandy Dan,” I’ve never seen such consistently positive attitudes, tone, and body posture in two people on a grand adventure. They make ever moment seem fun. You’re both Canadians, right? ….  all kidding aside, the contrast from the video’s of John Z. and partner on a small segment of what Dan and T hiked was striking and shows the value of relationship.

Thanks for posting and looking forward to chapter 4!

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

Videos 4 & 5 are up. Six is coming soon. Apparently this formerly small project is going to end up nearly as hour long when all 8 episodes are done.

[Philip Tschersich]

That is some truly stunning country. Utterly lovely. The mountains are eye-wateringly beautiful.

I’m a little surprised at how few animals you show in the vids (more so in the last one). Here in Alaska I run into critters all day long. Bears, mountain goats, Sitka black tail deer, foxes, etc. I bring a camera with a zoom lens for that reason. Do you not see a lot of wildlife, or do you not film it due to your [short focal length] equipment?

Cheers

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

Thanks Philip!

On the Northbound leg we did see hardly any wildlife. It was kinda weird. As soon as we turned around, we started seeing a lot more. Zero bears on the NOBO leg, but 7 grizzlies + 2 black bear on the SOBO. Same goes for wolves, elk, caribou, etc.

Because I’m a geek, I actually listed all the wildlife we saw on the trail here:
https://intocascadia.com/2017/11/25/great-divide-trail-yo-yo-the-numbers/

In total we saw 96 notable animals on the SOBO and just 18 on the NOBO.

We had a good camera (Panasonic ZS100) with 10x optical zoom that I wanted to get wildlife shots with, but it fried after several wet days near the end of the NOBO right before the wildlife sightings started. That’s why the video goes from 4k to 720P late in Chapter Four and for all of Chapter Four. That’s also why the caribou and grizzly footage in Chapter Five is so poor  – we filmed it with an iPad Mini with no zoom (so those caribou were actually pretty close). We bought another 4K camera in the next town but only 3x optical. Still, there are some good clips of moose, sheep, goats and grizzlies coming up in the next 2-3 instalments.

[Cameron M]

What a great adventure.

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

Looks like I was wrong again – there will be nine episodes in total, not eight. Currently editing 55 minutes of footage down into Chapter Seven. Takes forever – lucky thing I’m unemployed.

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

[Ryan Tucker]

Continuing to enjoy your segments. Thanks for sharing.

[Alex Wallace]

Wonderful! Places like those at minute 7:27 fill my dreams.

Thanks for taking the time to put these videos together and sharing.

[Paul S.]

Dan, great video series.

Can you go into a little detail more detail on your clothing system? You pack list doesn’t show how it changed throughout the hike.

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

For the most part, I used the same clothes for the whole trek. It was snowy at the start, but warm because it was June. So other than replacing worn out stuff, I only added warmer clothes for the final section, which was late October-November after we took a month off to let a major fire go out.

So my starting clothes were:
Montane Terra Pack Pants
Darn Tough Socks (UL No Shows x 2)
Patagonia UL Capilene (T shirt)
Patagonia Sun Stretch Shirt (Trekking Shirt)
Black Diamond Mono Point Rain Jacket
Haglofs LIM Proof Rain Pants
100wt Fleece mitts
EE Torrid Synthetic Jacket
EE Copperfield Windshirt
Smartwool Beanie
Baseball Cap
MYOG 30D nylon shorts
Baseball cap

Overall I like that clothing system. The inclusion of a windshirt and a trekking shirt was redundant, but I was exploring/comparing some different setups. I’m not a huge fan of either of those pants (waist is funny on the Montane, inseam short on RPS), and the Sun Stretch trekking shirt is heavier than it should be (I miss the older Patagonia Gone Away shirt). The rest of the stuff was great. I love Patagonia’s lightweight capilene. I don’t find it stinky (maybe my nose sucks) and it lasts forever. Still a nice shirt. The EE Torrid really surprised me with how warm it is for only 8oz or so. Much warmer than an 8oz Montbell UL Down Inner.

Then over the trek I replaced the pants with Patagonia RPS pants because the crotch split on my Montane’s, and I replaced my pairs of Darn Tough’s once.

For the final leg, I added Goosefeet Down Pants, NRS Hydroskin Socks and replaced the EE Torrid with a warmer parka (Montbell Frost Line). Oh and I layered a 40F quilt on top of my 20F quilt since it was cold out there.

[Paul S.]

I have the same shirts.  I love how quickly the capliene dries.  I have a hard time deciding between bringing the trekking shirt for sun, wind and bugs or using a wind shirt.  The Sun Stretch breathes more but is still hot compared to the capilene but not as hot as a wind shirt would be.  How did they work for you?

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

Yeah my experiences are similar. The Sun Stretch is a bit hot, but not as hot as baselayer + windshirt, so it’s nicer when it’s buggy, whereas the windshirt is a lighter solution to breezes.

If I wanted to go really light, I’d bring 2 x capilene lightweight and then a really breathable windshirt (50 CFM) to deal with chilly winds and bugs, but the trekking shirt is nicer when the bugs are moderate, and it’s a classy shirt, so I like bringing it on longer treks.

The Sun Stretch uses 2.3oz/yd fabric. If they could come up with a similarly bug proof synethetic fabric around 1.5oz/yd, it would be awesome and still durable enough IMO. Other than one mishap with a trekking pole tip, I’ve never damaged my Patagonia trekking shirts.

[Ben C]

Beautiful trip.  It makes me want to go.  I love how you’ve filmed some of the bad weather hiking too.  Most of us don’t feel like pulling out the camera when it’s raining or snowing, but it makes the experience feel much more real in your film.

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

Thanks Ben. I wish I’d done more of that. I captured some of the snow squalls along the way, but not too many of the rainy days. Definitely good to do.

[William Chilton]

We’ve been saving the last few videos until we could view them on a large screen as we’ve been away from a computer for a while. They’ve made our return to home, and therefore work, much more bearable. Thanks for all your work preparing and sharing them. For anybody who hasn’t come across it, I noticed on youtube that Chapter 8 is available, but not linked to on this thread.

Really looking forward to Chapter 9.

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

Nice to hear you’re enjoying the videos Will! They’re a lot of work to make, but it’s great to be able to share what a cool trail the GDT is.

Yes Chapter Eight it out (below). I’m about 1/2 way done Chapter Nine – the final one. I think it’s going to be a pretty cool episode with the big snow storm at the end. I hope to have that done by Wednesday at the latest – hopefully sooner.

Once I get that final Chapter done, I’m going to compile them all into a single 65 minute video and improve it a bit by adding maps between episodes so it’s easier to understand where we are, as well as fix some of the editing in the early episodes (this is my first time using Final Cut Pro, so I’ve learned quite a bit over the process).

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

And the final instalment:

Soon I’m going to compile all the episodes into a single 70 minute documentary, which will basically be the same footage except I’m going to improve some of the editing early on (when I didn’t know what I was doing), and I’m going to add maps between each chapter so it’s clear where we are.

[Ryan Tucker]

Thanks for sharing. I was given Apple TV and watched the final episode on my big screen.

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

Glad you were able to watch Ryan!

[Ian]

I’m late to the party but fantastic work Dan.  I’m up to Chaoter four and it really look like some amazing country.

You two have a future with hula hooping and trekking pole flipping

[Author]

Posts