PCT Film – It is the People

[rOg w]

Not sure if you all have seen this movie, but this small film is one of the finest thru hiking films I have seen.  Every aspect is top notch.  Check it out.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hiVbB7Pf2lY&t=3s

[David Thomas]

Thanks.  That does capture more of it in 16 minutes than any other video I’ve seen.

[David Noll]

Outstanding.

[jscott]

I have real issues with films that use quick and constant jump cuts. shots that only last one or two seconds. Drives me batty.

“here’s a quick glimpse of a stunning landscape; wait, here’s another; gone! on to my friend eating a burger; etc.”

it’s that mtv style that I find unwatchable. Are we all extreme ADDed?

[AK Granola]

I’m an old fuddy duddy, but I was the same when I was backpacking in my 20s, so this film, while well produced, isn’t my favorite. I’d rather travel a trail with 2-3 trusted close companions. I intentionally avoid any large groups of partiers, and I try to be quiet when camping in group areas, to respect others. There are huge groups in this film! I get it – they’re young and free and wild, etc. Maybe because my parents weren’t authoritarian, so I had a lot of freedom all my life and didn’t need to rebel, maybe because I grew up hiking and camping far from people. Maybe it’s because my family camped quietly, with small cooking and warming fires, sitting and observing a lot, talking minimally except maybe around meals. Sunday was hiking day, and we walked quietly most of the time. Of course when we were kids, we threw rocks into water, ran around, made noise, etc. But we didn’t ever go with big groups. It wasn’t about us or analyzing ourselves, it was about paying attention to what was around us.

I just never felt the need to get out into the wild to toss back a fifth of liquor and light a huge bonfire. I don’t know, but the lifestyle in this film doesn’t appeal to me one whit. As long as they commit to leave no trace, supporting public lands, and giving back, it’s all good, more power to them. I hope they love the land as much as they love the party. I just cringed throughout the film – I would have a lot of fear being near that many drunk young men! I’m sure they’re 99% nice people, but my own experiences being around drunk young men leaves me without trust. I would avoid, avoid, avoid and that was my feeling throughout this film. Get away, quickly!

I actually really like the slower, calmer films that really show the landscape, the animals and plants, the insects, the flowers, rather than the people or food or blistered feet or continual closeups of the filmmaker’s face. I like Restless Kiwi’s films for the landscape scenes (the butterflies in the desert areas!), Dixie’s for the critters and small things. Darwin when he’s totally alone and just the trail, the streams, etc. While I like sharing the experience with spouse, kids, or close friends, for me it is definitely not “the people the people the people” that attract me to backpacking; it’s nature.

[jscott]

I’m with Karen.

I’ve run into pcter groups at times. they form a real bond with each other; have trail names and are highly social. I’m sure it’s fun for that type of personality.
It’s exactly not what I’m looking for on my trips. But I’m not out for months at a time!

[AK Granola]

If you really want an ADHD PCT film, this is it:

I did enjoy this one with mostly scenes of the trail itself. But it does go fast!

[Todd T]

I guess you’ll have to count me with the fuddy-duddies.  Like some others, the blasts of sub-second picture views are about as far from enjoyable or interesting as I can imagine.  And though I agree that people are important, there’s all kinds of people all around me all the time.  If I head into the wilderness, I’d really rather not have crowds around me every second of every long, long day.  Fortunately, it’s okay for everyone to like different things.

[JCH]

“Fortunately, it’s okay for everyone to like different things.”

I hate how often I have to re-learn that my opinion is precisely that…my opinion.  I suppose I must be both opinionated and a slow learner.

[Mike M]

I guess there is a reason thru hikes don’t overly appeal to me, I’m not a people person :)

 

 

[Nick Gatel]

It just watched it, well sorta, I did fast forward through a lot of it.

The title sums it up:

It Is The People | A Pacific Crest Trail Film

It’s about people, not the outdoors. This has become a problem IMO. If there were no blogs or social media to document one’s success as a backpacker, I bet the backpacker population would decrease significantly, which come to think about it, would just wonderful in my opinion.

[Doug Coe]

I watched all of her PCT videos a while back and love her photography and editing. She’s a real pro.

She tells in her first one just how eager she was to meet new friends to join up with on her thru-hike. I guess she’s a people person.

I can’t conceive of ever wanting to do such a long hike, but if I did, I really don’t know how much socializing I’d want to do. New friends are nice and a small group to camp with at the end of some days might be great. Not eleven though!

[rOg w]

I would never want to hike in a group that size either.  What I did appreciate about the film were all the little things that make up the human experience.  Her hike on the PCT happened to be the setting for her narrative.  Much like the island on LOST.  The tv show was never about the island just like Elina’s movie was never about the PCT.

Also, her experience in life, as well as a backpacker in her twenties, is going to be different than that of a 50+ year old introvert.  What twenty year old kid isn’t going to approach such an undertaking with unbridled enthusiasm and be ecstatic to meet like minded individuals pursuing a similar goal.  What Elina created, and I found interesting was a poetic and honest visual diary of a life experience that few will undertake and she did it with her own artistic way.  Her film is a break form the mold of solo hikers walking in front of the camera, prattling endlessly about what they just did, are doing or are gonna do.

Her narrative sounds like a incredibly well written book.  And the editing of the film to her spoken narrative was distinctly stylized and artistic.  She made a film about her experience.  Would I want to have her experience?  Not at all, but I do appreciate the effort, energy and passion that she put into creating a film that has her unique signature and stands out among all the rest of the cookie cutter hiking films.  She took all the complexities of the human experience and recorded them while exploring a vast and beautiful landscape.

I appreciate people who make me look at life a little differently, from a perspective I wouldn’t have otherwise.  That’s why I would rather hike with younger people than a couple of 50 year olds that see life the same way and have for the previous two decades.  Note, I am a near 50 year old.  Life is a grand adventure and the young see it as such.  Their optimistic world view hasn’t been dimmed by cynicism or personal defeat yet.

Her “backpacking film” is different and that is why I recommended it.  Have fun kids!

[Cameron M]

I think that the film is well-done and is an accurate portrayal of how the trail is being sold over social media and the internet generally. It is no secret that the social aspect is important for many. The idea of hiking with 11 people makes me cringe, HYOH, I don’t judge it, but its not for me. One more reason I spend most of my time off-trail…

[Author]

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