Anyone who lives in or has traveled throughout Oregon knows that Mt. Hood and the Oregon coastline are two of the most dramatic destinations in a dramatically beautiful state. Which makes the famous, 197-mile Hood to Coast relay–the “mother of all relays” that hits 29 years this August–all the more suitable as the subject of a quirky and exhilarating documentary on what it means to push your body and mind, invigorate your lifestyle, and party with your friends for 36 straight hours in the process. The trailer was just released before the film will be aired at SXSW 2010 next week; watch it above.
Kayaker Dave Hoffman has just posted raw footage of his weekend kayak trip to Metlako Falls near Eagle Creek outside of Portland, Ore. There are plenty of videos floating around out there of kayakers taking this fall, but this is a unique view from Hoffman’s own perspective. If you’re wondering what’s going on at the bottom, the visor on his helmet broke and slammed into his face, and his spray skirt imploded. Hoffman writes, “I cannot wait to do it again.” Warning: This video is not for the faint-of-heart, or for kids who should not hear cursing.
Trailspace.com is publishing a four-part series on how to plan for, and conquer, long-distance hiking. While the first article focuses on a few of the monster trails in the US, the advice–based on input from hundreds of trekkers–applies to just about any long-distance situation. In addition to this video of a family that hiked the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail over six months in 2004, highlights include:
* Get by on as little gear as possible
* Train regularly, and with extra weight
* If you plan to travel alone, train alone
Meanwhile, Kiwi adventurer Malcolm Law is about to set out on his 7 in 7 challenge in New Zealand: Hiking 223 miles of trail (7 of New Zealand’s Great Walks) in just 7 days. He says he plans to “make pain my friend.” Good cause, good goal. Happy trekking, Mal!
The Middle Fork of the Salmon is perhaps the best whitewater river in the Pacific Northwest. The beauty of the river is you raft 100 miles and there are a series of approximately 100 rapids. It’s rare, for many rivers in the Northwest to get a large amount of rafting days and get that many rapids. The best part about the entire trip is the hot springs at a number of the campsites. Our crew consisted of 20 people, and you could see we had to scout of a number of the rapids.
When J.J. Kelly and Josh Thomas met on the Appalachian Trail back in 2003, they ended up spending three months trekking those blue mountains together, and ultimately decided to plan an extravagant–and this time intentional–crossing of paths down the, er, river. What ensued promises to make for one of the best adventure films of the year.
Paddle to Seattle chronicles the adventures of these talented but let’s admit it, also lucky, friends as they paddled their way down from Alaska to Seattle in handmade wooden Pygmy kayaks. Three months and more than 1300 miles of some of the most remote terrain in North America later, the two braved all sorts of conditions, mishaps, and general raucousness suitable for this kind of adventure, which has been brilliantly edited into what Paddler Magazine calls “80 minutes of the best feature film about paddling produced in the last decade.” It’s their loss to not have made it just a bit further south to the brilliant paddling waters of Oregon, but still, we’re all very, very jealous.
