Packing...

It's May 19 and we are busily preparing to go out and do a little test run before heading down the Middle Fork of the Salmon river on June first.  Just yesterday our truck which we were hoping would get us to the edge of the wilderness we plan to explore, broke down at the tire company in town where we were getting some advice about tire chains.  Better that it happened there and not out in the middle of nowhere, something which we are also familiar with.  Last year, out on a month-long filming gig, that truck broke down with a badly leaking transmission after chugging us slowly up and over two mountain passes and sixty miles from no where.  It ended up being a hilarious (at least in hindsight) adventure consisting of two days spent walking and hitch hiking (on the backs of one-person motorbikes over extremely rutted dirt roads, and with a couple of Boise State football players wearing nothing more than their underwear and layers of bandages from a fall into the river) our way back out of the wilderness.

  

Our plan is to head out on Friday of this week (May 22) to film for a week or ten days, then return to McCall to check in briefly before heading out on the river for the real beginning of our yearlong journey.  That way we can work out any kinks in our system (we haven't truly tested our solar charging yet, and are fairly dependent on it for re-charging camera batteries, sound equipment, computer for downloading footage... the list is endless).  Simple trip into the wilderness, right?  If we hadn't decided to try to film it all it sure would be a lot easier! :)

But we are very excited to finally be hitting the trails after two years of preparations.  This is the part we've been waiting for, and why we wanted to do it in the first place.

So, if we don't end up buried under mounds of camera gear and dehydrated food in the next few days, we will be off.  But I will try to check in one more time before we actually pack ourselves into Bessie (our trusty, or at least mostly trusty, truck) and head off. 

Hello and Welcome

We will be officially hitting the trails on June 1, or more accurately hitting the water, as our plan is to float three days into the wilderness on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, where we will be dropped off to begin hiking.

    

   This is something we have decided to try kind of last minute.  It will be fun for us to write, and hopefully it will give all our supporters and anyone else out there who might be interested in following our journey something a little more concrete than “we’re going to be wandering around in th Te wilderness for the next thirteen months...”.  We aren’t lying when we say we don’t know where we’re going to be, and we hope to be flexible enough to follow our senses and search out interesting things that will be going on, where ever they may lead us.  With this blog we will be able to write a somewhat “live” journal of our progress.

    First off, I want to say that we will not be able to update the blog all that regularly.  We will be in the wilderness and obviously will not have web access.  However, during the summer, fall and following spring months, we will pop out into the outside world every so often in order to re-supply food and deal with any camera/logistical things that are bound to come up once in a while (notice my abundant use of very vague, non-specific time related words).  I have no idea how often that will be, but will update the blog whenever we have access.  So expect to see long periods of time with no additions, and then a flush of new entries.  This way we can give updates on where we are (for those wanting to check out a map), and where we plan to be as things unfold, and what we’re finding, what isn’t working, how hungry the mosquitoes are, and how we’re holding up.  Maybe even a few pictures if I can figure out that part of the inner blog workings...

    Anyway, enough introductions, expectations, and excuses!  We are very excited to be finally hitting the trails in a few short weeks.  And though the list of things to do before we head out seems to be getting longer and longer, somehow we are still making progress.