I'm most of the way through my second virtual hike of the 2,650 mile Pacific Crest Trail and boy are my legs not tired! My first hike was courtesy of Joe Brewer, while this one is brought to me by Dixie!
Dixie has a good thing going: about once a week she uploads a heap of raw footage to her Dropbox account. At that point her editor, Aaron, works his magic and turns the content into a 10 minute video. Between her videography and Aaron's editing, the results are quite impressive.
The videos work for a number of reasons. First off, Dixie's Southern drawl and upbeat attitude means that she's a natural on camera. And of course, the views are often spectacular and the challenges immense. But it's more than that. The videos begin to capture the scale of the trail in a way that's hard to convey. Turning a 2,650 mile trek into a 4 minute video may be watchable, but it won't convey the shear challenge. On the other hand, hours of footage would no doubt highlight the full the scope of the trail, yet who has the time? 10 judiciously cut minutes a week, however, does the trick.
You can feel the relentless heat of the desert; the pain of blisters; the reality of dealing with 'blah' days; the anxiety of walking into a the Sierras and the joy of knocking out milestone after milestone. You also get a feel for what life is like on trail. Even I was surprised at how connected the whole affair is, with cell phones playing a near essential role in coordinating the day to day execution of the trail (at least for the later sections I've seen). With that said, there are plenty of moments where the loneliness of the trail comes through loud and clear.
It's been years since I've watched 'Reality TV.' But Dixie's adventure, that's the real deal. Seriously, hit play on the first day of her hike and see if you can stop:
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