What I’m Watching: Justin Outdoors

Considering the amount of time I’ve spent watching video logs of hiking trips online, I was a bit surprised to recently come across a series that I hadn’t seen before: a Great Divide Trail thru-hike, from the American-Canadian border all the way to Kakwa Lake, the Northernmost terminus. I search often for videos on the Great Divide Trail, because of the route it takes through wilderness areas that are rarely traversed, and of course for its natural beauty. The trail is a relatively new trail that traverses the Southern portion of the Canadian Rockies. (See my proposed Northern Divide Trail that would cover the rest of the Rocky Mountains up to the Liard River).

So, given that I’ve already seen many videos on the trail, I was surprised to come across a completely new series by a channel called Justin Outdoors. And it is a well-done log of the entire trip. Justin put out one video per day, every day, from the beginning to the end of the trip, which lasted over a month. Not only that, but each video is not just a short summary, but rather updates throughout the day, from morning until night.

One thing that Justin does differently than most other adventure channels that I’ve followed is that he is quite open and honest about the mental challenges that he faces when completing his quest. He doesn’t simply mention a day later that the previous day was a difficult one. He actually makes the effort to get the camera out and talk about how he’s feeling, while he’s feeling it. I can appreciate the effort that it takes, not just to expose that side of the adventure, but also to overcome the hurdle of filming at the time when you most feel like putting the camera away.

Also, just as a hiker who has been following other hikers on the Great Divide Trail for some time, I appreciate the tenacity of hiking all the way to Kakwa Lake. I must admit that I have been dissapointed in the past to find someone who has made a summary video of their GDT hike, and seeing that the video is of considerable length, hope to see the entire trail, only to find tat the hike ended at Jasper, which leaves a considerable portion of the trail untouched. I understand that hiking out of Kakwa Lake is not easy, which leads me to appreciate all the more a hike such as Justin’s, which accomplished that feat.

In addition, I was impressed to see Justin taking on many of the more difficult alternate routes. Many choose to take the official route, which in some sections follows a dirt road through a valley. Justin met the extra challenge of climbing to altitude and tackling the even lesser-traveled alternate routes, despite the added dangers of cliffs and exposed ridge lines.

I hope to see Justin put out more thru-hiking content on his trail. Certainly most trails take longer to complete than the Great Divide Trail, which is an obstacle, but I would be interested to see how he compares the GDT to other trails, especially the Continental Divide. In any case, I can only recommend checking out the GDT thru-hike for a comprehensive take on not only the trail itself, but the mind of a thru-hiker each and every day of a thru-hike.