The John Muir Trail is the quintessential American hiking route. Located in California, the 211-mile-long trail runs from the summit of Mt. Whitney in the south to Happy Isles in Yosemite Valley in the north. Along the way it passes through some of the most pristine and spectacular wilderness in all of North America, including Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks.
In July of last year, a group of five friends set out to hike the entire length of the trail, documenting the journey as they went. Their trek lasted 25 days and culminated on the 14,505-foot summit of Whitney, where they were joined by an interesting assortment of characters that they met along the way. That same group of backpackers is now preparing to release a documentary about the trail and their experiences on it. They call the 87-minute long film “Mile… Mile & A Half” and as you can tell from the trailer below it looks fantastic.
The filmmakers hope to put the finishing touches on the film in the weeks ahead and get it ready to be shown in adventure film festivals across the country. With that in mind the team has launched a Kickstarter page to help raise funds to complete their project. With a little over a month to go, they’re about halfway to their goal and could use a little help getting over the top.
Thanks to the entire Muir Project team for giving Gadling an exclusive first look at this trailer.
Today’s Photo of the Day is a sand dune from the Mojave Desert in California. Taken by Luke Destefano, this photo captures the sand as it moves through the air, swept away with the wind. With a picture-perfect blue sky in the background contrasting the vivid orange of the dune, I can only imagine what it would have been like to see this in person. Here’s to hoping Luke had some goggles on at the time. Have you been to the Mojave Desert? Do you have photos from the trip to share with us? If so, upload them, as well as any other travel photos you have, to the Gadling Flickr Pool.
We’ve talked a lot about Google Street View here on Gadling. It seems that every month a new attraction is added to this amazing and somewhat sinister application.
The latest is a series of views of the great monuments of Mexico. Google has been cooperating with the National Institute of Anthropology and History to take images of important sites such as Teotihuacan, Palenque and Chichen Itza. They hope to have 80 sites online by the end of the year.
The uber-cool archaeology news website Past Horizons reports that instead of the usual Google Street View van, a tricycle took the 360-degree panoramas. This method has been used at other sensitive sites like Stonehenge. I’ve taken a look at some of them and they’re as crisp and clear as the photos Google took of your house.
The Mexican sites are only some of hundreds of important spots around the world taken as part of the Google World Wonders Project. Hit the link to see more.
[Photo of Templo de la Calavera at Palenque courtesy Tato Grasso]
On August 10, 2012, tons of ice fell off Canada’s Ghost Glacier on Mount Edith Cavell in Jasper National Park. The massive avalanche, which accounted for 50% to 60% of the glacier, fell into Cavell Pond at the base of the mountain, causing a mini-tsunami that flooded the area.
On the Jasper National Park Facebook page, they have stated, “Visitor safety is Parks Canada’s primary concern at this time. The 14 km Cavell Road is closed from its intersection with highway 93A to Mt. Edith Cavell, until the safety conditions in the area have been thoroughly assessed.
Access to the area trails, picnic areas, and Mt. Edith Cavell Hostel, will not be possible during this time.”
A Seattle day trip could mean visiting a variety of places. Think “Seattle” and images or thoughts of the Space Needle, Starbucks Coffee or TV’s “Grey’s Anatomy” might come to mind. But not far from the heart of the city is Paine Field airport where several attractions represent the past, present and future of aviation. Any one of them is worth a visit. Bundle several together and it’s a day trip from heaven for aviation fans.
Seattle’s Boeing Everett Factoryhouses the largest indoor manufacturing facility in the world. The space is so big that it can hold 33 football fields and make its own weather system if not properly ventilated. It’s also the home of the new 787 Dreamliner aircraft that will keep workers busy well into the future. We took a 90-minute tour, walking through the construction process from start to finish.
Next door, Boeing’s Future of Flight Aviation Center is also an interesting walk-through facility designed to stimulate innovative thinking.
Future of Flight includes an aviation gallery with interactive exhibits and displays, a rooftop observation deck overlooking Paine Field, full-size jet aircraft engines, a cutaway slice of an actual passenger jet that shows the areas passengers don’t see and more.
Voted one of the top aviation attractions in the world, visitors can take the only public tour of a commercial jet assembly plant in North America at the Future of Flight Aviation Center and Boeing Tour. The center features everything from airplane designs, materials, engines and flight systems to flight simulators.
Taking a unique look at the history of flight, two other places of interest to aviation fans, the Flying Heritage Collection and the Historic Flight Foundation, have nearly 30 actual, flying aircraft meant to be seen, touched and flown.
The Flying Heritage Collection has pieces created with leading technologies of the 1930s and 1940s as combat aircraft in World War II. The collection has U.S., British, German, Russian and Japanese aircraft types, many of which were often pitted against each other in great air battles.
The surviving aircraft were researched, found and sometimes recovered from former battlegrounds and airfields, then authentically restored.
Each summer, planes from the Flying Heritage Collection are flown to keep them operational and exercised on a regular basis. History buffs and aviation fans gather to witness the beauty of the vintage aircraft as they return to the skies, if only briefly. Year-round, some of the aircraft are available for hire, taking fans up in the air to view the area much like aviators of the past would have.
Another venue, the Historic Flight Foundation has engaged the best restoration resources available to return their collection to original splendor. Most always using original parts, the Historic Flight Foundation often searches the world over for what they need to keep the collection in the air. Those who work the collection are quick to point out “this is not a museum; our planes fly”.
Volunteer docents, many with first-hand knowledge about the operation and maintenance of their combined fleet, are eager to share their love of aviation with visitors.
Special events, open to the public, run throughout the summer and into the fall. Continuing this weekend, the Flying Heritage Collection continues its Fly Days series with the Battle of Britain Day on August 25, the IL-2 Debut on September 15 and the Ground Attack Day on September 29.
