VIMFF: Lauren Blackburn and Steven Cossin – Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail at The Cinematheque, Thursday, Feb. 16 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets and info: vimff.org/tickets.
After hiking more than 1,000 kilometres through the California desert, North Vancouver resident Lauren Blackburn was ready for a scenery change.
“There’s cactus,” Blackburn says of the sights and sounds of the desert. “There’s the Joshua Trees – but because the desert is 700 miles (1,126 kilometres), you get kind of bored of seeing that. You really just want to see those majestic mountains which is the reason why you did the hike in the first place.”
Blackburn is referring to the mountainous regions within the South Sierra Wilderness, a massive federally protected area in eastern California. And the hike: the epic Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), a long distance hike that takes journeyers from the U.S.-Mexico border in Campo, Calif. and concludes at the edge of Manning Park in B.C.
Those bold enough to see the trek to completion can look forward to crossing through three states, hiking over 4,000 kilometres and experiencing diverse climates along the way.
As the hot, dusty desert portion of the PCT began to wear on her, Blackburn says she reached Kennedy Meadows near the Sierra Wilderness. The oppressive desert gradually transformed into giant mountains, trees and cooler temperatures, she says. A change of pace, for the time being.
“I’ve always wanted to do the trail, but the thought of doing it solo freaked me out,” she says about her initial apprehensions. “It’s pretty hard to find someone who wants to go hiking for five or six months.”
Well, Blackburn did indeed find someone to go hiking with over a five-month period from April to September last year – and Vancouver residents now have the chance to hear the duo talk about their experiences, the good and the bad, at this year’s Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival (VIMFF).
The talk, called “2,650 miles long and 18 inches wide: a Journey Along the Pacific Crest Trail,” will be an intimate look at Blackburn and hiking partner Steven Cossin’s journey, including video clips and pictures of impressive PCT locations and stories of their hardships and successes during the trek.
Blackburn, who is 24 years old and lives in Deep Cove, started the hike as a solo adventurer, much to the worry of her parents, but ended up meeting Cossin around one of the small towns and campsites that litter the way along the PCT. “We happened to meet about 500 miles into the trail,” she says. “It just kind of worked where we became quite close because we had similar goals and we ended up finishing the trail together.”
The VIMFF had its inaugural showing in North Vancouver in 1998 and is dedicated to presenting outdoor and mountaineering films that illustrate diverse experiences and cultures. The presentation will allow Blackburn and Cossin to share their story in an unfiltered way about the PCT.
“I think for a lot of people they have heard of it, and although there’s a lot of resources of it online, it’s hard to get a grasp of what it really feels like to walk on the trail,” Blackburn says. “A lot of blogs kind of sugar-coat it.”
And in effort to combat this, she says her and Cossin’s presentation will be all-encompassing: they will focus on the highlights and the low-points that inevitably arise during a multi-month-long trail hike.
For example, it’s likely that over a five-month trek one might succumb to illness and Blackburn diligently recounts a time during their trek where she got terribly sick.
“I would try and walk for about 20 minutes and then I would have to sit down and dry-heave on the side of the trail. And then I actually throw up a few times near the end,” she says. Blackburn says she and Cossin did eventually make it to camp that night – but it was a struggle. “Hiking when you’re feeling like that is really not great.”
But overall a massive hike such as the PCT is about the total experience, and Blackburn highlights being surrounded by and meeting diverse, like-minded people along the trail as one the best parts.
The PCT attracts hikers of all different backgrounds from around the world. Blackburn says they met other adventurers from Canada, the U.S., Japan, Germany, Taiwan and other places.
“Just having no judgements, everyone just kind of lays everything out on the table and just accepts everyone for who they are no matter what your differences are,” she says. “I really appreciated that.”
Blackburn and Cossin are giving their presentation on the Pacific Crest Trail at The Cinematheque movie theatre in Vancouver on Thursday, Feb. 16 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased by going to vimff.org/tickets.
