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Rating: 
Summary: Helping me plan my dream...
Review: Get out your notepads and take some notes because this documentary ISN'T your typical scenic documentary that tells nothing of what trail life is really like. While TREK does include some beautiful scenery, the footage mainly serves the purpose to describe the terrain one would encounter. Although the scenic documentaries might inspire the recluse or Throeau-like hiker to hit the trail, TREK gives a real account of what it's like to complete the AT in its entirety.
Having hiked some of the more difficult portions of the trail in New England, I could relate to the hikers mental and physical ups and downs. But watching them surmount much adversity and work together as a team to accomplish their goal made me want to quit my job today and start hiking! I would like to hike the entire AT one day and TREK also provided great instructional tips for before and during the hike like mail drops and shedding backpack pounds. I also appreciated the more human element present in the film that culminated in a great summit finale with a lot of the friends they met along the way.
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Summary: Reminded me of my thruhike!
Review: I started my AT Thruhike a month before these guys, and finished three days after them. While I never met them (they passed me sometime in Maine), I knew almost a dozen people who finished the same day they did. Watching this video really brought back some memories! Most other AT books/videos try to hype a thruhike as some sort of mystical/magical vision quest. Yes, a thruhike is a great journey, filled with adventure, excitment, and time for quiet introspection. But it is also full of physical discomfort and tedium. If "PF from Raleigh" (below) ever manages to do a real thruhike, he/she will learn that this video captures the essence of a thruhike far more accurately than any other video out there. I've watched several thruhike videos, but this is the first one I've seen that managed to capture the reality of a thruhike as I experienced it. Note: I watched the DVD version, which is not listed on Amazon as of 2004/06/10, but Brian from Cirque Productions assured me earlier today that it will be listed soon.
Rating:
Summary: Wonder no more
Review: I've been interested in the Appalachian Trail, mainly thru-hiking it, for over 10 years now. About two years ago I made the commitment of starting a journey of my own from Springer Mt., GA after finishing school. Since then I've spent hour after hour reading guidebooks, searching the internet, talking to people who had been on trail and trying to get a feel for what I was getting myself into. Then I saw TREK. Any question, doubt or apprehension I may have had was erased. This movie is the end-all be-all of AT insight. If you're interested in the trail (maybe you've had your heart set on hiking it "someday") or you just like the outdoors, watch this movie; that "someday" may not be too far off.
Rating:
Summary: What a wonderful story
Review: The video is very interesting, entertaining, and thought-provoking. It tells the real life experience of four hikers in their endevour of hiking the Appalachian trail (over 2000 miles) in one summer. The best part is the actual physical and mental changes these young men go through during the trip. They meet many challenges along the way, at times question their sanity for undergoing such a trip but eventually triumph by overcoming the obstacles. The friendships that are made along the trip and the wonderful, real people that are introduced make you realize that this world is a good place.
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