Peak Performance Project - Day 5
Dear friends and/or enemies,
Today I was going to blog about the great performances, the midnight jam session and dance parties, and all the dangers of bear-fighting... and then I decided to get lost in the woods.
Now, I grew up in rural Lavington (not Laughington, contrary topopular Pyper belief) and my backyards were usually quite woodsy. I don't claim to be the most hick-ish of creative directors, but I've spent some major time in the woods in the past so getting lost wasn't necessarily something I planned, nor planned for.
Up here, there is something called the Pinnacle. It's about a 30 minute hike straight up, maybe a medium rated hike, but the hardest one I've ever done since I was carrying more than 25 lbs of camera equipment. I made it to the top in some pretty good time, I got some pretty good shots and got to stand on top of the world. There was one part of shear rock that stopped right the edge and you could look down about 200 feet. Beautiful. So beautiful in fact that I spent more time looking through my camera lens than I did where I was going.
As I started to head down, I soon realized I didn't recognize much about the area I was wandering through. Fair enough, it all looked familiar. Coniferae, collapsing rocks, grass, it looked like I had been there before... alas, I had not been there before.
Now, I can't stress enough the angle of this hill I was on, I'll try to link to the video, but everytime you see this sharp peak in the background of films we've made this week, know that's exactly where I decided to "chill" today.
So I'm hobbling around on teetering walls of shady rock where evidence of past rockslides carry with them an odd ambivalence, thinking "Oh my god, I didn't bring any water and I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere in D&G underwear and I have no arch support. Could this get any worse?" Of course it could.
It was about 20 minutes after heading in the general direction I knew the path to be I thought, "It's going to be quite some time before I make it back down, I should radio to my peeps and update them on the current situation." Lo and behold, at some point during my escapade, I had lost my radio. So now, I'm up in the middle of nowhere in D&G undwear with no arch support, sweating like a pig in a LV bandana with no water, and I have no more links to the outside world.
Fuck Into The Wild, I'll give Emile Hirsch a run for his money any day.
I put my camera bag and tripod down and started looking for the radio everywhere I could have gone. My body was pretty tired at this point and I hated the idea that I'd have to climb back up the hill, but it was the right thing to do... so I did. I had to try and re-trace my steps and I'd never been so happy to see garbage in the form of an old Gatorade bottle someone had left in the woods, basically the only landmark I had. I was able to find the path from the top again, so perhaps it was all for the best.
Upon my return, I discovered that people had started to worry about my 'disappearance' and assumed I had decided to fight a bear, which obviously I did since I am the master of multi-tasking.
Lessons learned, a.k.a. Things I would like to bring next year:
I'm winding this post down now, sweet dreams everyone.
Love,
B
P.S. Oh sweet god, I just spilled the blended-iced-mocha-latte-frappe-double-half-kneecap all over myself and my favourite seat, Sir Winston Chairchill. I deserve this.
Today I was going to blog about the great performances, the midnight jam session and dance parties, and all the dangers of bear-fighting... and then I decided to get lost in the woods.
Now, I grew up in rural Lavington (not Laughington, contrary to
Up here, there is something called the Pinnacle. It's about a 30 minute hike straight up, maybe a medium rated hike, but the hardest one I've ever done since I was carrying more than 25 lbs of camera equipment. I made it to the top in some pretty good time, I got some pretty good shots and got to stand on top of the world. There was one part of shear rock that stopped right the edge and you could look down about 200 feet. Beautiful. So beautiful in fact that I spent more time looking through my camera lens than I did where I was going.
As I started to head down, I soon realized I didn't recognize much about the area I was wandering through. Fair enough, it all looked familiar. Coniferae, collapsing rocks, grass, it looked like I had been there before... alas, I had not been there before.
Now, I can't stress enough the angle of this hill I was on, I'll try to link to the video, but everytime you see this sharp peak in the background of films we've made this week, know that's exactly where I decided to "chill" today.
So I'm hobbling around on teetering walls of shady rock where evidence of past rockslides carry with them an odd ambivalence, thinking "Oh my god, I didn't bring any water and I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere in D&G underwear and I have no arch support. Could this get any worse?" Of course it could.
It was about 20 minutes after heading in the general direction I knew the path to be I thought, "It's going to be quite some time before I make it back down, I should radio to my peeps and update them on the current situation." Lo and behold, at some point during my escapade, I had lost my radio. So now, I'm up in the middle of nowhere in D&G undwear with no arch support, sweating like a pig in a LV bandana with no water, and I have no more links to the outside world.
Fuck Into The Wild, I'll give Emile Hirsch a run for his money any day.
I put my camera bag and tripod down and started looking for the radio everywhere I could have gone. My body was pretty tired at this point and I hated the idea that I'd have to climb back up the hill, but it was the right thing to do... so I did. I had to try and re-trace my steps and I'd never been so happy to see garbage in the form of an old Gatorade bottle someone had left in the woods, basically the only landmark I had. I was able to find the path from the top again, so perhaps it was all for the best.
Upon my return, I discovered that people had started to worry about my 'disappearance' and assumed I had decided to fight a bear, which obviously I did since I am the master of multi-tasking.
Lessons learned, a.k.a. Things I would like to bring next year:
- Hiking boots
- GPS/Compass
- More pairs of Nudies (unrelated)
- Bear-hunting gear
I'm winding this post down now, sweet dreams everyone.
Love,
B
P.S. Oh sweet god, I just spilled the blended-iced-mocha-latte-frappe-double-half-kneecap all over myself and my favourite seat, Sir Winston Chairchill. I deserve this.
- By Brandon W. Fletcher
- | Published 08/30/2009
