“Hiking the Appalachian Trail (AT) through The Great Smoky Mountains”
The audio was recorded on the trip to and from the trail.
A sort of “cut-up” method to create the film - Also thinking about Karlheinz Stockhausen.
- My reintroduction into the wild - from trail - to hostel - directly onto the freeway - the lives of modern human beings are fast and full of “purpose” - the speed of production and hum of industry no human can keep up with - or run fast enough alongside - we need wheels to hurry us along - categories to organize our lives and shaming to keep us focused on being productive members of society - our needs are no longer defined or basic - our wastefulness and gluttony has taken over - our value for materialism is based on social ranking systems - life is no longer easy or simple - it is a struggle for power and popularity.
- Originally theorized in 1921 by Benton Mackaye, The AT was to be a network of work camps and communities in the mountains from highest southern point (GA) to highest northern point (ME). Mackaye was convinced urban/industrial life’s pace was harmful to people and the trail was a place to renew oneself. The trail was “completed” several times - 1937 - and again in 1951 - after WWII settled and people returned to some sort of normality - today work continues. A great majority of The Appalachian Mountains have been logged - most of its trees are from second growth.
- The Smoky Mountains are being destroyed by acid rain - as well as an East Asian invasive insect - lady bugs have been introduced in attempts to control the pests - this past winter season brought a lot of wind and ice and toppled a great number of shallow rooted trees through the park. Since human aviation - 50+ planes have crashed in the Smoky’s - some along the trail.