A Walk On The Wild Side - 3,000 Kilometres On Foot Through America

The Appalachian Trail is one of the longest hiking trails in the world. It starts in the US state of Georgia and passes through 14 states to Maine in the North. Normally hikers start the 3,400 kilometre trek in spring in the south-east of the USA and finish - if they have persevered that is - in autumn just in time for the Indian summer in the north-east. The Appalachian Trail, as the name suggests, follows the course of the Appalachians, a largely untamed, untouched mountain range. Calvin and Holly from Florida have decided to take on the challenge. Like them, some 2000 walkers take to the arduous and difficult route every year. In autumn only around 400 of them actually reach their destination, the summit of Mount Katahdin in Maine. Like everyone else, Calvin and Holly must carry their tents, sleeping bags and provisions on their backs. The film follows the two hikers on the trail. We watch as, step by step, these Americans so used to their creature comforts grow into tough campers. The beauty of the nature surrounding them and the simple life lived out of a rucksack appear to give the hikers a sense of peace and generosity that is so rare to find on the treadmill of normal life. Even after the first few days on the trail, we can see this inner peace growing in the hikers. Through three seasons and the most varied of landscapes, we accompany these intrepid hikers on the Appalachian Trail.

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