This is the High Sierra, the range of light that stretches across the California wilderness.
The John Muir Trail has the reputation of being the most famous and the most beautiful
and round trail in the world.
We start in Yosemite Valley with the Ansel Adams Wilderness, John Muir Wilderness.
It's a queer redwood forest.
And then finally into the highest point in the continental U.S. under my Whitney.
The scenery is just supposed to be monumental the entire time.
Every day is supposed to be just the best day.
Backpacker rates at number one trail in the world.
Everybody else that's done it says it's the most spectacular thing.
So I figure might as well take a bunch of high school guys out here and come check this thing out.
For these five Chapel Hill High School students, a 220-mile 16-day backpacking trip through these mountains was a golden opportunity.
I've never done anything this physically. It's strenuous.
I'm a little nervous. I really don't know how hard it's going to be.
They might think I'm kind of crazy for doing this.
I've never done this before.
Ever. Don't tell Brian.
Yeah, I hope my food doesn't get eaten by bears.
There's just no resupplies. There's no road crossings. There's nothing.
There's probably not a tougher 200 miles in the country.
A stop for bear canisters and wilderness permits, and our group was set to get to hiking it.
This is a gnarly trail. It's sweet. We've gone up like 2,000 feet already, and like, haven't even hiked that far.
But I'm feeling good.
Some were liking it better than others.
I don't want my trail name to be involved, but I've already thrown up three times on this trip.
Day two, we're at mile 10. You know, we're keeping it slow on purpose, though.
Day four of the trek proved to be the most dramatic yet.
I grew up in Yosemite. We'd have some problem bears.
They would trap the bears, and they'd ship them off past Wallamy in the backcountry in the wild can.
That place is just full of bears, and they tell you not to camp there, but apparently some people didn't get that info.
Hey!
Unable to cram anything else into their bear-proof canisters, food and other scented items were carefully hung in a tree above camp.
This is not an approved food storage method.
Smashed.
So let me just tell you what happened.
He just came straight through this camp site and stole all of our food.
I looked out, and I saw eyes looking at me, and I went, oh crap, we got a big bear.
He was like, that's a bear, and I was like, quit playing.
That was awesome. No, that wasn't awesome.
I got about, you know, three good minutes of sleep before the bear came into the camp and took all my food.
That was ridiculous.
There were resupply points in the next few days.
This is what I'm here for. Bring the heat.
Switchbacks led for miles over alpine passes, across canyons, and along countless lakes.
The group so far were definitely taking a beating, like everyone is just beat up.
There's the big one.
Oh, that's foot one. That's not the one.
Yeah, I'm having fun. It's definitely a challenge.
Parts of the area are not so fun, but overall, it's definitely very rewarding.
I think it's a lot of mental. If you just push through it, you can do it.
Beef stroganoff is legit.
After days on trail, the food mood sets in.
I'm starving.
All I could think about on the way down was sesame chicken.
Three baconators, medium-sized drink, small frosting, and a small fry.
These are pancakes.
Oh, no, no. It's good. It's good. It's good.
Oh, yes!
Whoo-hoo!
Yeah, you just did them.
It goes down kind of funny.
It's all mental. I'm not really hungry.
My stomach's just saying I'm hungry.
I told you I'm starving.
So, like, I can go to that food. Gandhi did.
He's hungry.
Is that the one you caught?
Yeah, this is the fish I caught.
It's just awesome.
The motivation to keep going is just to have that accomplishment, just to finish this.
I mean, this is not just some easy little trail out in the woods.
It's 220 miles up and down mountains with 35 pounds on our backs.
This is definitely a pretty epic trip.
In 1894, John Muir rode.
It is so gloriously colored and so luminous,
it seems to be not clothed with light, but wholly composed of it.
Like the wall of some celestial city.
These hikers can attest to that.
And it's just so huge and it's so magnificent.
It's almost just hard to take in.
They can also tell you how rewarding it is to experience it in person.
By far one of the coolest things I've ever done.
You can see all these amazing jagged peaks,
but to really be in here in the moment, climbing up that tallacy rock pile,
it's a totally different experience. It makes you all feel alive.
When I've been hiking earlier, like, especially day four,
I was like, oh my gosh, I hate this. This is awful.
I was like, when I get home, my pack is going to the garbage.
This is terrible.
I, Adam Skynred, do not hate hiking as of right now.
But then on five or six, I was like, it doesn't matter how hard this is,
I'm so lucky to be out here.
Lucky to have lived the dream,
and perhaps inspiring others to realize their connection to places like this.
