Congratulations on a masterpiece! Your knack for capturing the various and plentiful vignettes of of everyday life on the trail that are overlooked by other trail vloggers is what, in my opinion, elevates your work to the highest level. I am referring to your liberal use of time lapses of clouds and stars as well as close ups of your stove with coffee mug atop your JetBoil at the moment of ignition with accompanying crystal clear sound that pierces the windless silence of a pre dawn morning; the close ups of the texture of a fallen log or rock face as you walk past; the zoom/pan shots of a sheer granite face on the opposite side of the valley; the time lapses of the shadow of the opposite ridgeline slowly moving up an alpine face as sunset approaches; The sound of raindrops on the tent fly; your well phrased comments on the importance of not waiting for tomorrow to enjoy an adventure that you yearn for but will never come unless you don't wait for "tomorrow". In my view your video stands well above my previous favorite JMT video "Mile, Mile and a Half" which was clearly produced with a much higher budget. I have been backpacking, mountaineering, bike packing, canoeing and white water kayaking for the past 50 years and am planning my own JMT hike for July this summer and will definitely frequently remind myself ( thanks to you ) that I am enjoying "Good times". One thing I am curious about is which camera did you use to record your moving on trail commentary? Was it the M50 or the GoPro? Best wishes to you and your brother for a long and happy life !

@SideTrailAdventures

2 жыл бұрын

Wow, your comments have lifted me up like few others. Thank you so much for your very kind words. I put a great deal of effort into these videos and knowing that someone appreciates them as much as I do means a great deal. Unless it was raining, I used the M50 to record the commentary. I felt like using the external mic just gave a better sound product to work with when it came to editing (blocking out wind noise, etc). Good luck on your hike this summer and thanks for watching!

Thank you so much for this video! Not only is the area you filmed in beautiful but your break down on all the items you used was SO helpful. I have that battery pack from HillTop and LOVE LOVE LOVE it Thank you Andrew.

@SideTrailAdventures

2 жыл бұрын

It's hard to compete with this scenery! Thanks for watching!

The details with your equipment definitely shine through with your video's. Thanks for sharing!

@SideTrailAdventures

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks Jester!

This is awesome! Thanks for taking us behind the scenes. Crow✌️

@SideTrailAdventures

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching good sir!

Thank you. Finally, a video that gives me some insight and confirms what I'll need for camera gear on my upcoming 4 day trip into the Great Smokey Mountains. I'm new to capturing footage of my trips, and I just purchased my first action camera. I did purchase an additional 2 batteries plus a charger for a total of 4 batteries. In addition, I'm bringing 55000 mah worth of battery packs for charging.

@SideTrailAdventures

9 ай бұрын

Right on! Sounds like you're set up for success. Enjoy the Smokies and thanks for watching!

Great breakdown of your electronics. I have the same fear...mostly regarding running out of power. My electronics bag weighed a ton. I have two Anker 21000 mAh power banks and they weigh a ton. I carried them for the first half of the TRT and ended up sending one home. BIG mistake! I won't do that again. I did find an inexpensive solar charger that worked remarkably well that I'll take on future trips, and leave one of the power banks behind. I just ordered those memory card storage cases. Brilliant! Using a little ziploc is annoying because the ink wore off after the first couple of days. LOL! I'm looking forward to checking out the rest of your content!

@SideTrailAdventures

2 жыл бұрын

The SD card holders are perfect...simple and light 👍 I had considered a solar option but couldn't find anything that was efficient enough to justify. I've got an Anker 21W solar panel but it weighs just as much as one of those battery banks. I think when weight is less of a factor and maybe for a base camp, I'd consider it. Thanks for watching!

Hello Side Trail Adventures! Thank you for showing me a nice video! I really enjoyed it! That's great! Thank you for sharing! Best regards in the future!

@SideTrailAdventures

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for sharing!

@SideTrailAdventures

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching sir!

Thx. Some good ideas.

@SideTrailAdventures

2 жыл бұрын

Right on, thanks for watching!

Never too many batteries! Lol. I'll share this over on Hilltop Packs Facebook page. Thanks!

@SideTrailAdventures

2 жыл бұрын

Indeed! Thank you for the share good sir!

Excellent tips and help from someone who has had good and bad experiences. One thing that really surprised me was the night Timelapse of the stars was shot with the GoPro! I would have bet you used the 1.4 aperture lens and the M50. I loved those time lapse! Thanks for the in depth show and tell all!

@SideTrailAdventures

2 жыл бұрын

One of the major flaws of the M50 is that it doesn't charge via USB so I can't hook it up to an extra battery bank to keep it running. It would no doubt get better visual results than the GoPro but only capture a fraction of the sky. The GoPro does surprisingly well for such a tiny camera. It cranks out RAW images which are great for editing. Maybe one day I'll upgrade from the M50 to another camera that opens up that possibility🤞 Thanks for watching!

@hike-bike-paddle-and-drone

2 жыл бұрын

@@SideTrailAdventures good info Austin. I was kind of looking at the M50 because I have a lot of EOS lenses and I was looking for a more hiking friendly size camera. I will research some more. Fabulous quality video you got though! Jeff

@hike-bike-paddle-and-drone

2 жыл бұрын

kzread.info/dash/bejne/hoOk1amYms-rkrg.html

Been looking for this kind of a video. This is by far the best and most detailed one. Thx for sharing

@SideTrailAdventures

2 жыл бұрын

Right on! I figured there'd be more videos out there on filming with as many people out there talking to a camera on trail 😂 Thanks for watching!

Excellent electronics summary. Thank you! Most of these videos are bare minimum and don't cover actual usage. I just wish there was a way to backup directly from your memory cards to an external HD. It would eliminate 1 device and 1 cable. Were you able to capture any of this in 4K? I have a start date for a SB JMT hike starting late June. I can't wait and am tempted to bring about 5 lbs of cameras, chargers and batteries. At 60, this may be my first and last attempt to hike and film this awesome experience. 😁

@SideTrailAdventures

2 жыл бұрын

Congrats on the SOBO permit! So awesome! If you're interested in a direct SD to hard drive device, check out the Gnarbox. It's just to pricey for my taste but does what you're talking about. I shoot most everything in 1080 or 2.7K. I've found the 4K files are just a little too unmanageable during the editing process. They also take up a lot more storage space than the other resolutions. I agree though that weight for the cameras, accessories, etc. is completely worth it. The footage that you take home is forever and can bring you back to some of those magical trail moments when you need them most. Thanks for watching and good luck out there!

@lightwalker4558

2 жыл бұрын

@@SideTrailAdventures Thanks. I found a few direct devices on Amazon but they are crazy $. Hence, I will most likely get the one you have. I know a famous blogger that accidentally deleted a week's worth of video, which is another good reason to backup data on trail.

@SideTrailAdventures

2 жыл бұрын

@@lightwalker4558 yeah....lost footage makes my heart hurt. Better safe than sorry.

Did you see any hikers with a sunbrella? I have one and was thinking of bringing it with me. It weighs about 8 oz.

@SideTrailAdventures

2 жыл бұрын

We saw a few of them but we opted to cover up in other ways. I like being able to look up at the scenery (which happened a lot).

This is interesting, thanks! Where and how do you attach your GoPro when you walk? Do you keep it always attached to a stick in your hand?

@SideTrailAdventures

2 жыл бұрын

I have the GoPro mounted on an Ultra Pod tripod, then rigged up some shock cord with a tensioner around a strap on my hip belt. When I'm not using the GoPro, I synch it down with the shock cord and it doesn't go anywhere. Keeps it accessible when I want to use it quickly but still out the way. Thanks for watching!

Recognize those cameras! Cool walk through of your camera set up. Did you have any water leak into the battery pack on this last trip with all the rain?

@SideTrailAdventures

2 жыл бұрын

I had a different setup for the ATC, but kept the battery bag buried in a dry bag inside a pack liner...for reasons I'm sure you're aware of. I'd be interested in a roll top battery bag but there's only one thing better than a dry bag...another dry bag inside of it.👍😎

@MetroOnTheMove

2 жыл бұрын

@@SideTrailAdventures agreed! After that last trip we all learned to take an extra dry bag.

How many GoPro batteries do you estimate that you actually use in between charging at a resupply point like MTR, VVR, or Independence?

@SideTrailAdventures

2 жыл бұрын

For me, I was able to get use 1 battery per day with the way I used the GoPro. I'd only use for B-roll so it'd be 30 seconds here, 1 minute there, etc. Obviously if I was relying more on the GoPro, I'd probably go through the battery faster. Just as a side note, I wouldn't consider MTR a good recharging option. There's no camping there so you can really only charge up while you sit there. I just plugged in my battery banks while we ate lunch there and re-filled our bear cans...so no really meaningful charge. We zeroed at VVR and Independence so that's where I got the most bang for the buck with charging. Thanks for watching!

@lohyewcheong

2 жыл бұрын

@@SideTrailAdventures thank you very much for sharing your knowledge with me!

so, were we supposed to judge you...i forgot to judge you

@SideTrailAdventures

2 жыл бұрын

I guess everyone has an opinion.