When Club Adventures wanted to document a group of AAA travel agents hiking the Inca Trail in Peru, it was a dream come true.
The plan was simple enough: a 4-day trek with a Club Adventures tour leader and porters through the high Andes mountains, stopping to camp each night along the way before reaching the iconic ruins of Machu Picchu. But like all good adventures, this project had its detours.
One of the Club Adventures brand values is Travel Unscripted. Another is Expect the Unexpected. With this project there was no brief, there was no script. They wanted an authentic glimpse from a traveller’s perspective into what it’s like to hike the Inca Trail with them.
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So, how do you prepare for a journey of 70,000 steps over 4 days through the dramatic ranges of weather and terrain the Andes mountains will throw at you? I’m so thankful for the many years and tough lessons from backcountry camping, portaging and hiking that helped prepare me for this trip. made it easier to be ready at 5am with camera in-hand to capture the special moments as they happened.
Early on in the trek I noticed this hike meant something different to each person; everyone was struggling with something in their own way — physical, mental, emotional or a combination of the three. A trip like this is transformative for people going through something because it shows you what you’re capable of.
Knowing this helped inform which moments to capture that would nurture the overall theme of this short branded documentary: Rise & Grind.
