Filming An Episode of "Lost"?

I know, I know; enough stories about river-tracing already. Hiking upstream, bouldering, playing in the water, is that all I do? Isn't it boring yet? “Get a life,” exclaims the proposed advice spoken under the reader's breath. Wednesday though offered tracing with benefits. To be fair, the hike we accomplished is as close to river-tracing as humanity is to ontological completeness . The river eventually becomes a beast to tackle but our destiny was elsewhere this day.


Wouldn't it be cool if our adventures warranted a camera crew? As if we were needed to help pack gear and supplies from the trail-head to a remote spot where a scene could be documented. Well, today we experienced this... kinda. Departing the country with a bang, an ex-coworker of Dacota's, that he owed a favor to, is shooting the second out of three parts of his self written, acted and directed independent film. If plans go accordingly, it will be shot in three foreign countries, with Taiwan playing some pivotal role. A group of eight former film students, now working free-lancers, embarked and arrived in Taiwan days before and are spending almost every moment in active pursuit of completing this goal. A brisk morning accompanied us as a linger cold front brought rain and fog into the valley. Arriving just past seven, the crew was already present and busy orchestrating the scene to be filmed at the inception point. This isn't my first dog and pony show when it comes the film world and, as I expected, our timeliness was unnecessary. The majority of the gear for filming was currently being used and, after brief introductions, we sat around watching people work. Eventually I convinced the coordinator to let us take a trip up river and deposit any supplies that weren't currently needed. Like pack mules, we loaded up and hiked to the days main attraction, a degrading lookout/bunker overlooking a lovely recombination point of the stream from the two arteries it splits into while circumventing a rock bar. At our pace, the lookout is some twenty minutes into a hike/trace, yet if you aren't us it takes roughly an hour to reach. This number isn't just thrown out lightly. This group scouted this area previously taking an hour to do so and seemed miffed when we arrived forty minutes later looking for more tasks. The day was supposed to represent a summer scene (I think) and so the actors, garbed in cloths suitable for summer, chillingly acted out the scene, with frequent stops to wipe off wet gear, clothes, props, etc. Unless I am actively participating I bore easily, so Dacota and I hacked at a location we assumed was off-screen, until yelling voiced hailed us to "get out of the frame." Oops. So we sat around again and watched the scene play out, over and over again. During times the scene reset, we hacked more in the parking lot, to what I believe were admonitory glances our way from the crew. The scene finally ended, they packed up gear, and we took some of the burden as the voluntary mules of the group. Fortunately the camera men carried their own gear because it looked heavy! As if we were the Sherpa of the river, Dacota led the way and I assisted people during the various river crossings and up slippery embankments. Combined with our shortcuts, the party arrived around fifty minutes later without injury. Gear delivered, and no other  immediate tasks needing our assistance, we took off upriver to fend for ourselves. And fend we did!

The following post titled "Ropes... Yes please." will contain the story of the bifurcated day.

We returned to the setting after our endeavor and asked if they needed additional help; they did not except to return a bag of supplies to the vehicle. Twenty minutes later, scene acted out over and over, takes scrutinized for detail, our pressing need to depart arrived. It was time to go to work; time to be productive. So we mobbed down the river arriving at our scooter in twenty minutes. Flying down the highway, our soaked clothes encapsulating us in metaphoric icicles, we searched for a quick warm meal of peanut noodles before heading home. Donned with warm, dry clothes it was time to begin the days work.