View the video here on my website here

In August 2009 Franco Darioli, Louis Marshall and myself traveled to Seattle Washington in the USA to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from Snoqualmie Pass to Steven's Pass. Then we journeyed to Olympic National Park to the west of Seattle for a three day hike from Obstruction Point.

On the way we teed up with:

* Backpacking Light editor Doug Johnson and a ton of gear in his garage!!!

* Famous PCT thru-hiker Buckwheat

* A herd of llamas

* And some salt loving deer

Edited by PedroArvy on 09/23/2009 03:33:22 MDT.

Damn, where was the invite!

Looks great guys

Cheers

Thanks Pedro,

great video.

Tony

Fairdekum!! (pardon my spelling) Fun video.

Pedro,

Few questions for you.

Francos down jacket, what was that again, couldnt quite make it out from the video?

Secondly what camera did you use to record this? The video quality was quite nice.

Cheers

Franco has no idea of what he is talking about.
That is a WM Hooded Flash Jacket

Ha!, thanks Franco

Franco called the jacket a Fury but it was in fact a Western Mountaineering Hooded Flash Jacket.

The camera is a Sanyo Xacti 2000 recorded in HD (high definition).
The colours and quality are fantastic, even in an uploaded video which is severely compromised from the compression.
I will never record in HD again though, it is WAY too hard to edit.

I will never record in HD again though, it is WAY too hard to edit.

How come?

Editing the mp4 that is produced by the camcorder crashed every computer I know expect a one year old reasonably powerful Mac. You need recent and quite powerful hardware to get anywhere.

Like most flash memory based camcorders, the HD2000 captures using the MPEG4/H264 codec. This is a highly compressed format that has few "key" frames (full picture) and lots of intra frames ( the data is only the difference between one frame and the other). This means the the computer has to do an enormous amount of calculation to display individual frames.
A couple of solutions:
1) connect the camera to the computer using the composite cable (Red/white/Yellow RCA plugs) and choose Pal ( 4:3 or 16:9) the camera does all the required conversions. (you need an analogue capture card for this)
You can also use the S connection (DIN plug) for slightly higher quality. Don't forget the audio (red/white RCA)
2) find a Sony HDV camera that has video in capability (the on/off switch will have Camera ,off and VCR rather the usual Camera /off/ Play) connect the Sanyo to it via composite/S or HDMI (whatever available in the Sony ) and transfer the footage from the Sanyo to the Sony.
Use the Sony to transfer via FireWire to the PC.
Or for lower res use the Mini DV option (or a Mini DV camera)
Franco

What's the story behind getting kicked out of your accomadations in the beginning of the trip?

Great movie Pedro, I enjoyed it very much. Looks like you guys had some fun.

G

The video was totally entertaining, Pedro. It looks like the three of you had a great time.

Edited by Dondo on 09/22/2009 09:58:21 MDT.

Great video! I enjoyed your reaction to my stomping grounds. You guys are a lot easier to understand in print.

Great, loved the "curry in a hurry" :-)

Pedro, awesome job. I loved every minute of it. Looks like you guys had a blast...

RE:kicked out from the hostel..
Pedro had booked , and paid for, a 4 bunk room for the three of us for two nights. When we arrived there they did not have "that" room but had to share. So we did.
The next day we were told that our room was booked to someone else for the next night and all they could do was suggest to hang around there at 10PM to see if they had any cancellations...
So we moved to the American Hotel, a new YHA hostel in Chinatown. Very clean and with great amenities. Recommended.
The first place was the Green Tortoise, right next to the fresh food market.
I defined that place as "Bohemian" , very interesting , reminded me of my days in Earls Court in London.
Franco
"You guys are a lot easier to understand in print."
I happen to understand my accent (just) but have no idea of what I am talking about. It wasn't scripted...

I thoroughly enjoy your videos, Pedro! Thanks for sharing!

Very entertaining video. Pedro, shame that you're such a shy boy. Thanks for taking to time to make and post the video...I expect to see more in the future.