Hiker Uses Selfies to Document 1,700 Mile Journey

Seasoned hiker Kolby Kirk (a.k.a. “The Hike Guy”) set out to summit Mt. Whitney in 2011. But after a job layoff, he decided to change his plans and hike the Pacific Crest Trail as far north as possible. Throughout his 159-day, 1,700-mile journey, he took over 300 selfies to document his travels.

Kirk edited his photos together with some short video clips to showcase the amazing scenery he saw along the trail–and to show off his fabulous, mountain-man beard grown during the trek. Kirk also included a special video treat after his photo montage, so make sure you watch it to the end:

Most of the photos include Kirk with a straight face, but his indifferent expression is interspersed with some silly expressions and even a few photo bombers.

selfie hiking photo

Kirk took his time editing the photos, making sure his eyes were aligned exactly in each photo to make the time-lapse video flow smoothly. Many photos showcase the breathtaking beauty seen along the Pacific Crest Trail, but only a few explicitly show his location. If you want to see all of the photos used in the video, you can see them on Kirk’s Flickr page.

hiking self portrait

Kirk created this video as a fun way to document his hiking goal for 2011, but he also resolved to hike 100 times by 2014, again documenting his adventure through photographs. Instead of taking selfies, he used items he found along the way to create and photograph the number of each hike. He compiled the photos on his 100 hikes website. He hopes to encourage and inspire others to embrace the hiking lifestyle.

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