Barbarian Utopia: Encounters on the Appalachian Trail
A documentary about the Appalachian Trail
Available Now from our store and on Amazon.com
About the Film
In 2014, filmmaker Thaddeus Lamar embarked on a journey to hike all 2,185 miles of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail. Bringing several digital cameras, he captured an adventure that proved to be as intense and grueling as it was ultimately rewarding. Over 100 other hikers also shared their stories of adventure, hardship, and camaraderie. Out of this emerged Barbarian Utopia: Encounters on the Appalachian Trail, a 91-minute documentary about a great American resource, the history behind it, and the community that surrounds it.
Welcome to the Barbarian Utopia.
About the Trail
In 1921, regional planner Benton MacKaye published An Appalachian Trail: A Project in Regional Planning, an article that proposed the creation of a long-distance trail running through the Appalachian Mountains from Georgia to Maine. This trail would connect a series of new rural communities and draw Americans away from the industrial metropolises that had boomed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Young lawyer Myron Avery led the building of the trail, and it was completed in 1937.
“The Appalachian Range should… become the site for a Barbarian Utopia.”
— Benton MacKaye