7 Lessons From 7 Inspiring Movies About Hiking, Backpacking and The Wilderness

The hiking movie that taught us all to TELL FRIENDS OR FAMILY WHERE THE HELL YOU’RE GOING. A guy tromping (yes, tromping) through the desert wilderness all by his lonesome and makes the brilliant choice to tell literally no one where he’s headed.

That wouldn’t be a problem if he didn’t happen to fall into a ravine and get his arm crushed between boulders. If it wasn’t for that, everything would be fine.

Don’t worry though, it’s NBD because he can just cut his own arm off with a pocket knife.

Sorry, I don’t know where this level of sarcasm is coming from. It just comes naturally to me most days some days.

This is a true story and the guy (Aron Ralston – who is played by James Franco in the film) did live to tell the tale (obviously) and what a tale it is.

I’m not trying to make fun of the IRL guy and everything he went through in any way. You can read his story in the book he wrote here.

His story and the fact that he managed to literally drag himself out of the wilderness – minus an arm – is incredible. It’s also a very good lesson for the rest of us. So Aron, thanks for sharing!

The Call of the Wild was originally a book published in 1903 by Jack London, and recently it was made into a movie starring Hans Solo AKA Harrison Ford.

The story takes place during the 1890s Klondike gold rush and focuses on a dog named Buck. The movie follows Buck from his days as a spoiled and unruly pet dog to being stolen from his home to be sold as a sled dog (which was big business at the time as people hoping to strike it rich needed sled dogs) to his days as a companion to the gruff and grumpy hermit, Harrison Ford.

The dog in the movie is modeled after a real dog but is brought to life through the use of computer animation.

The film is an action-packed adventure that takes viewers on a journey through the wilderness of Canada. Traversing mountains, frozen rivers, dense forests, and wild prairies.

I’m a little biased toward this movie because my dog just happens to look A LOT like the dog in the film. Maybe I should’ve named him Buck…

I guess all the true stories about hiking through the wilderness have to be kind of terrifying, otherwise, no one would write about them. Jungle does a great job of sticking with you for a long time. Well, with me anyways.

Three friends decide following a random “guide” into the jungle sounds like fun. SPOILER: It isn’t.

On their way one of the friends ends up badly injured and the trip needs to be cut short, which leads to them deciding to split up. If horror movies have taught us anything, it’s that splitting up is never a good idea.

The guide and the injured man go one way, leaving the remaining two men to make their way down the river on their own. None of this goes well, but it’s a very entertaining movie.

If you’ve ever wanted to go spelunking (aka cave-diving) this movie will forever cure you of that silly notion.

The movie follows a group of friends who enjoy trekking into the remote wilderness and exploring cave systems together. They plan to spend the day exploring an exciting new cave system when a cave-in traps them and they have to figure out a different way out.

As terrifying as most of us might find being trapped in a cave under the ground with the potential of everlasting darkness looming just beyond the draining life of a flashlight battery, that’s not really the issue facing the group as time goes on. Instead, they begin to realize that they may not be the first people to explore the caves, and even worse, they may not be alone.

Another movie based on a true story, that you’ll find especially inspiring if your big reason for going on hiking adventures is to get away from the world.

There’s no wilderness quite like the Australian Outback. Everything is already trying to kill you in the land of Oz. You really don’t have to cross 1,700 miles of desert to test fate, but that’s what Robyn Davidson did.

Instead of trying to recreate her incredible on-foot journey yourself, maybe just kick up your hiking boots and watch in awe of her experience. It’s wild enough for both of you. Promise.

The movie encapsulates the rugged, and kinda insane, adventure of one incredible young woman truly getting away from everything, and everyone.

It’s called self-care, guys. Look it up.

You can check out her book here.

This book and film are based on another true story of a woman’s wild choice of route that she uses to get her life back “on track.”

The movie, starring Reese Witherspoon, took off like a rocket when it first came out. It follows a woman (the author of the book) when she decides to take on the Pacific Crest Trail by herself after her life has spiraled out of control.

Generally, that’d be a no-no, but as it turns out, sometimes you know what you need better than the rest of the world does.

As someone who also watches, reads and listens to a lot of true crime stories, though, I cannot recommend following in her footsteps. At least not without a buddy.

You can check out the audiobook Wild here.

For those that love backpacking (or the idea of it) this might be a story that you’re familiar with. It stirred up a lot of controversy when it happened. Mainly around the responsibilities of people who backpack together.

Two friends decide to scale the massive Peruvian Andes. The peaks are covered in ice and snow and although (SPOILER ALTER) the pair do make it to the summit, chaos hits on the way back down.

With one man dead for all intents and purposes, the other has to decide if he should stay with his friend, or leave and save himself. IMO it’s pretty bold to make any sort of judgment against the man who had to make that choice from the comfort of your couch, but people of course threw out judgment like confetti when it happened.

The story is all-around incredible. The amount of struggle that both climbers had to go through is unbelievable.

You can get the audiobook (written by Joe, one of the climbers) with a free Audible trial here.