Only the Essential

About this film

Pacific Crest Trail spans 2,668 miles from Mexico to Canada, traversing the diverse landscapes of California, Oregon, and Washington. In 2013, hikers Casey Gannon and Colin Arisman documented their five-month thru-hike, capturing the challenges and beauty of this iconic footpath. "Only the Essential" showcases their experiences through the lens of fellow hikers, offering an authentic portrayal of life on the trail. The film has received accolades at various film festivals, including Best Feature Film at the Maine Outdoor Film Festival.

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WHO Model List of Essential Medicines

The WHO Model List of Essential Medicines, published by the World Health Organization (WHO), contains the medications considered to be most effective and safe to meet the most important needs in a health system. The list is frequently used by countries to help develop their own local lists of essential medicines. As of 2016, more than 155 countries have created national lists of essential medicines based on the World Health Organization's model list. This includes both developed and developing countries.

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Pacific Crest Trail

The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), officially designated as the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, is a long-distance hiking and equestrian trail closely aligned with the highest portion of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges, which lie 100 to 150 miles east of the U.S. Pacific coast. The trail's southern terminus is next to the Mexico–United States border, just south of Campo, California, and its northern terminus is on the Canada–US border, upon which it continues unofficially to the Windy Joe Trail within Manning Park in British Columbia; it passes through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington.

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Thru-hiking

Thru-hiking, or through-hiking, is the continuous end-to-end hiking of an established long-distance trail. The term is used especially in North America in reference to trails such as the Appalachian Trail (AT), the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), and the Continental Divide Trail (CDT). Similar end-to-end hikes are also undertaken on long-distance footpaths in other parts of the world, including Te Araroa in New Zealand, the Camino de Santiago in Spain and France, the Via Francigena in Europe, the Great Divide Trail in Canada, and the Great Himalaya Trail in Nepal.

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Adventure

An adventure is a novel and exciting undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, other extreme sports, or, importantly, any other activity that may be new, fresh or difficult and may even lead to failure. Adventure can take many forms beyond the typically described outdoor area. Adventures are often undertaken to create psychological arousal or in order to achieve a greater goal, such as the pursuit of knowledge that can only be obtained by such activities.

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Hiking

A hike is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Long hikes as part of a religious pilgrimage have existed for a much longer time. "Hiking" is the preferred term in Canada and the United States; the term "walking" is used in these countries for shorter, particularly urban walks. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the word "walking" describes all forms of walking, whether it is a walk in a park or backpacking in the Alps. The word hiking is also often used in the UK, along with rambling, hillwalking, and fell walking. The term bushwalking is endemic to Australia. In New Zealand a long, vigorous walk or hike is called tramping. It is a common activity with numerous hiking organizations worldwide.

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Nature documentary

A nature documentary or wildlife documentary is a documentary film or series about animals, plants, or other non-human living creatures. Nature documentaries usually concentrate on video taken in the subject's natural habitat, but often including footage of trained and captive animals, too. Sometimes they are about wildlife or ecosystems in relationship to human beings. Such programmes are most frequently made for television, particularly for public broadcasting channels, but some are also made for the cinema. The proliferation of this genre occurred almost simultaneously alongside the production of similar television series which is distributed across the world.

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