“Six Million Steps” is a documentary film that chronicles the lives of hikers during their adventure on the Pacific Crest Trail, which spans 2,650 miles, the length of the U.S. Pacific coast. From Mexico to Canada, the Pacific Crest Trail winds through three states, seven national parks, 25 national forests, and elevations ranging from sea level to nearly 14,000 feet. Each year, 300-400  “thru-hikers” attempt to hike border to border, and, in doing so, experience pain, hunger, elation, loneliness, regret and fear.

They leave behind their everyday lives, their families, their homes, their jobs and their friends to sleep outside with only the items they carry on their backs. But in leaving, they arrive at something greater:

Life stripped to its core

Life as a journey in the truest sense of the word

Life as transformation

The Pacific Crest Trail begins at the Mexican border near Campo, California, and ends at the Canadian border near Manning Park in British Columbia. The trail traverses two deserts, the Anza-Borrega and the Mojave, as well as the Sierra Nevada mountain range. It continues through Northern California and into the Cascades in Oregon and Washington. It meanders through multiple national forests, Yosemite National Park, and six of the seven different ecosystems, and also ventures near Mounts Whitney and Shasta. The terrain is often ominous and the weather impeding, but thru-hikers are a determined and resilient people. They endure nature's hostility for the reward of basking in its magnificence.

Hikers who undertake this journey choose to do so for many different reasons. Sometimes it's just a summer activity and sometimes it's a personal physical, mental, and emotional endurance test. For others, it's the fulfillment of a lifetime dream. Whatever their reason, the people you will meet on the trail are, in ways, just like you and I. They've just chosen a journey that rewards them with a much-deserved feeling of accomplishment. Their remarkable stories serve as inspiration for all who have faced the insurmountable in life and persevered.

This is the story of those hikers, what they were looking for, and what they find.

165 days

2,650 miles

6,000,000 steps