We originally set out on a 65-mile, five-day packrafting trip down the Escalante River simply to experience and film one of Utah’s most incredible wilderness areas. But the deeper we got into the canyons, the harder it was to ignore the political reality looming over them.

Following President Trump’s July 2026 executive order that slashed Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears to less than 10% of their original size, the canyons we paddled through are now ground zero in a bitter fight between conservation and extraction. The landscape captured in our footage is currently the subject of a massive legal battle led by Native American tribes and environmental groups — one that will ultimately test whether the Antiquities Act can still protect our public lands.

Upcoming Festival Screenings

Chagrin Documentary Film Festival: Friday, October 9, 2026 at 11:00am at Methodist Church, 20 S. Franklin St., Chagrin Falls, Ohio

Chagrin Documentary Film Festival: Saturday, October 10, 2026 at 2:00pm in Triangle Park, Chagrin Falls, Ohio

Every year, brothers Brian and Hank Leukart meet somewhere in the world to take on an epic adventure. When they set out — well past the end of the summer hiking season — to hike the 211-mile John Muir Trail (a.k.a. Nüümü Poyo), they find themselves up against a slew of unexpected physical and psychological challenges. As they make their way across the Sierra, they discover that conservationist John Muir’s legacy isn’t as straightforward as they once thought, prompting them to reevaluate their fundamental assumptions about environmentalism and mankind’s relationship to the natural world.

After I directed the film Bears Ears — which tells the story of Native Americans in Utah fighting for federal protection of their ancestral lands — I was inspired to continue telling stories of indigenous people native to the land that I hike through regularly. The fascinating, undertold story of California’s Native People in the Sierra inspired me and my brother to make this new film about our thoughtful trip on the John Muir Trail.