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.
This film comes out at a critical moment for the American West. Following the 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.
I wanted to pull audiences down the Escalante River with us so they could feel exactly what’s at stake in the ongoing battle over US public lands. The film is an honest tribute to the Escalante, but it’s also a wake-up call, asking us to decide what we truly value and what we're willing to do to protect it.
From the Field
Hank Leukart
Hank Leukart is a filmmaker passionate about sharing compelling, immersive stories, especially well-versed in launching film projects combining travel to unusual locales with socially-conscious issues like environmental conservation, human rights, and education. He’s worked as a producer on many iconic documentary television shows, including World’s Toughest Race (Amazon Prime); The Amazing Race, Big Brother, and The American Baking Competition (CBS); and Expedition Impossible (ABC). His first feature documentary, “The Mars Academy” — about NASA scientists helping underserved kids explore Mars with a real spacecraft — premiered at the Borrego Springs Film Festival. His second feature, "The John Muir," premiered at the Breckinridge Film Festival. His short films “Bears Ears” and “Rattlesnake to Westwater" won awards at the Lookout Wild, Maine Outdoor, and Waterwalker Film Festivals.