Video: Capturing a Bucket List Trip to the Chilcotins on 35mm Film

Well before I moved from Australia to Canada, a bike trip to the Chilcotins had been on the bucket list. Every year the pull became stronger as I’d see more and more photos of people riding scenic alpine single track through what has become the famous and iconic Chilcotins trail network.

This year a group of us managed to tick this epic destination off the list. Four out of the six of us on the trip have recently moved to Canada from various places around the globe. The extent and pull of these mountains and trails is evidently strong. The two Canadaians on the trip hadn’t ridden here either. They were equally as stoked to have finally made it out to this epic riding destination.

Over the last couple of years we’ve been shooting a lot of biking photos on film as part of our Photo Synth35is project. So when this trip came up, it was a no-brainer that we’d be taking the film cameras along. We found shooting film really suited this situation as there was a lot of ground to cover. The fact that there are a finite number of frames limited by the roll of film and an inability to instantly review shots means you don’t get stuck in one spot shooting more photos than you need (which more commonly results from our digital shoots). No point session-ing a section and blowing through the roll on the first feature- just, you know, take a photo and move on. We appreciated the simplicity and flow this afforded our mega- pedal adventure. And upon developing the images, we like how this analog format gives a candid honesty in the way we remember that epic trip.

Needless to say, the Chilcotins lived up to the hype. But even more so, it was just good fun to go on a biking trip with a solid crew. After a couple of years of limited social interaction with Covid-19 it was nice to be back travelling and riding bikes with mates. Fingers crossed we’ve got many more to come.

We acknowledge that First Nations peoples have cared and used this land in which these photos were taken, for at least the past 300 years, and possibly for as long as thousands of years. The area falls within the territory of three Nations: Tsilhqot’in, St’at’imc, and Secwepemc.