The tale of the trail

While hiking the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine, they were known as the Traveling Circus — a name intended as criticism for university alumna Katherine "Ringleader" Imp, her brother Brandon "Monkey" Imp and best friend Emily "Lightning" Ginger, but one the extroverted group came to embrace.

As it turns out, that Traveling Circus has quite the story to tell, and Katherine Imp, a 2006 graduate of this university now practicing law in Chicago, is hoping others will soon listen.

Imp produced a documentary film called Beauty Beneath the Dirt, about hiking the 2,178.3 miles of the Appalachian Trail with her brother and Ginger. The film focuses on how the challenges of the hike affect the relationships among the trio, a topic Katherine Imp said is different from most outdoor documentaries and will engage a wide variety of viewers.

"The trail was an adventure, but the film was just as much of an adventure," she said. "At first I just thought of it as a home video, like where you film your family opening Christmas gifts, but as it started to unfold, I realized there are so many aspects to making a documentary. … It'll make people laugh and cry and, at the end of the day, think about their own relationships and their own life."

Although she had never backpacked before the trip, Katherine Imp said she led canoeing trips while working for a wilderness organization called Outward Bound after graduating with a degree in criminology and criminal justice.

"That's kind of what inspired me to do this trip even though it was in a totally different realm," she said. "I've always been interested in film and outdoor adventure, and so sometime during my first year at law school I decided to take those interests and combine them and make something out of it."

In March 2010, the trio set out on the hike, which they completed five months later. About 2,000 people attempt a "thru-hike" of the trail every year, and one in five succeed, Katherine Imp said.

None of the hikers had experience with film and, because the group averaged 20 miles a day, they said the most difficult part of the experience was juggling the physical aspect with the added task of capturing the journey.

"We were physically exhausted all the time, and so taking the time to stop hiking and set up a camera and do a shot was hard," Brandon Imp said. "Every single time we would do a take, it could be 30 seconds of filming but take an hour to set up and get everything ready."

Jason Furrer, a friend of the Imps who helped produce the film, said he hiked parts of the trail with the group, teaching them about film techniques.

"I had just graduated from film school, and it sounded like a very interesting project, one that would be a great experience for me," he said.

Brandon Imp, who had just graduated from college when the group set out, said the isolation from society for months was the most difficult thing to cope with.

"I was a recent college grad and I had my whole career set up ahead of me, but I decided upon graduation to leave society and forget about all the connections I made during college in order to do this hike," he said. "I think that was the hardest part, accepting the fact that I was forgoing opportunities to do this hike."

However, Katherine Imp said hiking the trail in a group rather than alone made for shared memories that only added to the experience.

"I really think this film is relatable to everyone, not just people that live on the East Coast or enjoy outdoor adventure, but anyone who has family or friends and experiences with people they love will enjoy this film and identify with it," she said.

She hopes to get the film picked up by a cable television station and is looking into distributors. Within the next year, she hopes to hold a screening of the documentary at the university.

Jamie Rowe, a 2007 university alumna and friend of Katherine Imp's, said she visited the group on the trail and got to witness the transformation from experience to final product.

"For me, it was really cool to be there firsthand and then to see how they turned that into the movie," she said. "It's a really exciting portrayal of what life is like on the trail."

kirkwood@umdbk.com