In 2014 filmmaker and lifelong skater Clay Shank set out on a 700-mile mission from his hometown of San Francisco to Mexico. With a backpack and a skateboard, he made his way through the ever-changing California landscape entirely under the power of his own two legs, bagging Mount. Whitney and Half Dome, and logging some 210 miles on the John Muir trail in the process.
As a born storyteller with a degree in English, a novel, and a handful of short films and screenplays under his belt, Shank was interested most in telling a story with his time on the road and trail. So he brought along a videocamera. The end result is 700 Miles, an hour and half documentary slash visual collage of trip footage and interviews with the many characters he met along the way.
Shank and his obscure achievement garnered some media after the release of 700 Miles, but the intention was never to gain attention for himself. 700 Miles was created to give the unheard people of California a voice—from small town locals and transplants to the down and out and everyday citizens working hard under the radar—and to ask directly and indirectly the big questions in life. How do we make the world a better place? What makes people happy?