Thanks for joining us for our Director's Cut Series of episodes! The round table discussion we shared with you all in this episode was such a powerful discussion we just had to share! Let us know if you would like to us to release the full interview in the comments below!

Where do you get the 10 essentials bandana?

Love this! Thanks for taking the time to put all these together!

I have hiked hundreds if not thousands of miles and I dont understand how someone can get lost in the woods. When I planned my day hike I would always tell someone where I was going. I would also take two days worth of supplies for a one day hike. Cudos to the SAR people.

Thank you all for joining us as we share our new series titled the "Director's Cut". We hope you enjoyed the behind the scenes look at what it took to put our film Safe and Found: A Search and Rescue Documentary together. We feel it's important to continue sharing footage that we have that didn't make the film for further education about hiker safety and preventative search and rescue. We would love to hear your feedback in the comments below!

Thank you for watching as Lindsey shared with us what is happening with the Blue Ridge Hiking Company in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. We would love to see Lindsey reach her goal of helping her employees financially while they wait to get back to full time work with guiding and more! Thanks for joining us Lindsey and you can check out the Blue Ridge Hiking Company Go Fund Me Here: www.gofundme.com/f/support-blue-ridge-hiking-co-guides-after-hurricane-helene

How about whistles?

The ALT community is full of passionate people. Fun and dedicated to WV’s longest trail. I wanted to thur-hike the ALT for 20 years and I finally did in March 2024. Lots of great views and solitude. I didn’t run into any other hikers. But I know by the people I met along the way, hikers are common place in the trail towns. I was treated like a special guest at the Post Offices and restaurants. I had a great time. Awesome video. I love it.

Great views and insight into the Allegheny Trial - WV longest hiking trail that touches the Appalachian Trail. Thanks for making this!

Great info video on the Allegheny Trail! 😃💚👊

Well done. People that go out unprepared annoy the crap out of me.

Great job. Will patiently wait. Thanks for all you do.

I don’t have many things in life that make me unique. But my entire life I have had like internal gps. They have actually done studies on it and I took part it one about 25 years ago. So I’m fascinated by people getting lost. It’s incomprehensible for me. It’s like trying to tell me the sky is red not blue. IF I could get lost I would not risk doing so. Ever. It’s got to be so insane to not know where you are or what way to go.

Enjoyed this video. Thank you to the search and rescue and for sharing valuable hiking and backpacking safety information!

Nice. When does the full version come out? I'll have to check it out.

This is awesome I can’t wait to watch it!

Great Job Makes me want to go hike this TRAIL

Awesome!! 😁💚👊

So good, you guys! Can’t wait to see the whole thing! 🧡

I watched Susan Clements daughter's personal account of events when she released it several years ago. When i saw her face at beginning of video the tears just flooded back. I want to visit the park but what happened to her TERRIFIES me. Wonderful documentary on how bad ass these SAR persons are ❤

Finally got a chance to watch this. Congratulations, thank you for doing such a good job and highlighting these teams!

I don’t understand why they don’t use dogs in addition to the ground crews. Once they located the car belonging to the the two guys, they could have used dogs to locate them, quicker than three days. I’ve been a K9 SAR handler for 32 years, and dogs can be invaluable.

Very good movie, thank you for promoting hiker safety and a BIG thank you to the members of SAR teams, they are the best of the best ❤

This makes me want to do SAR

Respect to all SAR members and to those who put time and energy into this documentary and made it free to view. I will be better prepared as a solo thru hiker this year on the AT with this information and reminders of the 10 essentials as I try to decrease pack weight. Some items are non negotiable and I see a lot of people on forums telling people to leave the Garmin at home on the AT, “you don’t need it”. So much bad advice out there. As this documentary reminds us…it only takes one wrong turn, accidental fall, or bad decision. Thank you for your service!!🙏

Always hike with a Bic lighter and benadryl.

As a county resident, that makes me proud. I know a few of those guys, and they are impressive in their abilities and their humility.

Great movie! Thanks Jester Wallis Productions! Followup question. One of the interviews mention triangulating a cell phone call. Any idea why they couldn't do that for the person that did call 911 but ended up getting found by the helicopter? Also, is smoke from a fire not generally found to be a possible means of finding a lost hiker?

What a wonderful documentary. Th responders are all so brave and dedicated. An amazing film. I will promote this film gladly.

Well done to the dedicated teams. Very good content.

Terrific Documentary - I had a chance opportunity to hike on the AT last summer with "Lost-n-Found", Lane, one of the search and rescue team featured in this episode. He was a terrific ambassador for being your own first responder, and a terrific hiking/canoeing partner for the short period we hiked together. Terrific to know you all are out there just in case! Thanks for all you do, and thanks for providing some awareness to the effort required to train, prepare, and respond.

Wow. Well done.

First of all, I would like to thank Julie and Austin for creating this awesome educational hiking video. As an overnight backpacker, I am fully prepared-indeed, I take more stuff than necessary. However, it is the day hikes that I have never paid attention to until I saw this video. I now realize how a seemingly mundane short day hike can become deadly. I am definitely going to share this knowledge with my fellow day hikers. Thanks again 🙏

What an amazing series! Extremely well done and so grateful that I found it.

Great video. This video should be a required watch for anyone planning to take a walk in the woods!

Respect for all those rescuers, this movie is really inspirational !

It often seems like more signs up could easily save more lives.

If you have a smartphone: open up google maps and then press and hold on your location and you'll get GPS coordinates. Relay that to the operator. Also: The cell company can narrow down your location *a lot* from which cell towers got your signal. With the right data, to within meters.

Great documentary!!!!!! These search and rescue teams are heroes!!!!!!!!❤❤❤

Great video and message that needs to be seen by many. Thanks

One of my best friends does SAR with her dog. I love to hide for them so they can keep training even when there is no active search. These people are VOLUNTEERS! They have to purchase their own equipment, gas, take time from work and family, and in general are making HUGE sacrifices. I couldn't admire them more.

Also, have a walkie or a device that is not a phone that communicates with radio waves that is not a cell phone like a cb radio

God bless those who choose to do this worthy work.

“You are your own First Responder “. Bam! Well done. Thanks for putting this together and sharing.

Hi all, great documentary Jester Wallis Productions and amazing work by the Haywood County SAR Team! I've met many of you on good terms and I hope that I never have to meet you on bad terms BUT, If I do I know that I'm in good hands.

What wonderful people to train so hard just to help others! I hope I never need them, but what a comfort to know they are there!

Great job! 👍🏼

I have been privleged to watch the "behind the scenes" of this project for over a year and a half, from the first meeting with Nancy East all the way through to the in person premiere and this KZbin release. For Julie and Austin to make such a powerful & important film has been truly a labor of love for them. Only a few will ever know the emotion and hard work that went into to make this a reality, from Julie and Austin interviewing and going out with the SAR team, shooting all the video, selecting the exact right music, traveling to many places in the hot and cold, selecting the right partners (Wim & Heidi) and spending countless hours of (often times lively) discussion and post production collaboration between the two of them to bring it to fruition. Their kindness and compassion to tell three people's harrowing & extremely personal stories is beyond compare. And to actually be able to meet so many of the people involved in this over the weekend; well, there really are no words.I have never met such a humble group of humans as these search & rescue folks. I sat in a room of over 350 people for the in person premiere and as Tim Clements said it best, "I'm in a room full of heroes". Thank you, Julie & Austin for making this amazing film. Share this film; it could save a life.

All of this, the passion, the love for a fellow human, the dedication to assistance, the will to risk selflessly for a complete stranger, the effort of coming together as a group with the intention of becoming a unit in order to save a life. All of this is the best nature has to offer. This may have renewed some of my faith in humans. It definitely reminded me that genuinely good people still exist doing genuinely good things for others.