History is different when you stand where it happened.
History Expeditions combines research, adventure and filmmaking to uncover and retrace stories of the American West across the landscapes that shaped them.
History Expeditions
I’ve always been fascinated by the connection between history and place. Reading about an event is one thing. Standing in the landscape where it happened — and trying to understand that landscape on foot — is something entirely different.
History Expeditions is really about getting out into the landscape and seeing what the history looks and feels like on the ground. We retrace old routes, explore forgotten places, dig into the research, and document what we find through photography and film. That work has led to books, lectures for State Parks and historical societies, and even appearances on the Discovery Channel.
For me, the project brings together a number of things I’ve been drawn to for most of my life: wilderness, exploration, history, photography and storytelling. And occasionally it gives us the chance to add something new to the historical record rather than simply retell it.
Introduction Video to History Expeditions
One of the things I love about this work is that history stops feeling abstract. Distances become real. Mountains become obstacles. Weather matters. A line on an old map becomes a canyon, a ridge or a trail disappearing into the desert.
Following these stories through the landscape gives me a very different appreciation for the people who traveled through it — and for just how thin the line can be between history as we know it and the countless stories that have simply disappeared.
