FIELD
NOTES
A Long Trail Odyssey
Insert text here.
Use this space to tell users more about yourself or to describe what your business does. Click to edit the text.
272 Miles.
INFINITE STORIES.
Welcome visitors to your site with a short, engaging introduction. Double click to edit and add your own text.
A 20-year-old sets out on a 272-mile journey of the oldest long-distance hiking trail in America in this audio documentary piece about adventure, community, nature, and discovery.
THE STORY
TRAILER
Field Notes will be presented as an immersive audio theater livestream coming this fall.
Transcript:
​
Field Notes: A Long Trail Odyssey.
​
(Sounds of nature.)​
​
There's a lot to learn over 272 miles.​
​
"I would say whenever I'm in nature, I feel like we're back to humanity."​
​
The Long Trail is the oldest long-distance hiking trail in America. This summer, I will walk the length of Vermont through the wilderness on a journey for nature, discovery, and community. ​
​
"I'm really scared, but really happy to be out here."​
Along the way, I will document the environment...
​
(Sound of a flowing river.)
...conversations...
​
"Whenever we hike and we spend time with each other, we get to know more about each other."
...and experiences...
​
"I am out of breath, and I am climbing up a hill. You can't see my face, but trust me, I'm smiling."
​
Listen to the sounds and stories in Field Notes: A Long Trail Odyssey, coming this fall.
​
ADVENTURE,
COMMUNITY,
NATURE,
DISCOVERY.
​Field Notes: A Long Trail Odyssey is a documentary audio theater piece about the importance of preserving natural resources in a story of community, conservation, and connecting with nature.
The Long Trail is a 272-mile-long hiking trail that stretches from Massachusetts to the Canadian border, following the Green Mountain range.
ABOUT
272 MILES.
INFINITE STORIES.
MISSION: Through a series of interviews, narration, and immersive soundscapes, Field Notes: A Long Trail Odyssey aims to tell the stories of the hikers, volunteers, trail maintainers, and local communities who have uplifted the Long Trail for over a century. Field Notes hopes to highlight the importance of preserving natural landscapes on the Long Trail and beyond.​
TRAIL HISTORY
Field Notes will highlight the stories of the Long Trail from its inception in 1910 to a hike in the summer of 2025, on a journey of discovery, exploration, and education.
​
The Long Trail is the oldest long-distance hiking trail in America, spanning 272 miles across the mountains of Vermont.​ In 1910, James P. Taylor came up with the idea for a “footpath in the wilderness," which became the trail we know today, stretching from Massachusetts to Canada over the Green Mountains. Since its inception, the Green Mountain Club has built, protected, and maintained the natural landscapes of the Long Trail. The Long Trail also served as the inspiration for the approximately 2,200-mile-long Appalachian Trail.
​
The Long Trail is located on the ancestral lands of Indigenous peoples, which include the Western Abenaki.
​
For more information on the Long Trail, visit the Green Mountain Club to learn more.
ARTIST BIO
This summer, Tess will hike the Long Trail while documenting the journey.
Tess Rowan Jannery-Barney is a sophomore at NYU Tisch studying Drama at the New Studio on Broadway, and minoring in the Business of Entertainment, Media, and Technology, as well as Producing. When Tess was 14, she wrote Static, a Morse code musical about the Appalachian Trail, which won Best Musical during its premiere at the Capital Fringe Festival. Tess is passionate about telling interactive and musical stories about nature, community, and history.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Field Notes is a recipient of the NYU Tisch Community Engaged Summer Grant, which provides funding for community-engaged theatre projects during summer 2025.
​
Thank you to the Green Mountain Club for their support of this project.