Trail Running Road Trip

Summer road trips and national park visits are a right of passage, but French college student Guillaume Arthus will be taking the concept to a new level beginning this month as he kicks off a road trip that will include running more than two dozen national parks across the American West.

Over a two-month period—beginning the day he graduates from Illinois State University—Arthus will zig-zag across the West while trying to run 10-13 miles in 30 different national parks. Inspired by his passion for trail running, the business school student and videographer decided will be filming his runs with a 360-degree camera so he can produce a 6-minute video from each park.

“With 360-degree videos, people can experience these beautiful places and almost feel the magic of the moment,” Arthus says. “I want others to understand what it looks like to run on amazing trails.”

Arthus, who has run the Sinister 7 Ultra in Alberta and qualified for the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, will average 10-13 miles of running per park, plus has planned a rim-to-rim-to-rim double-crossing of the Grand Canyon. He’s invited professional and recreational trail runners to join his runs, and said he welcomes the company as he is undertaking the journey alone—he’s handling all driving, route finding, filming and editing.

To learn more about the Running Road Trip, sign up for a run and see the videos, go to runningroadtrip.com.