WOODSRIDER is a meditative film about identity, home, and the way that human experience echoes that of the natural world.

Two of our teen contributors, Connor and Sean Jabbar had a chance to interview Sadie about the making of the movie, future plans and whom inspires her.   To view the trailer, go to: https://vimeo.com/306102229/93c9d94f59

Sadie Ford in “Woodsrider.” (Uncork’d Entertainment)

Hi Sadie!  Sean and I were hoping you could share how you were inspired to leave home to take this journey through Government Camps on your own with Scooter?

I was inspired to leave home right away and go live in Govy for a number of reasons. I think the first and foremost is the nature of the physical setting. I do believe community is one the most important things in life however so is solitude. I realized I didn’t know how to be alone, because I often felt lonely for no reason, loneliness felt like a sort of poverty. so solitude is a richness of self I had to find a place and a way to cultivate it. its important to enjoy the company you keep in quiet moments. Up in Govy I found a small tight knit community of skiers, artists, trade workers all in this little town. I had a family easy accessible yet there was also true peace and quiet at the tips of my fingers whenever I wanted it, in my little oasis in the woods.

What were the hardest and most challenging moments of this experience?  Did your parents worry?  Did you get homesick?

The hardest parts of this time with myself was dealing with the rain. it sort of subdued and froze everything in a town the revolved around conditions and weather, forced me into my fort for longer than I wanted. I remember feeling at times even my SOUL was wet. Having to do constant maintenance on the place to keep myself dry. I don’t think my parents worried. I always admired my mother for having the courage to step back and let me learn things my own way, she instilled confidence in me that way and in return I think it drew out confidence in her that I would be alright one way or another. I never felt homesick, I had just spent 18 years at home so I figured it would be awhile till I was ready. I’ve always been pretty good at creating little comfortable spaces for myself that resembled a sense of home. I think its important to do that in life! home is always right in your little heart lumpy.

You camped out alone in what normal 19 year olds would think as tough conditions.  Did you ever miss the warmth and comforts of a home?

On those rain marathons, absolutely I missed a warm house. But people would be surprised how cozy a nice warn sleeping bag and a little fire can be ever in such cold temps! it was fun in that way, like look at how crazy I am to enjoy this! it made the experience totally mine and unique in that way. gave me definitive ownership over my own dumb adventure. Though I will admit when I got desperate I would hop on out of my woods nest and grab a hot drink.

What were the best trails you hit?

Even though its not all that exciting, I loved riding down the glade trail from timberline lodge to my hideout just above govy. to get off work and snowboard to your secret front door was a trip. My other favorite trails were to the top of Tom Dick and Harry Mountain aka the top of Skibowl. just the coolest views. Or the other favorite if I wanted to get a good run was to bail off a certain turn on access road of Timberline Lodge and snowboard all the way down to White River Snowpark, its like a 5 mile run though old growth trees. Any time I would hike up to a fire lookout was always very special.

As a teen boy, food is key.  Did you miss having home cooked meals every night?

As for food, I really enjoyed learning how to make my own food on my little Whisperlight MSR stove. There’s a certain pride to making back country meals, all the planning and self sufficiency. It added independence to my solo jaunt and made it that much sweeter. (great easy recipes on the internet just a click away) I think everything tastes better in the woods anyhow. I did miss the variety of food elsewhere though, there’s only so much you can do with a single burner backpacking stove. cheesy rice, eggs + spinach, pasta, oatmeal and all the basic things get boring after a point no matter how well you make it. It’s fun being able to make whatever you want however much you want!

Do you encourage other young adults to take on a journey or experience like this?

I absolutely encourage other young adults to strike out and do something out on a limb, by themselves. Knowing yourself is the corner stone of success, the best way to observe you is when you’re the only one around. When you only have you to fall back on. I also really encourage people to journal. I’ve found that looking back and reading what I wrote helps me to re experience what has happened in my life as it was happening, not just from memory. Helps me to understand the path I’m on, how I got here and to refresh the lessons I’ve learned. Even if you just write a few sentences a night, that can fill huge gaps in your timeline and sort of give this feeling of expanding your time on earth. Takes away that “in the blink of an eye” feeling you get when the time has gone too quickly.

What are your plans now?  Do you think you will do an even more challenging journey somewhere else?

Right now I work as a wild-and firefighter on what’s called a hotshot crew. which frees up a lot of my time the rest of the year to go on all the fun missions I want to. I’ve been successful at giving myself bigger challenges every year which I think is important in whatever walk of life you take. I was one of the rowers in a 24 day rafting trip down the grand canyon last spring and that was the toughest yet for the massive amount of logistics and team work it took. I try to do a couple week long snow-camping trips each year, partly cause I like it by mostly to pay homage to the part of my life that this movie is on, to remember silence and solitude as my life gets my complicated and fast paced. I volunteer as an EMT in the winter and am hoping to be a firefighter/EMT as a career in the next few years. Just trying to get as many wild rides as I can in the mean time!

Who are your idols or people you look up to?

Hmm… my idols? I don’t have many people as idols but I have some ideas and books that are part of my dogmatism of growth and guidance. those include; even cowgirls get the blues by tom robins, the four agreements by Don Miguel, The road less traveled by Scott Peck, life of Pi, Deep survival by Laurence Gonzales, and probably the most relevant one, Into the wild by John Krakhaur. Katie Lee, an environmental pioneer/terrorist that helped keep the grand canyon from being completely damned ruined. Lynn Hill for just being the most badass bitch on the face of the planet.

WOODSRIDER was written, directed and edited by Cambria Matlow and produced by Matlow, Janique Robillard, and Richard Beer. Uncork’d Entertainment will release the film digitally on March 12 (iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, Google Play, Fandango Now, Xbox and local Cable Providers). The film has a running time of 83 minutes and will not be rated by the MPAA.

To view the trailer, go to: https://vimeo.com/306102229/93c9d94f59