Comedian Matt Lyons Hiked the Pacific Crest Trail. Not Every Moment Was Hilarious.

This past October, comedian Matt Lyons toured theaters across New England to showcase his latest project, a documentary film called SOBO. But prior to each screening, Lyons stood on stage and delivered an important disclaimer.

Prepare to not laugh. 

“I’d get up there and have to tell everybody that it wasn’t a stand-up comedy show,” Lyons, 31, told me on a recent call. “It was sometimes a struggle to explain to people that this film is a glimpse into my life outside of comedy.”

In recent years, Lyons has amassed nearly 1 million followers on Instagram and half a million on TikTok for his hilarious impersonations of outdoor recreation stereotypes. You may have seen a few of his videos in your feed: the Ironman triathlete named Kona who brags about his athletic accolades (“I’ve got more miles under my belt than a 2014 Chrysler Town and Country); the cyclist who drones on and on about gear (“What’s your digital flaxspeed spindle set at?”), or the guy named Fitz Roy who always wears Patagonia (“Although I work in finance, I still frequent alpine environments.”)

None of these wacky characters show up in SOBO (short for “Southbound”). Instead, the film hones in on Lyons during his two attempts to thru-hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the U.S./Canada border to Mexico. The cameras capture the highs and lows of the adventures, and show Lyons battling through injuries, fatigue, and loneliness.

“You see a side of me you don’t see on social media,” Lyons said. “I think everyone was watching the documentary waiting for a punchline, then it’s just me getting shin splints.”

Lyons filmed SOBO in 2021 and 2022—long before he was Internet famous. Back then, he was a schoolteacher in Boston, Massachusetts, and a passionate thru-hiker. Having completed the Appalachian Trail in 2019, Lyons set his sights on the PCT two years later. His brother and a friend proposed the idea of documenting his attempt. Maybe someday the footage could inspire other people to take on thru-hikes, they thought.

“That was the goal of the whole project when we came up with it,” he said. “We have free will and can do hard things that we set our minds to.”

Lyons captured much of the footage himself.  Due to his teaching schedule, Lyons couldn’t do the traditional south-to-north trek on the PCT, and instead chose to go southbound. The route came with plenty of hurdles. Deep snowpack in Washington State forced him to start his journey at the Oregon-California border. He first hiked northward, toward Canada, and then he returned to his starting point to continue the journey south.

The Pacific Crest Trail is approximately 2,600 miles long, and requires six months of continuous hiking to complete.

“I met a lot of northbound hikers during my first two months on the trail, then when we hit the Canadian border, they all went home and I had to return to California and keep going,” he said. “I had to hike 1,600 miles by myself, and I got into this deep rut emotionally.”

In 2021, his first attempt, Lyons came up short on the trail when a painful knee injury forced him to quit. Lyons returned the following season and completed the adventure.

And then? The footage of his thru-hike just kind of sat there for several years. Lyons, meanwhile, vaulted to fame for his Internet jokes. He quit his teaching job in 2023 to focus on Instagram comedy, and now publishes videos and works with brands—including Outside—full-time.

Lyons said that filming the thru-hike had a major impact on his career trajectory. Completing the hike was proof that he could complete a massive project. And filming himself opened up a creative side of himself that he didn’t know existed.

“Creating the documentary, going on the hike, those two things kind of combined into this epiphany that wow, maybe I should try something new, something I can be more creative in,” Lyons said. “I loved being a teacher, but there was a limit as to where I could go with it.”

Lyons continues to promote SOBO online, and this coming March 26, the film will also be available to watch on Outside TV. While the audience may not laugh during every minute of SOBO, perhaps the film will inspire others to venture onto the trails.

“Even if you go out on a mini day hike by your house, you’re going to see something that you haven’t seen before,” Lyons said.