Local hikers debut documentary on WMHT & held film premiere at June Farms

An Above Average Day

WEST SAND LAKE – Ray O’Conor and Joseph Murphy have a special friendship that extends beyond their 30-year age difference. The men, who met by chance at an Adirondack mountain club organized hike 15 years ago, continue their journey together as they venture on excursions throughout the state and the entire northeast.

The adventures, each documented on social media accounts, captured the interest of a family friend of O’Conor’s four years ago, filmmaker Katera Noviello-Kapoor.

Noviello-Kapoor, originally from Saratoga Springs, who lives in Stamford, CT with her filmmaker husband Aviral Kapoor, approached O’Conor on Facebook about creating a documentary.

After three years of filming, the documentary “An Above Average Day” premiered on WMHT Wednesday, April 24 and they held a viewing party for the half-hour documentary in front of friends, family, and guests at June Farms in West Sand Lake.

“We’re really excited to share Joe and Ray’s story and highlight it. I think it’s a perfect connection for our community.” Chief Content and Engagement Editor of WMHT Will Pedigo said. “People love the mountains, they love hiking, and it kind of highlights the relationships that are built through that passion.”

“If you had told me five years ago that me and Joe would be in a documentary film that would be broadcast on WMHT and PBS, I would have said you’re crazy.” O’Conor said. “But after Katera contacted us about the film and after the film got done, we wanted to try and help them as much as possible to show their work.”

Noviello-Kapoor was friends with O’Conor’s daughter Meghan, and both were involved on the Saratoga YMCA gymnastics team as children. Through the power of Facebook, Noveillo-Kapoor presented the documentary idea to O’Conor.

“At first, I was a little suspicious.” O’Conor said. It had been 25 years since I last spoke to Katera when she was a kid, and I said how much is this gonna cost us? Then she said, “’Oh nothing, this is what we do.’”

O’Conor, Murphy, and the Kapoors spent three years making the film, set in various New York landmarks in the Adirondacks and the Lake George area including Cat Mountain Top in Warren County. The men also went to Merck Forest & Farmland Center in West Rupert, VT, a fire tower at Hadley Mountain, and hiked in New Hampshire.

A scene, edited out of the film, included a close encounter with a bull moose that the hikers faced in New Hampshire at a group of mountains called the tri-pyramids. The men thought at first that they heard hikers walking on the trail but to their surprise, it was a moose.

Both O’Conor and Murphy re-told the humorous tale at June Farms.

“What you’re supposed to do when you’re in that situation is to stand next to each other, look as big as possible, and spread yourselves out, so you might intimidate the animal and then walk backwards slowly to avoid a confrontation.” O’Conor said. “We were so surprised that instead of doing that, the two of us simultaneously said, ‘holy s*** there’s a moose!’ The moose gets scared and starts running away from us and Joe starts running after the moose and takes a picture.”

O’Conor’s only photo captured from the encounter was capturing the back of Joe’s head and the moose’s rear as the moose runs away from the men in the mountains.

“We’ve been telling stories for years now. I think there’s rarely a day where we’re not coming away with a fun story to tell.” O’Conor said.

Both men have considered the idea of writing a book about their adventures and have even drafted a prologue and several chapters for the prospective book. However, both men are busy with many other things in their personal lives. Murphy currently works as an academic advisor for the University at Albany while O’Conor is retired from the banking industry.

Several of O’Conor’s and Murphy’s adventure pieces were also published in regional magazines.

O’Conor and Murphy have also considered creating a second documentary with the Kapoors. The idea for a second documentary, according to O’Conor, would be based on a hike that O’Conor and Murphy went on several years ago with other immigrant hiker friends of theirs from Zimbabwe, South Korea, and Peru that they nicknamed the American Dream hike.

“We have other friends who are from other parts of the world and we thought, geeze, how cool would it be to put us all together about people who have come from each of the seven continents and go out into nature, up the mountains together and talk about our experiences, and what brought our families here (to the United States).” O’Conor said.

Even with their 30-year age difference, Murphy and O’Conor have a strong friendship that extends beyond hiking. The two men continue to learn more about each other and watch their relationship blossom and grow over time.

“We have very similar upbringings and values in everything in life and interests in music and physical activities. We’ve learned where each other’s limits are, especially on the trail there can be very long days, anywhere from two miles to 24 miles in a single day and going on several peaks together.” Murphy said. “Sometimes it’s a little dangerous and harrowing in there, but learning where we can push our limits and where we can, and where we need to look out for each other too.”

“Every time I’ve had the opportunity to watch the program a few times as we were preparing to broadcast it, I’m always like, man, where is that?” Pedigo recalled. “These are incredible places that they get to see, and to support their friendship, I think it’s fantastic. We live in a treasured place, both from the people and the beauty that surrounds us.”

“An Above Average Day” explores the relationship between Murphy and O’Conor in all of its commonalities through their hikes in the mountains and trails while observing how the world works in the northeast region. Additional commentary in the film was also provided by O’Conor’s wife Mary and Murphy’s girlfriend Nicole, with a guest appearance of Murphy’s golden retriever, Moose.

Pedigo said prior to the film’s debut, that “An Above Average Day” will be highlighted in an ongoing collection of TV shows and documentaries focusing on climate and environment work for the next two years. The film can be found online at wmht.org/climate.

To learn more about the film, go to vedafilms.com or wmht.org/climate for future TV viewing and online screening. Folks can also follow Murphy and O’Conor’s hiking adventures on @jrogermurphy on Instagram and Joseph Murphy on Facebook, and Ray O’Conor on Facebook, LinkedIn, and @oconorray on Instagram.

The post Local hikers debut documentary on WMHT & held film premiere at June Farms first appeared on Spotlight News .