We’ve been living in Madrid since August 2024, and from my very first days here I started exploring the landscapes around the city. At the same time, I wanted to bring my son along on those adventures. One of the most stunning places near Madrid is La Pedriza. While wandering among its granite cliffs, it’s common to see vultures and eagles circling high above the mountains.
During one of our hikes there, we spotted an eagle landing on a cliff that looked very much like a nest. We started wondering what it might be doing there, and little by little, a story began to form around that moment.
Our hikes are usually built around filming scary or exciting videos, but we almost never start with a fully planned plot. As we moved through the mountains, we kept improvising ideas about how this discovery could fit into a fictional post-apocalyptic world.
That simple idea pulled us deeper into the landscape.
We climbed across giant rock formations, searched for hidden paths between the cliffs, and discovered corners of the park we probably would have never explored otherwise. What started as an ordinary hiking trip slowly turned into a creative adventure.
Later, back home, the real storytelling process began.
As we reviewed the footage together, my son became deeply involved in building a consistent narrative around what we had filmed. Scene by scene, the story evolved into a fictional survival mission about finding an eagle nest in the wilderness and imagining what people in a harsh post-apocalyptic world might do in order to survive.
That creative process became just as important as the hike itself.
Growing Up Around Mountains and Campfires
I originally come from Chelyabinsk, near the Ural Mountains. During summers, spending time outdoors was simply part of life. We went on pohody — hiking trips with backpacks and tents — gathered mushrooms in forests, cooked over campfires, and spent days disconnected from technology.
At the time, it felt completely normal.
Now I realize how valuable those experiences were.
Today many children spend most of their free time in front of screens. And honestly, I understand why. The digital world is exciting, social, interactive, and creative. My son is no exception. If I simply suggested spending an entire day hiking for no reason, he would probably lose interest very quickly.
But something changes when nature becomes part of a story.
Discovering the Wild Side of Madrid
After moving to Spain, I discovered Sierra de Guadarrama and especially La Pedriza — a landscape that sometimes feels more like another planet than a park near a major European capital.
Massive granite towers, hidden caves, narrow passages, cliffs, rivers, and endless hiking opportunities make it one of the most unique outdoor locations around Madrid.
Every time we go there, I notice how many adults are passionate about hiking, climbing, and trail running.
But I rarely see children exploring these places.
And that made me think that maybe kids do not necessarily dislike nature. Maybe they simply need a different way to connect with it.
Our Route
Here is the trail we followed on this particular day — you can explore it yourself on the map below.
Turning Hiking Into Adventure
That is how our survival videos started to evolve.
Instead of treating hiking as “exercise,” we began treating it as worldbuilding.
Every location became part of a larger fictional universe: abandoned wastelands, mysterious horsemen, volcanic eruptions, hidden shelters, forest creatures, and survival missions deep in the mountains.
Suddenly, nature stopped feeling disconnected from the digital world my son enjoys so much.
Instead, the outdoors became the raw material for creativity.
When we film together, he becomes involved in every step: planning scenes, acting, improvising ideas, discussing camera angles, reviewing footage, and later helping shape the story during editing.
And honestly, that process has brought us much closer together.
Another story was born in during the same hike
Almost anything that happens along the way can become the foundation for a new story. All it takes is a bit of imagination — and sometimes rearranging the footage you captured during the hike into something completely different.
I’ve always been fascinated by video editing, and interestingly, the videos that performed best for me were often the ones that required the least effort. I also love music and play guitar myself, but today it’s incredible what kind of soundtracks can be created with modern AI tools available online. They make it possible to build entire atmospheres around simple moments captured on camera.
One of the nice tunes came out of the same hike. My son climbed onto a giant boulder near the trail just as a group of horsemen appeared in the distance. The scene immediately looked cinematic to me — almost like a scout hiding from unknown riders crossing the wasteland.
That single moment instantly turned into a story idea for our channel. In our fictional world, strangers are unpredictable, and survival often depends on staying unnoticed until you understand who you are dealing with. It became a simple but powerful lesson woven into the adventure: in the wasteland, anyone can be dangerous 🤣.
Why Survival Skills Matter More Than Ever
Another reason why I started this project is because I believe modern families are becoming increasingly disconnected from basic outdoor skills and preparedness.
We live in a time when climate-related events, infrastructure failures, and unexpected emergencies are becoming more common. In Europe we often feel protected from these realities, but recent events — including the large-scale apagón in Spain — reminded many people how dependent modern life is on electricity and systems we usually take for granted.
That experience reinforced an idea I had already been thinking about for a long time:
- Children should know how to spend time outdoors.
- Families should feel comfortable in nature.
- People should understand basic preparedness and survival concepts.
But I do not think fear is the right way to teach those things.
Adventure is.
A hiking trail. A flashlight. A backpack. A first aid kit. A fictional survival mission in the mountains.
Sometimes that is all it takes to make the outdoors exciting again.
More Than Just Videos
What started as simple outdoor filming sessions slowly became something much bigger for us.
For me, it reconnects me with the outdoor experiences I loved growing up around the Ural Mountains.
For my son, it creates a bridge between nature and the digital world he naturally gravitates toward.
And together, it gives us shared adventures, shared creativity, and shared memories.
The funny thing is that the videos themselves are only part of the experience.
The real story happens before and after filming: during the hike with us, during the conversations, during the editing, and during the process of turning ordinary moments in nature into imaginative stories together.
And that is probably why we keep going back to the mountains.