The golden eagle is not just a bird.
It's a natural wonder.
But now it's on the endangered species list,
so the Phoenix Foundation came up with a project
to ensure its survival.
I was going to follow a pair of eagles that had mated,
and, hopefully, find their nest.
It was called The Dead Horse Point Project.
The idea was to make sure the eagle eggs,
if there were any, were protected
from their natural enemies like hawks, mountain lions,
and, of course, man.
It was a job Pete Thornton didn't have to twist my arm to accept.
And to track an eagle, you've got to sort of...
become one.
Get up there with 'em.
Now, if you don't like heights,
climbing a mountain while you're carrying a container
with a hang glider inside it might seem
like a strange thing to do,
especially when the weather starts to get very cold...
very fast.
Golden eagles mate for life,
and if Pete Thornton's information was correct,
there was only one pair in the area.
I was hoping the bird I'd seen was one of them.
The climb up to look for those eagles took me
from summer to winter in the same day.
And there they were...
...sitting on the most inaccessible roost
I had ever seen.
Of course it didn't seem inaccessible to them.
It may seem cruel,
but one animal's death means another will live.
All a part of nature's balancing act.
Civilization had thrown that balance out of whack,
and when it came to those two eagles,
it was my job to see if they could stick around long enough
to put the scales back in order.
When you're hang gliding, you feel like you're part of the sky.
Maybe that's why I can fly hundreds of feet off the ground
without the sweaty palms I get
when I look down from a stepladder.
I guess the way you look at the world
depends on where you are.
From up here, it looked like a pretty nice place.
They say imitation's the sincerest form of flattery.
That's why I was copying the eagles' flight path,
so they'd feel comfortable with me around
and let me follow them long enough
to find their nest... wherever it was.
Apparently, I wasn't alone with the eagles.
There was somebody else just as hooked on 'em as I was.
Gas is gettin' low. We better head in.
You said we'd bag some game.
What about that ram?
Everyone has a bighorn on the wall.
I want something special.
Watch it, will ya?
Oh, sorry, Mr. Nystrom.
Couple of birds over there.
Move in on them!
You missed.
Hey, those are golden eagles!
I know what they are!
I'd be the first one in the club to hang one on the wall.
It's against the law!
Missed again.
Ah, this thing is jammed!
You couldn't hit 'em anyway.
Why don't you just fly this thing?
If you're so good, why don't you try my crossbow?
Give me!
You don't have a prayer.
Got him!
Pretty good shot.
You just winged him.
I always wanted a matched pair.
Sometimes, the best way to distract a guy is
to make him see the light.
What's that?
That guy wants to play games with me,
I'll knock him right out of the sky!
Ghant, watch it!
What happened?
Eagle hit the skid.
You happy now? He's hurt.
Let's get out of here.
It looked like the eagle
that flew towards the north face of the mountain
was in shock.
I didn't have enough lift to get up to it,
so I figured helping the boy with the wounded one
was my next best choice.
It's okay, Fred, stay still.
Stay, Fred.
Stay here. Calm down.
Stay. Okay?
Stay.
- Keep him here, all right? - Mm-hmm.
It might distract the bird.
Easy, baby.
Come on, come on.
That's it.
You better tie the legs together.
The talons are very dangerous.
Here, you can use this.
You got a place I can work on his wing?
Yeah, my grandpa's cabin.
Oh, come on...
Mom!
Someone shot one of the eagles!
What?!
How bad is it?
I think his wing might be broken.
I'm gonna need some help.
Come on. We can use the shed.
I'll put a blanket on the table.
Here, Darin, let me get that.
That's great.
You got any rags we could use for bandages?
I'm gonna have to set this wing.
Yeah, we got tons of 'em.
That's great.
There's a knife in my pocket. Get it.
- Darin, no! - But I can do it.
Honey, you're gonna cut yourself.
Darin!
He's only ten years old. I don't know he expects.
Okay, how much of this do you need?
Uh, just a couple of strips. Long strips, please.
My name's MacGyver.
Oh, hi. Susan Cooper.
Hi, Susan.
Listen, I'm really gonna need your help here.
You're gonna have to hold the bird while I wrap the wing.
Um...
Look, I've never done this before, either,
but it's got to be done.
Okay.
All right, here we go.
Easy does it.
Easy, baby.
Careful.
Here we go.
Easy. Come on.
Oh, I know, I know, I know.
All right.
Oh, good.
Keep a hold of her.
I'm gonna have to make a splint here.
Hang onto it real tight.
All right, when we're finished up here,
we'll soak the rags in antiseptic.
You're sure you never done this before?
Well, I had a parakeet one time
that went ten rounds with a cat.
I patched him up, and he lived to fight again.
I didn't think anybody was living up here.
Oh, this was my dad's place.
Darin and I came out a few weeks ago.
Oh, it's a nice place for a vacation.
Well, I'm trying to fix some things.
Yeah, these old cabins can sure use a lot of work.
Oh, I wouldn't know a hammer from a chain saw.
No, I mean fix some things:
Darin... me...
Darin?
Darin!
I thought he would have stuck around
to see some of our handiwork.
No. There's a rocky point just beyond that ridge up there.
That's where he goes when we have an argument.
He's there a lot lately.
Be careful with that ram.
When do we pick up that eagle? Tomorrow?
There'll be nothing but feathers left
after the coyotes get through.
What's the point of killing it if I can't put it in my den?
There is a $5,000 fine for killing golden eagles.
It is a protected species.
So is the bighorn, but I bagged one of them.
You know, I'm really worried about that guy in the hang glider.
He saw us shoot that eagle.
Now, if he goes to the park rangers
and tells them what he saw, we could...
Listen, maybe he's got a soft spot.
Everybody does.
Women, booze, he owes the bookies --
something he doesn't want out of the bag.
Find him and buy him.
Yeah, but...
That guy on the hang glider talks, we could lose the business.
"Business"?
That guy talks,
there'll be federal agents crawling all over here.
Why do you think I busted out of prison
and moved to the middle of nowhere?
They want to put me back on death row.
I ain't going to let that happen.
Your mom and I got the arrow out of the bird's wing.
I think he's going to be all right.
He's a she.
Oh.
You know about eagles?
I've been studying them for a few years.
My dad sends me books on them.
Did you see where the male eagle went?
He landed on the mountain, I think.
If they don't get back together...
They have one mate their whole life.
There could be a nest out there with eggs in it,
or young eagles, maybe.
If one of the adults dies, or something,
the young will die too,
'cause one adult can't take care of them alone.
They aren't going to die.
Not if we have anything to say about it.
Name's MacGyver.
I know; I heard you tell Mom.
You know, when I was your age,
I'd have given anything to spend time in a place like this.
Ah, this place is okay.
Darin...
I think your mom's worried about you.
It's, uh, it's a good kind of worry,
if you know what I mean.
She just doesn't want to see you hurt yourself.
Neither do I.
I just want to do things.
She won't let me.
Have you talked to her about it?
Have you tried?
She doesn't listen.
Well, if you don't talk, what's she going to listen to?
Just a thought.
Any change, Darin?
I think she's getting weaker.
Hey!
Anybody home?
It's MacGyver!
Hey. How's our patient?
She doesn't like being in that box.
Wow, it must be great flying on this hang glider!
Yeah, it is.
So when are we going up, huh?
You kidding? My mom'd never let me go.
You going to stay over?
Well, um...
He can, can't he?
Sure, if he wants to.
Okay, it's after 9:00, honey.
But I was talking to MacGyver.
Well, you can talk in the morning; let's go.
I want to sleep in the shed.
Oh, Darin, please.
That way I could keep an eye on the eagle.
The eagle is going to sleep in her bed.
You're going to sleep in your bed.
I'm not a baby anymore.
You know, the only arguments
I ever had with my mother were about bedtime.
I finally had to let her stay up till 10:00.
I wish you hadn't given him that.
I'm sorry. I should have asked.
Nature gives people and animals instincts
that help them to survive, but up on the mountain,
a part of nature was in danger of disappearing,
and instinct alone wasn't going to save it.
Sugar cubes are a great source of energy.
I figured the eagle on the mountain might need it.
Morning.
How you doing?
Hmm?
Will you let me touch you?
I bet you miss your mate, don't you?
Yeah.
If you're going to scale a mountain,
you need the right things to do it with.
Susan's dad had been a climber,
and some of the equipment was still there: rope...
carabiners...
climber's hammer...
and a ice ax.
But after that, the pickin's
started getting mighty slim -- tent stakes instead of pitons.
And if Darin's dog didn't mind, his leash clips
were going to be my extra carabiners.
They looked good,
if you didn't look too close.
Good morning.
Morning.
How's she doing?
Not so good.
Oh.
- What's that? - Oh, it's a little trick.
Take the inside out of a pen, you know what you got?
Bird feeder.
Darin said she won't eat when she's hurt.
Yeah, it's for the male eagle.
Hit that helicopter yesterday; I figure he's in shock.
Little sugar water will bring him out of it.
And I could use this climbing equipment too,
but you don't have half enough carabiners or pitons.
You wouldn't happen to know if you got any more?
You're going to look for the male eagle on the mountain?
You don't even know if he's up there.
I saw him fall.
I heard him last night.
I figure he's on the north face somewhere.
The north face is sheer granite.
Look, Darin said if the eagles are separated,
they'll never be able to hatch their eggs or raise their young.
I'm just going to bring the two of them together, that's all.
Hey, you know what my dad used this for?
- No. - A hat.
It'll help us keep track of you when you're on the mountain.
Thanks.
Well, looky, looky, looky, looky, looky, looky.
Wonder who belongs to that Jeep?
One way to find out.
Look at this stuff. This must be the guy.
What's that?
Jeep registration.
MacGyver.
Uh, we're not asking for any trouble.
Listen, why don't you let me talk to him?
I mean, you're not going to do anything stupid, are you,
like killing that bank guard for no reason?
Curry, when you've already killed one man,
killing another one don't really matter.
Especially when it means staying out of the chair.
Some people think of a mountain as just a big rock.
Well, this one wasn't.
And it's not very often
that you can get an eagle's-eye view of your own personal waterfall.
It took a little doing,
but I found out in a hurry the things a climber really needs --
a pair of strong hands, a set of steady nerves,
and a paid-up insurance policy.
There it is -- the hang glider.
- At least this guy, uh... - MacGyver...
MacGyver-- ain't flying around somewhere.
Well, let's just wait for him here, then.
Well, who knows if he's going to show?
He could be down in that cabin talking to the ranger on the shortwave.
Well, we're just going to buy him off anyway, right?
Hey, look, I'm warning you, don't you do anything...
What makes you think he wants to be bought?!
He goes right to the cops,
it's my life on the line, Curry!
I'll take him out if I got to...
and anyone else, too.
Now, let's stash the Rover and walk on down there.
I see MacGyver!
He's climbing the mountain!
Yeah, he went up to look for the other eagle.
He's almost up to the top!
In a way, mountains are kind of two-faced.
From a distance, they can look pretty smooth,
but up close, you see all the cracks --
places where you can hammer in a piton,
or, if you've run out, tent stakes.
Fred! Fred, stop it!
That's some watchdog you got there.
That hang glider wouldn't happen to belong
to a man named MacGyver, would it?
Yes.
Well, I hate to be the one to bring bad news,
but, well, his Jeep was crushed by a big tree at the entrance to the park.
Where is he?
Whoa! Is that him up there?
Yep.
What some folks'll do for fun.
Well, we'll wait right here for him,
if it's okay with you.
Climbing a mountain's tough enough when your hands
and feet have something solid to grab onto.
It's another story altogether when you're hanging in midair
from a tent stake and a dog leash clip.
Watching that tent stake fall
gave me a funny kind of feeling --
a feeling that could keep a guy from making long-range plans.
They say drowning men see their lives flash before them.
Falling men do, too.
At least this man did.
And what I saw was about 50 years too short.
I knew it was possible that the eagle would take
one look at me and decide to fly someplace else,
but that was a possibility I tried not to think about.
That kid's getting on my nerves.
I don't like the way he looks at me...
like he knows something.
How could he possibly know anyth...?
I don't know how.
He just bugs me.
Your ears can play tricks on you up in the mountains.
Sound bounces off rocks and ice,
and even though you hear it,
you don't really know where it's coming from.
I personally don't know which is more dangerous --
falling off a wedge of ice down the side of a mountain
or falling into a thousand-foot crevice.
And I really don't want to know.
An animal that's in shock can be completely unpredictable,
and when you're out on a mountain ledge
with a snowstorm coming up,
surprises are the last thing you want.
I really wanted to get that eagle down to the cabin,
but then I remembered there's only one kind of climber
who tries to get down a mountain in the middle of a snowstorm --
the kind you never hear from again.
How's the boy? Is he asleep?
Yeah, he is.
Oh, MacGyver could get caught in this storm.
I'm going to call the park rangers.
You ain't calling anyone, honey.
You cut my radio?!
My instinct told me
to do whatever I could to keep that eagle alive.
I guess his instinct told him to let me.
Feeling a little better, are we?
What do you say we get off this mountain?
Getting down a mountain should be easier than climbing it,
but not necessarily.
I'd seen an arrow like this one before.
The man with the cigar.
I remember now.
He was flying the helicopter when the eagle was shot.
Darin, are you sure that man is the s...
What I wanted to do was get that guy's attention...
and there was enough stuff in the shed to do it.
A gas stove, an old inner tube, a bicycle, a grindstone.
The problem was thinking of what to do with them.
I was right about the kid.
He knows.
Well, then, let's just get out of here...
I said the kid knows.
Well, what are we gonna...?
You want to kill him?
The woman, too.
Well, you're out of your mind!
Then we wait for MacGyver at the base of the mountain.
Look, I'm a businessman, and I'm not going to do this!
Listen, Curry, if it weren't for the take on that bank job
that put me on death row, you wouldn't have a business.
Now, understand something.
If I go down again, you go down with me this time.
Ball bearings are sort of like steel marbles.
If you strike 'em hard enough against a rough surface
of a grindstone, they'll spark...
just like the flint in a cigarette lighter.
Add to that a portable stove with a propane tank
and align it at just the right angle
with the grindstone and a nearby window.
Then, after you've armed yourself
with as many ball bearings as you happen to have...
you just switch on the gas,
and that'll give you a very explosive combination.
I remember using a bicycle to deliver newspapers,
go to the movies, ride to Little League games...
but I never thought I'd be using one as a slingshot.
Leave her alone!
Ghant, come on...
What do you want?
I'm just being friendly.
Last chance she'll have.
Run, Darin!
Get him!
Come on.
Let me go! Let me go!
What was that?
I'll take a look.
That grindstone seemed like a pretty easy target...
till I tried to hit it.
No!
I got no choice.
Please don't!
Ow!
Ow! Ow!
Ow. Ow!
That was great!
You guys okay?
- Yeah. - How'd you blow up the shed?
Well, it wasn't easy.
Well, that's three less predators we have to worry about.
Three?!
Yeah, the guy who shot the eagle.
Troopers have his name.
They're issuing a warrant for his arrest.
How's she doing?
She's dead.
Oh, Darin, oh.
She's dead.
Oh, hon.
And now the whole family'll die.
Nope.
What do you mean?
If there's a nest,
there's a chance we can save them.
You really think there are eggs out there?
If there are, I couldn't ask for a better guide.
This guy's got an instinct for survival.
Sure hope he knows we're on his side.
Maybe he'll lead me to the nest. What do you think?
Yeah. If the eggs are ready to hatch,
they can last four or five days without their mother.
Okay.
Hey, do me a favor, will you?
Signal before you turn.
I better hurry.
- Good luck. - Good luck.
I don't think he'll find that nest.
It could be all the way over in Monument Valley.
Yeah, maybe you're right.
But he's doing something you and I haven't done for a while.
He's trying.
You know, I didn't tell you, before, how proud I was of you;
the way you handled things today.
Thanks.
Monument Valley's a perfect place
for golden eagles who want to raise a family.
The nest could have been anywhere.
But he led me straight to the tallest butte of them all.
Landing a hang glider
on a slab of rock the size of a coffee table isn't easy.
And knowing it's a 500-foot drop to the desert floor
doesn't make it any easier.
Landing and finding the eggs was only half the job.
Getting them back in one piece was the other.
No sign of him yet?
Nope.
Darin, this was your grandpa's.
I thought you might like it.
Wow.
It's almost like MacGyver's.
I know.
Hey, MacGyver!
Did you find the nest?
Uh-huh.
Are there any eggs?
Three of 'em.
Wow.
How did you do that?!
Birds of a feather...
The padding from this chair makes good nesting material.
And vegetable oil.
What does that do?
The oil combines with the fibers of the padding
to create a low-level spontaneous combustion.
No flame... hopefully, just the right amount of heat.
Now we've got an incubator.
And we wait.
Darin.
- Hmm? - Wake up.
Shh, shh, shh.
They're alive.
It worked.
MacGyver, you saved them.
I had a little help from a friend.