♪ ♪
andy: Yeah, right now I'm up on american summit.
It's about 20, 25 miles from eagle,
and about 30 miles from my home at calico bluff
down on the yukon river.
I have a lot of connections to this country.
Uh, when I first came here,
this was a place that provided a lot of resources for me.
I had zero money, really.
I basically lived on whatever I could find to eat.
And I'd mush my dogs up here a lot in the wintertime
and hunt caribou, bears, and other things up here.
And to collect blueberries.
A lot of connections, a lot of bonds,
uh, a lot of meaning to this area for me.
Everywhere I look, I see places I've been
and experiences I've had.
And, uh, I love coming up here but it's a harsh place to be.
♪ ♪
narrator: Andy bassich and denise becker
have traveled 20 miles to american summit,
an area where andy has harvested resources
since his first days in eagle.
They're in search of food
that will prepare them for the winter ahead.
But if they are to be successful in the high country,
they'll need to rely on their sled dogs
and an ancient tool to help carry the load.
Andy: I think this is a good spot here.
Why don't we, uh, get these packs and stuff on them?
Denise: Okay.
Carver! Griz!
Good boys! (laughs)
come here, griz!
You got to put your berry pack on.
Andy: One of the things I'm really enjoying
is teaching one of the dogs how to use a travois,
which is a really effective way to move heavy loads up here.
Basically, what a travois is, is it's two long poles
that extend out from the back of the dog.
There's kind of a bridle that goes over the back
and connects at the chest or around the neck.
And basically, it becomes
kind of like a wheelbarrow without wheels
for the animal to drag a heavy load.
Work our way up the hill here and we'll look for berries,
and I'm gonna stop and glass from time to time.
Maybe we'll get lucky and see a caribou.
Denise: That'd be great.
My first impression of american summit
is the vastness and the beauty
and the freedom that you feel up here.
I didn't envision it being so mossy, tussocky, wet.
Andy: That's why you have a travois.
♪ ♪
denise: Here's some berries. (chuckles)
you got a good patch there, andy?
Andy: Yeah, they're just interspersed everywhere,
but, you know, some years you come up here
and it's like one peck, one handful.
Not like that this year.
I thought maybe we might miss them completely.
Denise: I've never picked blueberries
in a setting like this.
This is amazing.
Andy: I love being up in the high country.
It's really beautiful up here.
It's kind of a different experience
when you live down on the yukon.
Everything kind of closes in on you.
And when you get up here, you realize it's a pretty big world.
Ricko: As a father, I'm supposed to be perfect.
But I'm not perfect.
♪ ♪
okay, check the depth.
Shallow there, check again.
The drop-off right there, huh?
Skyler: Look at.
Ricko: Oh, yeah, that's getting deep.
Oh, we can catch a whitefish or a pike right there.
We're gonna just use the old stick.
We're gonna put a new stick next to it.
Skyler: So it's just gonna push it that way?
Ricko: It'll be going along with the current.
Getting fish is really important
because we don't have any other source of meat right now.
We're not hunting moose, we're not hunting bears.
They haven't eaten enough berries yet.
So, it's important that I teach my kids how to fish.
And not only just in the winter like I've taught them before,
but in summertime, 'cause this is when we really need fish.
Just got to get this into the dirt.
Ouch.
Hard on the hands.
Skarlett: Is this your new net?
Ricko: Yeah, this is brand spanking new.
Smells like new shoes, huh?
Some kids get new nikes.
Sky gets a new fish net.
Skyler: Yeah.
Ricko: Think it's ready to go in.
I'm just tying it off in the water right here.
Skyler: Are you putting it low?
Ricko: Yeah, as low as I can
so it don't pull on the net too much.
The higher you go, the more leverage you got.
Skyler: Yeah.
Ricko: So, hopefully, we don't lose the net.
Last winter, I put a net under the ice here.
It was very cold, very difficult, and I was by myself,
and it wasn't very pleasant.
So, me and the kids should have an easier time.
Okay, we're gonna set the net now.
Okay, just push us out in the current just a little bit.
There you go, just like that.
Not too hard.
Just like that.
Okay, I'm gonna use the current of the river
to string this net out.
Skarlett: Wait, aren't we trying to catch a salmon?
Ricko: No, we're trying to catch a big pike or a whitefish.
Keep going, sky.
You're a lot of help.
There you go, hold on to this net
and when, when you get close, throw this in the river.
Skyler: On this side?
Ricko: Yeah. I'll tell you when. Just hang on to it.
Go ahead.
Toss it in.
Good job, sky.
Okay, you guys, jump in. Close that door.
Okay, we'll leave that net sitting
and then we'll come back, check it,
and if we got a bunch of kings, we'll let them go.
But if we get some whitefish or pike...
Skarlett: Ooh, yay.
Agnes: As the girls grow up,
we're passing down our family traditions.
Blessing to see they follow our traditional style.
♪ ♪
shall we going beachcombing for a little bit?
Check out the river.
I already got three life jackets, qutan.
Qutan: Cool.
Agnes: After all the couple weeks of staying in noorvik
and some people were starting to get sick,
and there was a couple people in our neighbor villages
that passed away from the covid.
Decided to come back to camp and go do what we do best,
is just live our life out in our country with our younger kids.
Narrator: After isolating at her home village of noorvik,
agnes hailstone has reunited with her family
in the remote kiwalik camp.
With the lack of abundant resources in the region
this time of year,
they will now turn to a tradition
that will support their lifestyle
and carry on their native inupiat culture,
making art from harvested materials.
Agnes: Chip and I usually fall back on artwork
when we need money.
Like, if we need extra gas or other things, you know,
we just trade or give as gifts.
As the girls grow up, they'll be able to fall back
on their artwork if they have to.
This looks like a good place to walk for a little bit.
See how it all just fell?
Those are good places to look.
I just want to look and see
if there's any kinds of raw materials or bone
or something we could use in one of our artwork projects.
It's nice to just go take a walk once in a while
and look around what's in the area.
But you got to be careful.
Sometimes the mud all just fall while you're walking under.
Got to be careful not to go in places
where it's just gonna fall on you.
This is where me and your dad usually go walk and find,
like, mammoth tusks and mammoth teeth.
Sometimes there's moose antlers along the top edges and stuff.
Carol: This time of the year,
when we're walking along the riverbanks
when it's melted and the, um, land's falling,
we just look for tracks and bones and plants,
if they're at the right time.
Walking along the riverbank is always surprising.
You never know what you're gonna find.
Qutan: This tundra right here,
it used to be all flat like this.
Until the permafrost underneath the ground started melting.
And then so the ground started to fall in,
and then the water, like, separates the ground
and finds its way back to the river.
And once it does that, these huge chunks of dirt and moss,
they fall into the river.
And it keeps eroding.
Carol: There's like a huge crack over here.
Agnes: Yeah, that's kind of dangerous.
Let's just turn around and go get the boat, you girls.
Well, you don't always find something,
but there's a lot of bones and pieces we can use
towards our artwork when we get back home.
Carol: Yeah, it's pretty fun just to walk 'em.
There's blueberries.
Could you give me some?
They're really sweet.
Agnes: Yeah, the blueberries about ripe.
Right on, go back to your dad and wade kelly
and see what they're up to.
Carol: Yup.
Qutan: Sounds good.
Jessie: Come wintertime, you better be prepared out here.
You do things by the seat of your pants, you pay for it.
♪ ♪
this is a bunch of wood that I cut
a couple years ago in nenana.
You can see that this firewood's
still got a lot of moisture in it.
The dryer I can get this firewood
and the more cured I can get it,
the better it's gonna burn for me this winter.
But it needs to stop getting rained on.
What I need to do right now is build a woodshed around this
to get this all enclosed.
No more rain falling on it.
That way I can be properly prepared for the winter.
Last winter, it was one of the most harshest winters
I've ever spent in alaska.
And there was three weeks
where we never got above 40 below zero.
Every one of those days, I had to go haul wood
from my wood yard, five miles away from here.
And that lit a fire under me to be prepared.
What I'm gonna do right now is I got some big timbers
that are left over from my cabin here.
I'm gonna dig some holes here, set these posts.
Everything I do out here I'm gonna do with passion.
I'm gonna make this thing look nice.
This country out here, these mountains, inspires me.
It drives me.
I don't just want to survive here, I want to thrive here.
Okay, got that straight.
What I'm gonna have to do is lift this log up here.
When it gets up there, it's gonna be completely unstable.
I'm gonna grab some two-by-fours,
put one screw in each one so it'll pivot.
As I go up, I'll be able to use those to brace,
to keep from falling over.
These logs are about 17 foot long.
They weigh close to 300 pounds.
It's gonna be a little bit of a struggle
to get some of these logs set up right.
Sometimes you just got to go for broke.
Okay, I feel like I got this braced up here now.
I mean, it's not very stable,
but it's stable enough for me to walk away from it.
I got one post in.
Now, I'm gonna get the other posts set.
When you're just one person doing a job like this,
it's a balancing act.
This weighs 300-something pounds.
It's dangerous.
Every now and then,
I wish I had three hands, three arms, four arms.
Four arms would be even better.
I'd say this is my least favorite part
about this build, digging these holes.
Holy (bleep)!
Jessie: Holy (bleep)!
(bleep)
whew.
I had just adjusted the log and finally got it squared up,
but, you know, I got to keep an eye out
and make sure I keep these, uh, braces a lot better in there.
That was a real close call, too close for comfort for me.
I'm gonna take some extra precautions.
I only had two supports on that.
And I'm gonna put four on each side,
make sure they can't fall over.
Nobody's gonna ensure my safety out here but me.
All right, I've got my final post secured.
So far, so good.
It's, uh, nice when you get to this point of a project
where you can start seeing it.
Next step is, uh, to get some concrete,
start filling in these holes.
This is a very exciting build for me.
A project that I've really been looking forward to.
To me, it's just another thing
that I got to figure out how to do myself.
I enjoy doing that.
It makes me rise to the challenge.
Nobody's gonna come do this for me.
This is something I'm gonna do for myself.
All right, I got my last post set.
Making some quick progress here.
I can really start to see it all coming together.
Right now, I'm gonna have to let these cure overnight,
and then I can get started with
putting up some massive crosspieces tomorrow.
Gonna get a good night's rest, get back at it in the morning.
Chip: This place has its own dangers.
But still, there's a good way that a person here
can make a living.
It's all right here if you want it.
♪ ♪
carol: Beluga head.
Cool.
This is, um, my family's collection of bones
that we always just find and take home
when we go beachcombing or something.
Oh, this even, you could just draw.
Cool. Maybe I should draw, since I'm really good at that.
Look, qutan,
all the stuff we collected over the years.
These became a lot, yeah?
Qutan: Yeah.
We could do something with this baleen.
'cause I've never done anything with baleen.
Carol: With this?
You gonna try and make something, or what?
Qutan: Yeah.
Narrator: For carol and qutan hailstone,
traditional native art
is crucial to the survival of their inupiat culture
and a key task to complete this time of year
when opportunities to harvest resources are scarce.
Carol: What I found what I want to do is draw,
'cause I'm pretty good at drawing.
So, I got the idea to draw a whale
'cause, um, the baleen comes from the mouth of the whale.
And my sister wants to do the same,
so we're gonna see how this turns out.
Should we go sand the sides?
Qutan: Yeah, to make them smooth.
So they're easier to draw on.
Carol: Let's go. You want to go sand 'em or what?
Today's like a cool little project day.
While me and qutan are gonna be polishing our baleens
until we get them to where we want,
my dad's making a bow and arrow for wade.
Chip: Oh-ho! You knocked it over!
Wade: I hit the dot!
Chip: That was a good one.
Well, I better hurry up and get this thing done,
so you can have a real bow your size.
Wade: Hey! Hey!
Chip: I got to babysit, so, I'm taking the time
to make the little guy a bow.
These are kind of the toys he could use around here.
I want him to feel like he's a little hunter.
I want him to feel like he's a part of all this.
He's a little boy sneaking up on little birds
and small stuff like squirrels and things.
I'll give him a little bow and arrow,
and he could go, you know, five, ten feet away.
I think little kids should all get to play outside lots.
Make him stronger.
Wade: I just hit the dot!
Chip: Healthier, tougher, faster.
I would say that our chores and our fun
blurs into our livelihood.
Give him the toys and the ability at a young age,
then when he's older, he'll have choices.
That kid there is smart.
Wade: Dah!
Chip: While I'm working on this,
those girls are doing some etching.
Right now, they're learning how to make money.
And they don't have to go get something
and buy it and go sell it.
They can actually go find it, make something very unique,
put their name to it,
and somebody will want to pay the price that they ask.
And our kids have grown up watching us make artwork,
and now they're including themselves.
Qutan: Oh, that's pretty cool.
Carol: It's like a whale.
Qutan: Oh, yours is done. Mine is--oh.
Carol: I think the more you draw on one of these,
the better it gets.
Etching on baleen is kind of like a traditional thing.
You could always just make something
out of all these artifacts for like thousands of years.
A lot of eskimos actually do draw these to draw stories.
Since I was a little kid, I always grew up
and my parents would be drawing on baleen
and making a lot of cool artwork,
and I just grew up watching them do that.
And as I was growing up, it became just like a little hobby.
I guess you could say art's in our whole family.
It's just in our bloodline, I guess.
It's funner because my sister's learning, too,
and it's just like, um, drawing.
Qutan: Look.
That's like a short, fat one. This is like a skinny, long one.
Carol: Oh, its mouth is open, eh?
Qutan: Oh, yeah. That's the baleen.
Carol: I'm pretty happy about this.
Turned out pretty cool.
Ricko: There's no gender roles
when you're way out here in the woods.
Everybody got to play their part.
♪ ♪
normally, if there's fish in that fish net,
you'll see the sinkers are way down in the water,
and you can kind of tell if you got something in it.
Skyler: Wait. Do they die in the fish net?
Ricko: Uh, some of the fish will die by the time we get to them,
but some might still be alive.
Okay, here's the fish net.
Okay, you guys, let's check the net.
Skyler: Okay.
Ricko: Hopefully, we got some pike or whitefish,
something to make fish ice cream with.
Skarlett: Dad, what do you do if we got a salmon?
Ricko: If we get salmon, we let it go.
A lot of people take pride in fishing with fishing rods,
but in reality that's not what we do out here.
We use fish nets.
You got to have that fish net working
while you're working around the cabin
and doing other things.
Especially right now, there's no moose meat, no caribou meat.
The bears are skinny.
So, if we didn't have fish nets growing up out here,
we for sure would have starved to death.
Skyler: The fish are moving!
See?
Ricko: You're right, there is something in there.
Skyler: That's a big one.
Ricko: Lot of dog salmon in this net.
What's the other one?
Skarlett: The other one? Skyler: That's an...
Skarlett: That's another dog salmon, it's big.
Skyler: Three dog salmon!
Ricko: We'll let these ones go if they're still alive.
These things get real tangled up.
Skarlett: Dad, is that why they're called dog salmon?
Ricko: Yeah, I think so, they have like big old dog teeth.
Skarlett: Why can't we eat them?
Ricko: 'cause these things
aren't even good eating right now.
Backriver, pike eater country,
we don't have good salmon out here.
I mean, you could eat salmon if you have to,
but late July like this, they're gonna be really spawned out.
And pike is the way we really get by out here.
Whitefish, not as many,
but they're always the biggest treat out here,
is good whitefish.
It goes a long ways.
It has a little more food value than a pike.
Aw, look at that fish.
Oh, it's barely in there.
Skyler: We got a whitefish!
Skarlett: I love whitefish.
Ricko: This is what we're looking for right here.
These are good eating fish.
I grew up through some hungry times.
And the kids don't have to experience that,
but I want them to learn all the tools that I used growing up
through the hardest times to get here today.
And even though times are easy right now,
if it ever comes to hard times,
these kids will have the tools and the knowledge
to put food on the table.
Okay, this is the end of the net.
It's heavy.
Skyler: Oh, my god. Holy snap!
Ricko: No.
Skyler: Oh, my god. Holy snap!
Ricko: Woo.
Skyler: That's humungous.
Ricko: That's a good pike right there.
Look, skar, it's almost big as you.
Skarlett: Oh, jeez.
Ricko: Okay, let's get this net out before we catch more fish.
We're done.
Skyler and skarlett have never processed a fish on their own.
This is gonna be a learning experience.
They'll learn how to put a net in the water,
and they'll also learn how to take care of what they catch.
And that's just as important as learning how to fish.
Skyler: Right here?
Ricko: Yeah.
Not too deep, tilt it up.
There you go, you're doing good.
No, even if you cut the guts, it's okay.
Skyler: No, no, I don't want to mess it up.
Ricko: I'll show you. You go like this.
Pull up on the stomach and just go like that.
The whitefish stomach is real good eating.
So you pull it out here.
Skyler: It looks like a squid.
Ricko: It is, it's like squid.
That's what it tastes like.
Skarlett: Yes! Skyler: And I like squid.
Ricko: It's like the alaskan squid right here.
My kids, they're basically city kids,
but they're really not city kids anymore.
I've been bringing them out a lot over the years,
and they're not really sensitive
to the weather and the bugs and all that.
So, my kids are definitely getting tougher,
and that makes it easier for me
because they're more comfortable.
Having the kids help me was, uh, best way to do it for me
because it's a very big job.
And it also gives them hands-on experience,
and they get to see how it all happens.
And they get to see what to look out for.
Good spot to clean the fish, right here, huh?
Look. No blood, nothing.
Just all sand.
That's how you want it to look,
'cause if we had that up on the bank,
or by the house, we got bear problems.
Jessie: To live in these mountains
teaches you, grows you.
It ages you.
It makes you a better man.
♪ ♪
okay.
That looks like some pretty good height.
Got my dog truck situated in a good spot
for me to be able to put up this log.
And this one's a little bit further back,
but it's still gonna give me somewhere to slide it off
and see what I can do here.
Narrator: Jessie holmes is building a shelter
for his firewood,
a crucial piece of infrastructure
for his new homestead.
But after a close call while building the foundation,
he must proceed with caution
as he continues to build from on high.
Jessie: Now that my posts have cured
with the concrete overnight,
the next part is putting my crossbeams up.
These are hard lifts to make,
because this is a heavy log, and I don't have the best footing.
This is no joke. These are 300-pound logs.
(grunts)
what I do might look impossible to do, but it's technique.
And I'm not that strong.
I'm using simple bush ingenuity to get this done.
Figuring out how to do something by myself
that most people will require
two to three people to do safely.
All right, I've got my beams set.
Pretty happy seeing how this looks even from up here.
I know when I get down there,
I'm gonna feel a lot happier about it.
It's time to start setting my rafters.
I am building this woodshed with materials
that had been repurposed from about five different jobs.
It's great to be able to repurpose all of this material,
and invest it in something
that's gonna keep me warm this winter.
The way I work, is I use everything that I have.
I don't waste things.
I had to work very hard to get all this stuff out here.
There's a sense of pride in that.
But it's also a sense of survival.
Either I'm gonna go work for a dollar bill
or I'm gonna work for myself.
Okay, now I've got all the structural parts
of my roof built.
I've got my rafters,
I've got my blocking in here to stiffen it up.
One thing left for me to do here is, uh, put my tin on.
Working hard right now
so I don't have to work hard chasing wood in the winter.
That's gonna be a nice, new feeling.
A big change around here.
(drilling)
for me, my whole life I've been moving around
from place to place.
Owning this, owning the title to this land,
starting with it raw and knowing that everything I invest into it
will never be taken away from me,
gives me a sense of pride in everything I do out here.
This place is a place of inspiration to me.
A place of bright future.
A place that I'm never gonna let go of.
All right, I've got all my metal laid out.
It went out real nice.
Next step, putting up my one-by-six sides
that'll hold the wood in.
And then I got a whole lot of wood around here
to fill this up.
It's gonna be a real nice sight.
Andy: It's pretty special to live in a place like this.
I feel really lucky
that I was able to determine at a pretty young age
that this was a lifestyle I wanted to try.
♪ ♪
come here, boys!
Denise: Look it, carver's doing really well with that travois.
Andy: Come on, carv!
Denise: He's doing super.
Andy: Good boy.
American summit is fairly high elevation, 3,500 feet.
And the winds are blowing up here most of the time,
and even on a nice, warm, sunny day in the summertime,
it's pretty chilly up here.
A lot of meaning to this area for me.
I spent a lot of time when I was a younger man.
A lot of nostalgia for me to come up here
and, and look for caribou, look for berries,
and show denise a little bit about this country.
Let's work our way over this way.
There's a good lookout point right here.
I'd like to just take the packs off
and we'll just kind of look out for a little while.
Denise: Okay, sounds good.
♪ ♪
andy: Good boy, griz.
Denise: Good boy, carver.
Andy: There's a whole bunch of nice, big mushrooms.
Check these out.
Denise: Oh, yeah. Hoo, wow. This is great.
They're so big they don't fit in the container.
Andy: Using the excuse to pick blueberries,
but really it's a day for denise and I
to just come up here and for her to explore a little bit,
and, uh, if we can find some resources to bring home,
that's great.
You know, if we see a caribou, we'll take it.
And we're both starting to become more interested
in some of the different types of mushrooms and fungi.
If it's another resource for us to add to our meals
and dry for the wintertime, it's a great thing.
Denise: We're getting quite a load
of berries and mushrooms already.
Andy: Yeah, let's go find the lookout.
Denise: Okay, you lead the way.
This really makes it feel like a true day off
from the summer work at calico.
There's a lot of work at calico bluff in the summertime.
It really is nonstop.
Taking advantage of the good weather
and just leaving that behind for a day
and getting out here
is just like being able to just catch our breath,
catch my breath.
Get a breath of fresh air, literally.
Okay. Okay.
Okay, he's free.
Andy: Yay, carver.
Denise: Man.
Denise: It's just beautiful.
So glad to finally be here and see it.
It's a great lookout spot.
Andy: Yeah, you can see a lot of country from here.
Denise: What do you see?
Andy: A whole lot of barren ground, with no caribou in it.
I mean, I'd love to see some, even if we don't get any,
I'd love to just see some out there.
Denise: Yeah. Exactly.
Well, I think I'm gonna roam around a little here
and pick some berries,
and I'll watch for more mushrooms, too.
It'd be really good to get some more mushrooms.
Andy: Well, I'm quite comfortable
in my rock-ing chair.
(denise laughs)
denise: Let's see if there's any over here, guys.
Andy: Just seeing the dogs get out and run around
and explore the country here, they're having a ball.
And, uh, denise is the same way.
She's an explorer.
She loves to just roam.
She's kind of in hog heaven up here right now,
uh, having a new experience.
And that's a good thing, because our, our life down at calico
is kind of like living on a ranch or a farm.
Full of necessary but sometimes mundane chores.
And it's kind of nice just to get a break from the routine.
Denise: Do not eat my berries.
(laughs)
you're such a good dog.
Yeah, you are.
You know right when to chill, don't you?
Up on american summit here, you really get the feeling
of the vastness and the enormity of the land.
It also makes me realize how confining things can be
in other parts of the world
when there's constant boundaries
and limits to where you can go and what you can explore freely.
When I look out on the horizon,
there are no limits, and it just makes me want to explore.
♪ ♪
ricko: My kids having respect for animals and for the land
is what makes me the proudest
because it tells me I'm doing the right thing.
♪ ♪
we just got a bunch of fish out of the fish net,
so now we're gonna run over here.
There's an old campsite that I grew up in
until I was 16 years old.
It's downriver from the family cabin,
and it's a real walk through memory lane for me.
And also, let those kids see
a part of my history that they come from.
I talk to my kids a lot about growing up in the woods,
so this really gives them a chance
to put a finger on what I'm talking about.
♪ ♪
it's pretty grown-in out here,
but it still brings back a lot of memories.
Right here's our old trail that turned into an animal trail.
This is the most climbed tree in the area right here.
You know what we called it?
Skarlett: What? Ricko: Moose tree.
Skyler: That's what you'd talk about?
Ricko: Yeah, we'd always go up in that tree
and sit there and look out until we see a moose walking by.
Then we'd tell our mom or our dad.
I remember my late mom shooting a moose
right back there behind that tree.
She shot it one shot with a .44, big old bull moose.
Skyler: Had mom ever got a moose?
Ricko: Yeah, she used to, if dad wasn't there,
harry was out doing something and a moose came up,
my mom would go get it with a handgun.
She was a badass.
You know, when we were kids, we climbed a lot of trees
because we didn't have no toys
and we were always competing who can go where,
and going up trees was hard.
You hook your legs on.
Just like that.
Skyler: No way.
No, what the...?
Ricko: I haven't climbed this tree in probably 30 years.
♪ ♪
whew.
It's awesome up here.
I really wish my mom and dad were still around
in moments like this
because they'd be so proud of watching my kids
do what they're doing and see me as a parent.
If I'm able to raise my kids successfully
and raise them to be strong,
it shows a lot to who raised me, and that's my late mom and dad.
And I'm a little sad that they aren't here
to see their grandkids and see how strong they are.
But in a way, it's like giving tribute to my parents
for raising me to be strong and independent
and able to pass that on to my kids.
Skyler: How did you do that?
Ricko: You got to step straight up.
Ricko: Right here. Skyler: Oh, my god. Dad.
Ricko: You're good.
Step straight up onto that one, your foot.
Skyler: But look, it's gonna break.
Ricko: Uh, well, step further towards the tree.
Skyler: I'm scared.
Ricko: No, you're good.
Don't look down and just think of where your foot is
and think of where your hands are.
Skyler: Okay.
Ricko: Looks cool up there, huh?
Skyler: Yeah.
♪ ♪
ricko: Oh, look at this old moose antler.
This is one of the moose that fed our family back in the day.
Holy. This is what we used to eat growing up.
Pretty amazing it's still here.
This is awesome. Look at this.
That's really like a big deal to me to come here with my kids
because I'm seeing something I haven't seen in years,
and it was such a big part of my life.
It's a surreal feeling to come back and see it again,
so it's kind of bringing it back to reality to me.
It's not a dream anymore.
This here is the old jungle gym, we called it.
Skarlett: Did you love it here?
Ricko: Yeah, I used to love it out here.
This was my old playground.
I don't know how solid this is, though.
Pretty rotten.
Nothing what it used to be.
Skarlett: So could it fall?
Ricko: No, it's good.
Here, you want me to reach out?
Ooh.
Ricko: Here, you want me to reach out?
Ooh. You okay?
Skarlett: Yes.
Ricko: Jeez. (laughs) skar.
Skyler: You scared me.
Ricko: You all right?
I don't want to fall either.
Skar's always brave.
Just watch your foot, remember?
Jeez, you're brave.
That's one thing about skarlett, she don't give up.
She didn't get hurt, but she got scared,
but then she overcame it.
Okay, let's get out of here before I fall.
All this toughness out here kind of wore on them
and they're coming away a lot stronger kids,
and that's good for me to see,
because it shows I'm doing my job.
Raising them strong,
and hopefully they're learning a lot, too.
Okay, you guys ready?
Let's go make some fish ice cream.
You guys deserve to eat good.
♪ ♪
chip: I want these kids to get a idea
that they can always improve themselves.
They've got the talent, it's natural.
I want to develop it.
♪ ♪
chip: It's not too tight. It's a little boy's bow.
I made it with cables in the front.
And what we can do later when you're getting stronger
is we can twist these cables
and make this a higher poundage of pull.
You can hunt little animals with it.
Wade: Is it nocked?
Chip: Oh, I made wade
a little piece of bow and arrow, you know.
I added the cables to it,
and the cables give it more tension.
And as the boy gets bigger, I can tighten those cables down
and make it more pressure to pull the thing back.
I'm gonna give him something that can send an arrow 200 feet.
And probably within the next year,
he'll be able to do that with that bow.
He'll be a little clumsy at first.
It's made his size.
It's not man-sized like the toy bow.
It's made his size.
Wade: Can I shoot it?
Chip: Like that.
Carol: Oh, wow. You made him a, his bow's all done?
Chip: Yeah, I made him his own bow.
They don't take too long to make if you know what you're doing.
Carol: You made a bow, and I made a bowhead whale.
Agnes: Boy, these girls have an artistic hand.
Chip: Bowhead whale. Look at that.
That sure is a bowheaded whale.
Dang.
And they're immense. How about you?
Oh, you got a bowhead, too.
You know, for your first scrimshaw,
that is freaking absolutely amazing.
Agnes: It sure is.
Can give them away as gifts,
you can sell them, you can trade them.
When me and your dad need few bucks or something,
we used to make artwork
and sell, trade, or give them as gifts.
Carol: Man, this is cool. I actually really like it, too.
Agnes: Yeah, I really like it. Chip: So do I.
Carol: I think I'll hang it on the wall.
Agnes: Yeah. Chip: Good idea.
Chip: That's slick. Check out your nephew's bow.
Agnes: Wow, wade.
Chip: Here, grandson. Here.
Launch an arrow that way as fast as you can, as far as you can.
Show them you can use a bow.
Agnes: Yup, get into position.
Chip: Aim at your target.
Agnes: Whoa! Good job!
Chip: All right, wade, go hunting now.
Agnes: That's how you do it.
Chip: Come back with something and you'll be a provider.
Agnes: Good job!
Right on.
Got to keep giving the kids toys
that are like tools that they can learn with,
and pretty soon he'll be shooting guns,
and then, you know, it'll progress from there.
To see qutan and carol just blooming
with, um, all the artwork and their artistic stuff
is real awesome to see.
They watched me do it for years and years,
and they watched chip create stuff and carve things.
And it's always awesome to watch
each and every one of our children grow up
and, you know, they just pick up that talent also,
and it's good to see they have my family, um, style.
It makes me happy, and it makes me know
that they've been paying attention.
It's just great to see
that we're passing down our family tradition.
♪ ♪
jessie: I finally got a place
where I really want to stay in life,
so everything I do is gonna do with passion,
and I'm gonna do it right.
♪ ♪
wow, now I can see all the space that I'm gonna have in here
for all this firewood.
This is gonna be a major improvement to the homestead.
Next step is to get some enclosure going in on the sides.
I don't want to eliminate the air flow,
but I want to be able to stack the wood up high.
Pretty socked in with clouds everywhere.
I think it's gonna rain soon.
The most exciting to me about this new woodshed,
I've never had a woodshed before.
It means a lot to me to have a space
that's dedicated just to dealing with and processing firewood,
'cause it's such a humongous part of my life.
I'm going hard because then I get to sit back
and enjoy the fruits of my labor.
This coming winter
is when I'm really gonna get to experience that.
In the alaska range, winter's always right around the corner.
There's no comfort to be had unless you have firewood.
(thunder)
the (bleep)?
Jessie: Well, looks like I got this wood covered up
just in time.
Getting to see the benefits of my hard work here.
At least the wood's nice and dry that I have under here.
I'm actually nice and dry.
Storm's passing, the weather's clearing up.
I got to get to back to work.
One of the things that's the most exciting to me
about this new woodshed,
I've never had a woodshed before.
It means a lot to me to have a space that's dedicated
just to dealing with firewood
'cause it's such a humongous part of my life.
Okay, the last thing I got to do
is put up this, uh, x brace here.
It'll keep these from bowing out.
And then I'm done.
And I could start cutting wood.
I got a lot of firewood out all around my yard.
What I need to do next is get it all cut up,
stacked up into my woodshed.
The beauty of this is this
doesn't just set me up for this coming winter,
it sets me up for winter after winter after winter.
And I don't plan on going nowhere.
I just envision this growing and getting bigger.
Looking around at all of this, it's just hard to believe,
'cause whenever I came here,
there was nothing but a game trail in here.
I built this all with my own two hands, with my own back.
That's what I'm doing out here.
I'm making my dream happen, one step at a time.
And this was a big step.
I got three rows going here, stacked clear to the roof.
I feel a sense of relief right now,
having all this wood ready and drying for the winter.
This is what I envisioned,
and it's all starting to come together.
Pretty happy with this.
Ricko: The land has changed a lot.
Sometimes you just gotta pick up things and move to another spot,
and that's part of adapting to survive out here.
♪ ♪
basically, it's just boiled pike.
Let it drain a little bit.
♪ ♪
most people would think fish ice cream
sounds disgusting.
My kids might even think it's disgusting.
I want to see how they react to it.
But for me, it's very good food
and really important the kids learn
about some of their culture
and especially the foods in our culture.
We don't want the skin in there. That's for sure, right?
What else do we not want in there?
Skyler: Bones.
Ricko: Yeah, we don't want bones.
See these bones right here?
Boom.
Skyler: Do you have to freeze fish ice cream?
Ricko: You don't have to, but you can.
The reason we say "ice cream,"
because we had it in the winter and we would freeze it,
and then if we go out on a boat ride,
or we're going out cutting wood, or whatever we got to do,
we bring it with us.
A real good snack.
It's got a lot of calories.
It's got a lot of protein.
You grab it like this and squeeze all the water out.
Skarlett: Wow.
Skyler: I didn't know you had to do that for fish ice cream.
Skarlett: She knows how to make everything.
Skyler: Did your mom know how?
Ricko: Yeah, that's who taught me how to make this.
Skarlett: When did you learn?
Ricko: When I was about your age.
My mom made me cook when I was young.
Skarlett: Oh.
Ricko: And I even had to go out and get the fish,
just like you guys.
We didn't always get to make this,
so it was a big deal when we made this.
Salmonberries, blueberries.
Skyler: Oh, my god.
Skarlett: That's a lot of berries.
Ricko: And then, we just kind of mix it in
without, like, I don't want to smash the berries up too much.
I'll put just a little bit in case you don't like it.
Skyler: Okay.
That tastes good.
Skarlett: Mm-hmm. Ricko: Okay, good.
Skyler: It doesn't even taste like fish.
Ricko: It's so damn good.
That's what's awesome about the whole thing.
That we went out to go get fish.
Big walk down memory lane.
You get to learn about where I grew up.
That's part of who you are, that's your history.
Skyler: I like coming out here.
Ricko: That's good.
That's the magic of living in the woods.
Once you learn it, just don't forget it
and you won't go hungry.
Captioned by side door media services