MAN: Well, you ready to go, Ellie?
GIRL: Yeah!
MAN: Today, I'm heading out with Elovie in the airplane
to do some scouting
for a little bit of an off-the-wall mission
I need to do.
We're gonna go check out the river
because we've had record-breaking rains this fall,
and the rivers have just been flooding for a month.
So we're gonna take a look.
We need to make sure that it's come down low enough
for us to, uh, drive the Morooka up it.
We built this sauna a couple of years ago,
and we kind of underestimated our need for a sauna,
so it's just been sitting vacant on our lot ever since then.
But now I have this new property
out at the Nizina River Camp,
and I want to move that sauna out there
to where it will actually be usable for me.
We want the rivers to get down to a level
where we can cross them with the Morooka,
which we can do, like, that much water maybe.
And then it starts getting really sketchy.
ELOVIE ROWLAND: Uh-huh.
KALEB ROWLAND: We're gonna get a bird's-eye view.
We're gonna be able to look down
and see everything from above.
We'll be able to see all the hazards
that we can't necessarily see
from in the cabin of the Morooka.
♪♪
All right. Let's go.
ELOVIE: Let's go!
-KALEB: You excited? -ELOVIE: Yeah.
KALEB: Let's go see some country.
ELOVIE: Yeah.
♪♪
Woo-hoo! We're lifting off.
KALEB: Oh, this is such a gorgeous landscape.
I'm always so happy I live here,
and I don't have to go anywhere else.
ELOVIE: Oh, wow!
KALEB: When I fly out to scout the river,
I'm looking to see, is the river coming down?
The Nizina is a very, very dynamic river.
It's constantly changing and never is the same.
One day, it'll be in the channel.
The next day, it'll cut out a new one
and it'll be in a completely different place.
ELOVIE: Ah.
KALEB: Which is why I'm doing a bird's-eye scout,
'cause I want to see where the crossings are
right before I head out here.
That way, I know where I need to go
and what's safe and what isn't.
I don't want to go out to my camp
and then get stuck out there
because the river came up
while I was unloading the sauna.
ELOVIE: (singing) ♪ All the mountains are pretty ♪
♪ All around us I see snowy mountains ♪
♪ There's a lot of snow on the mountains ♪
KALEB: Oh, I don't know about this.
I'm still gonna try it,
but the river's still kinda high.
We've been getting just beat up with the rain
in the last few months
and it's kept the rivers running really high.
At this point, I'm thinking, Ellie,
we need to abandon our original plan.
ELOVIE: Yeah.
MAN: I've just always had this wild dream
of living in Alaska.
♪♪
When I was first exposed to these dogs
and this mushing way of life,
I was immediately hooked.
And I knew that dogs really meant a lot to me,
and that... I wanted to take on the challenge.
CLARE: So we're gonna start
on our dog fence today, huh?
MARIO: Yeah, I think it's something really important
that we need to do.
You know, we've had brown bears in the area.
We've had black bears come up to our property.
It's our responsibility
to provide security and protect our pups.
So what we're gonna do
is we're gonna build a nice fence
around their dog houses to protect them.
CLARE: Great.
MARIO: I never thought I was gonna run dogs.
I came up to Alaska with a really open heart,
and I was ready to receive any new adventure
that came my way.
CLARE: We want the gate on the-- this front portion?
MARIO: Right.
I also knew
that I wanted to become more self-reliant...
Good idea.
...and not rely on the prices of gas
to figure my way out around here in the winter.
We don't really want, uh, something like this, right?
CLARE: Do we need to dig it in?
MARIO: We need to dig a little bit
so we can get this level.
And I wanted to have the ability
to travel this land
in a more natural and less impactful way.
Put some ass into it.
That was kind of a really big motivation
for me to get dogs.
We can both go out hunting
without a worry that while we're gone,
a bear can roll up to our dogs
and, you know, hurt them.
CLARE: I look towards Mario for a lot of things.
MARIO: Come on, baby.
CLARE: He's my rock out here.
He teaches me a lot every day.
I'm cutting through this middle--
MARIO: Yep, just that middle. Cut through the middle.
(rotary saw whirring)
CLARE: But, you know, if something were to happen to him,
I need to be self-sufficient.
♪♪
So, I wanna pull my own weight and...
-MARIO: All right. I'm around the pole. -CLARE: Okay.
...show that I'm capable of doing anything
that he is out here.
MARIO: Right here.
CLARE: When we're done,
we should get our fishing gear together
and make a little fishing trip down to the Chatanika.
MARIO: Great.
There you go.
-CLARE: Sweet. -MARIO: Great. Yeah.
-Great! Wow! -CLARE: Good job.
MARIO: That's amazing!
CLARE: It's great. Yeah.
MARIO: Ready to go do some fishing?
-CLARE: Great. Perfect. -MARIO: All right.
♪♪
MAN: This land has been nothing but challenges.
It's beat me up left and right.
The rain. The wind.
Scaring animals off. Chasing animals.
If this taught me anything,
it's that I need to meet it at its level
and challenge myself.
There's nothing easy about this terrain.
Trying to make the best of this suffer-fest.
No mercy, man.
The wind up here just keeps changing and changing
and then it stops.
Bugs come out.
And the wind starts up again.
This trip's about getting meat.
I should be in the Brooks Range,
hunting caribou right now and I'm not,
and that's because Java is recovering from her surgery.
I love taking her on fall hunts, but...
the vets removed about half of her lungs,
so she needs some recovery time.
That's why I'm here hunting in Kodiak.
♪♪
You know, I got one deer,
and right now, all I can think about
is go get a second deer.
The more meat I bring back to the Brooks Range,
the better off I am.
I'm about halfway way up and, um, there's no trail.
There's no switchback.
It's just straight up.
Straight the (bleep) up.
(panting)
(whispering) We're on a buck right now.
It's staring right at me.
Thank God I didn't jump over this ridge.
A hundred yards away.
Shooting distance.
Over this ridge.
Just right there.
We got two.
They're looking that way.
Oh, man. They just ran right off.
Man!
Big bucks, just laying right there, man.
Below that gravel pile.
It smelled my scent.
Guess the wind's going right at 'em.
(bleep)
Well, the hunt's not over.
It's just begun.
Just get back to it.
CHEVIE: Because we have a young family,
it's important to put the time into 'em,
teaching 'em how to shoot guns
and teaching 'em how to walk in the woods.
In the future,
you're gonna have a well-oiled machine.
Come on, Thor.
I'm not seeing quite as many birds today.
It's late fall,
so it's the time of year
when birds start migrating outta here.
It's really your last chance to hunt grouse and duck.
It's all about being in the right place at the right time.
Just 'cause the birds are there one day
doesn't mean they're gonna be there the next day.
Wonder what Emry and Sonta are doing?
WOMAN: This is really an opportunity for Chevie and I
to kinda divide and conquer.
We're looking also in a different area.
Our goal is to come back with some grouse
and give Emry the opportunity to shoot.
What's in season is what we're gonna put on our table.
Oh!
Look.
(whispering) Okay, Emry, it's coming right here.
You ready? Okay.
It's her first time really using a .410.
It's nothing that we take lightly.
And we want to set her up for success.
-You see it? -EMRY ROACH: Yeah.
SONTA ROACH: If you see that ball on it, then shoot.
(gunshot)
EMRY: No, you got it.
SONTA: You did good, Emry.
Wanna try again?
Okay.
Should we go a little bit closer?
CHEVIE: Thor.
If you're gonna be successful feeding yourself,
you have to be able to use a firearm,
and you have to be proficient with it.
Ah-hah.
(gunshot)
EMRY: It's still there.
Can I go a bit closer?
SONTA: Oh!
EMRY: It's right there.
SONTA: Okay, let's get it.
I can totally relate to Emry in this moment.
I started off shooting squirrels.
And our goal, ultimately, is to get food on the table.
Ready? You can do it, Em.
(gunshot)
SONTA: Oh, you were so close.
Which is fine. Good shot!
EMRY: He's still there.
SONTA: Holy cow, Em!
This is the best target you can get.
EMRY: You can get high.
(gunshot)
SONTA: That was a little to the left.
EMRY: I know. I can't do it.
SONTA: You're doing good. We have one more bullet.
Oh!
Well, you got a good shot at it.
We'll wait until he comes back again.
CHEVIE: Thor!
Get the bird.
Get the bird. Get the bird.
Hunt. Hunt. Hunt.
Where's the bird?
Good dog.
Drop it.
Good boy.
Sit.
Nice grouse.
Maybe we could get us a couple of ducks.
KALEB: When I'm living out of a tent out in the bush
and it's 30, 40 below out,
I want somewhere I can go
where I can take the chill out of my bones
and enjoy the evenings after the day's work,
so I'm ready for another cold night
and another cold day of work the next day.
I want to move that sauna out there
to my remote property.
We should start by getting the cribbing on the front there
and then we can start working on this back here.
WOMAN: Okay!
How's it going over here?
KALEB: We've got our, uh, stacks of cribbing repositioned.
So we've got cribbing on the rear corner
and cribbing on the two front corners.
And so we're just gonna work together--
I'll jack on either side and-- and lift it up
until we can get the next set of cribbing in.
WOMAN: Okay.
KALEB: I need to get this building lifted up
and load this thing up on a specialized machine
that's capable of crossing the river.
We've had unseasonably high amounts of rain this year.
We had four inches overnight one night.
And the rivers have been running strong
when they should be tiny.
We'll start jacking.
The building will go up,
like this,
-like an accordion. -(woman chuckles)
So I'm gonna go over to my side.
We're gonna start jacking.
BRITTANY ROWLAND: Okay.
KALEB: My cribbing strategy
is kind of a slow and tedious process,
but it's already about halfway up,
and so I need to go up another two and a half, three feet,
and then I can back the truck under.
BRITTANY: The weather is always changing here.
(Kaleb grunting)
So we're going to try and get this done
now that the weather is nice.
That way we can enjoy it all winter long
when the weather isn't so nice.
KALEB: That's last one we need.
-BRITTANY: That's the last-- Really? -KALEB: Yeah.
-BRITTANY: Ready to drop it? -KALEB: Yep.
It's time to go get the Morooka
and start backing it under here
and loading this thing up.
BRITTANY: All right. Let's do it.
KALEB: Backing the truck under the building
is not a process that can be rushed.
(engine starts)
I've gotta be very, very, very careful on the controls
so that I don't bump into any of my piles of cribbing,
I don't accidentally bump into the building
and push it over.
I've got to use all of my skills
to make this happen.
♪♪
All right! Building is on the truck!
Get this stuff out of the way,
and I can back out in the middle of the yard
where I can effectively strap this thing down.
Get a little bit of safety gear,
little bit of straps.
Off I go.
JOHNNY ROLFE: What I love most about hunting is the mystery.
Every new ridge, every new hill,
seeing what's beyond it.
Every little hump that I come up to,
there could be deer on the other side of that.
JOHNNY: (chuckling) Hey, look at this.
Deer (bleep).
(chuckles) Right here.
About laid my arm in it
while I was about to start looking through this glass.
That's cool, man. It's a good sign.
The thing about hunting
is that it's a game of hide and seek.
The animals are mostly doing the hiding,
and I find myself doing both hiding and seeking.
And it's just a very delicate game
because I have to hide as much as I can,
but also try to track and seek out these animals.
It's a bunch of ptarmigan.
If I scare them,
they'll fly away and alarm any other animals around.
They're about to-- They're about to fly,
so I'm gonna try to scare 'em that way
because I'm hunting that way.
♪♪
All right.
MARIO: It feels really good to know
that Claire and I are both putting in
a lot of love and time into these dogs,
and we share the responsibilities equally.
And so...
we all feel like we're a pack together.
CLARE: There's some fish jumping over there.
MARIO: Under that tree over there, you see that?
CLARE: Hmm. Yeah, I bet.
MARIO: Clare and I haven't really had the ability
or the peace of mind to step away together.
So now that the pen is done...
I don't think it's too terribly cold.
CLARE: It might be once you put your feet in.
MARIO: ...Claire and I are gonna enjoy
a nice date by the water
and try to catch some fish for the dogs.
-I'm trying it. -CLARE: All right.
It's absolutely important
for the dogs to have a varied diet.
They deserve a treat.
There you go.
We want 'em to be encouraged to be great dogs.
MARIO: Oh, that's really cold.
(Clare laughing)
I'm outta here. I'm out.
-It's cold! -(Clare laughing)
-Oh, that was a bad idea. -(Clare laughing)
It's a really bad idea. Ah!
The fishing isn't going as well as we thought...
Good thing we don't live on the coast.
...but, you know, I always say
that the best fisherman
is the one that's having the most fun.
Oh.
Oh, oh, oh. Ah-ha-ha!
MARIO: Wow!
-CLARE: Sweet. Good job. -MARIO: I got one!
Yeah. Wow. Look, it's a grayling.
It's not the biggest fish,
and it might not be the most protein for our dogs,
but every little fish out here is a success.
Let's catch a few more.
CLARE: Keep it going.
Get in the same spot.
MARIO: Oh, there we go.
-Oh, yeah. Yay. -CLARE: You got it!
-MARIO: I got one. -(both chuckling)
Catch of the day.
CLARE: I think that's the sign
it's time to call it.
MARIO: Yeah, it's time to go.
Let's cook up a good meal for the dogs
and throw that fish in there.
KALEB: Even though I'm driving a large piece of machinery,
I still have to respect the laws of nature.
I can't be taking unnecessary risks.
I've got this all ready to go.
This is a very technical,
and, um, complicated trip.
And it's always easier to do that
when I don't have to think about where's my kids
and how's Brittany doing and all that stuff.
So I'm kind of glad that things changed around
to where I'm just going by myself.
Gonna create a little more work for me,
but that's fine, I'm used to that.
Anyways, ready to go hit the trail.
(engine starts)
♪♪
The trail that I'm bringing this down
is narrow,
and bumpy,
and has mudholes, puddles,
and narrow sections through the trees
where I've gotta watch both my corners
to make sure I don't rip part of the roof off.
It's a very technical job
to drive this building down the road
before I get to the wide-open river.
No problem.
Let's head on to the next one.
CHEVIE: You got 65 people
that live in hundreds of square miles
full of animals,
and by taking these animals,
we're sustaining us being here.
You can't get caught up on that, "I'm taking a life."
(gunshot)
You gotta eat.
Gotta listen. Come on.
CHEVIE: (clicks tongue) No, no, you stay.
(gunshots)
Nothing that time.
Thor's getting a little better though.
He's holding for a little longer.
Our family, the Roaches, we're a team,
including the dog.
SONTA: See if there's any berries.
CHEVIE: By being able to split up,
that'll increase our odds
of getting some grouse and duck.
EMRY: Are we hunting or picking berries?
SONTA: Well, we're kinda doing both!
The thing about hunting
is you just kinda come across them
when they-- when you find them.
Just like berries.
Just gotta look around.
We found the berries.
Let's go see if we can find some grouse.
Right now's the time to get the grouse too.
They're sweeter meat
and they're eating all our berries.
So all the more reason
to knock down their population a bit.
Oh, Emry, I heard something over here.
I heard a grouse.
(whispering) Let's put our buckets down.
I can't see it.
It probably flew up into a tree.
It's in that spruce tree right there.
-Do you see him? -EMRY: Yeah.
SONTA: Let's go a little ways in and we'll get a shot.
(gunshot)
Where's Thor when we need him?
CHEVIE: Come on. Come on.
I thought I see something fly.
Looked like a grouse maybe.
But it might've flown across the river already.
Oh, right there.
Duck over there.
(ducks quacking)
(gunshot)
Nice wigeon.
Feels good to get some ducks before they all leave.
I'm looking forward to seeing what the girls got.
EMRY: My birdie.
SONTA: Your birdie. Our birdie.
We need a little more for a meal, I think.
JOHNNY: You gotta connect every single dot
when it comes to hunting.
While you're looking through that scope,
while you're being mindful of the wind,
your scent traveling to the deer,
the noise you're making,
the rain coming down,
you get to that final moment,
connect that last dot,
the kill shot.
We went pretty damn high up here.
And this is like
a Jurassic period landscape.
But it also hinders the hunt
'cause the... deer,
they're being hidden by all this massive clouds.
(whispering) There's a buck down there.
It's gotta be like 300 yards down there, at least.
I can't take a shot from up here
so I gotta start climbing down
about maybe 200 feet down.
Once I go down, you know, that's it,
I'm not gonna be able to come back up here.
So I gotta make sure I get this guy.
It's gonna be a hard one.
You know, that fog system that was coming in,
I was complaining about it,
but now that it's raining,
that deer's gonna stay bedded down.
I'm just gonna put my lens cover on my scope.
The rain, it is making a lot of noise,
it's damping down my smell.
So, the rain's kinda the best thing that can happen right now.
So got my rain gear on.
These, uh, these deer are like a ghost in a fog.
These clouds, deer just hang out in them.
So now it's time to go get me one of these ghosts.
Okay.
There's little room for error,
the way he's laying down and he's got his back to us.
That's gonna be a mission impossible on this one, man.
I'm gonna take a shot.
(tense music playing)
(gunshot)
Is that him?
(gunshot)
All right.
Missed a shot. Second one, I hit it.
Nice little buck.
This is my first black tail.
I've never shot a black tail before.
Shooting at 200 yards, downhill,
it's a neck-shot here.
That keeps the meat pretty clean.
Their hides are thick this time of year,
I'm impressed.
That's great, man.
'Cause I know how to make a buck skin now.
It's been a while since I've smelled venison blood.
As twisted as that sounds, it's true.
I want to know that any animal that I harvest,
that blood on my hands is coming from me
and not some butcher in an apron
standing behind a counter.
This is gonna be a good eating buck.
Uh, black-tailed deer
are one of the best-tasting meats you can get.
There we go.
This will be all eaten by bears tonight.
KALEB: This has been the wettest season
I've ever experienced.
I am completely at the mercy of nature.
There is no fighting with nature.
My job is to work with nature to do what I need to do,
not fight against it.
Driving out to the Nizina River
is absolutely gorgeous.
The fall colors are out.
The leaves have started falling.
They're all over the road.
It just makes this nice golden mat
that I get to drive across.
Enjoying just what nature has to offer.
Oh, wait.
There's a tree in the trail up above here.
It's the first real obstacle I've had on this road.
I thought I'd be cutting a lot more.
We got a wide load and a narrow road.
I'ma get my chainsaw out and I'm gonna cut it
and keep on going.
(chainsaw whirring)
When I started this journey of moving the sauna,
I was assuming that I was gonna have to do
a lot of brushing on the trail,
and I was going to constantly be using my chainsaw,
but that turned out not to really be the case.
And off I'll go again.
This is going great!
I'll be on the river in no time.
Then I don't have to worry about trees at all.
This trip's been going a lot better
than I thought it would.
And I've got high hopes
for actually making it out there today.
I'm driving down into the Nizina River
and it's a braided river,
which means it has a wide, flat river plain,
and the river breaks up into little channels
and the little channels are constantly shifting and changing.
The channels are never in the same spot from week to week.
That's just how this river works.
♪♪
Oh, boy!
This looks kinda deep.
Let's see what the rock says.
Oh, yeah, that's real deep.
Well, I think what I should do...
is come over,
drop down straight and see if that works.
If it gets up to the cab here,
I'm backing out, though.
This looked so much better from the air.
I don't know why it looks so bad now.
Hope this works.
Uhhhhh.
Uh, just gonna take it slow.
Straight out
so I don't risk tipping over.
Ease my way into the stream here.
Hope this isn't stupid.
Oh, boy!
Getting into rushing water here.
Oh, boy! This is bad.
Oh!
Yup. I'm getting out of here.
I need to get back on shore immediately.
Oh, come on.
Oh, I hope I don't get stuck.
Get out!
Oh, come on, go, go, go, go, go, go, go!
Oh, my goodness, that was close.
That water was deep, it was touching the cab.
I'm getting out of here while I still can.
Oh, that's such a bummer.
The machine that I am driving out the river
weighs around 33,000 pounds,
so it has a decent amount of authority
when it comes to river crossings,
but everything has a limit.
I have personally witnessed
machinery that's double the size
of what I'm driving today,
just tumble down the river,
just rolling end for end.
And I do not want to be in that position today.
I think it's time to go retreat back to shore
and spend the night and make sure
the river comes down a little bit more
before I continue.
That was-- Wowie, that was scary.
Getting stuck's just not an option out here.
SONTA: Hunting is not a hobby for us.
This type of lifestyle is every day.
We're looking in the woods for animals.
We're gathering berries.
We're constantly looking for... the next meal.
Let's walk down this little path here.
EMRY: Yeah.
SONTA: We're gonna get the grouse.
See where we see one.
I gotta keep my eyes up.
Those little birdies like to roost in the trees
just like chickens.
Hunting...
(Sonta grunting)
...is a learned, acquired knowledge.
-You good? -EMRY: Yeah.
SONTA: I definitely think that humans should harvest this way.
Humans should be on the land.
Humans should be in the woods,
looking to get food on the table.
How did that wake up your legs?
EMRY: Nothing.
SONTA: They love this kind of woods.
Grouse do.
So be on the lookout.
Oh, Emry, right there.
EMRY: I see it.
SONTA: It's just hanging out waiting for you.
Yeah, you pull the trigger.
Put the little BB on its body.
(gunshot)
That's a good shot, Em. Where's it going?
EMRY: Should we follow it?
SONTA: I think we should. Do you think?
I wonder if your dad got a couple of shots off yet.
CHEVIE: It's late fall.
All the leaves are almost gone.
When the leaves are gone, the birds are gone.
There's no waiting for the next time,
'cause the next time's a year away.
There's some places up here where the ducks like to sit.
This is the most silent, old-school way of doing it.
And, uh, it's an all-day deal though,
you gotta be committed.
Keep on paddling.
Ugh.
But if they're spooky, you can't paddle up on 'em.
You got to give another approach.
See if I can pick up a couple this way.
Throw out a few decoys.
Gotta keep my fingers crossed
that something kicks those birds up.
EMRY: I see the water over there.
SONTA: You wanna just go down there really quick
and see if we see anything?
EMRY: Yeah.
SONTA: They'll be here, babe.
Come.
Do you wanna shoot that one?
EMRY: Looks fat.
SONTA: (chuckling) Yeah. It looks fat?
EMRY: Yeah.
SONTA: Loosen up.
Put the little BB on it, the little--
CHEVIE: Keep your eyes to the sky.
If it flies, it dies.
(gunshot)
EMRY: Huh. I hit the water.
-SONTA: A little bit high. -EMRY: I know.
SONTA: It's good though. Let's try again.
(gunshot)
-EMRY: I scared it. -SONTA: You spooked it.
CHEVIE: I gotta go get that one.
(gunshot)
SONTA: Okay, come over here.
EMRY: You shoot at that one?
(gunshot)
SONTA: We got some natural chicken to eat.
Your dad will be happy we got a couple.
EMRY: Can we tell a lie that I got it?
SONTA: We can't say that you got it,
but we could say you're gonna get one.
CHEVIE: A little bit of fresh meat.
It's dinner time.
MARIO: Add a little bit of rice to this,
and we'll wait for that to boil.
(dog barking)
Tonight, on the menu,
we're having doggy kibble with extra high fat.
CLARE: Mm-hmm.
MARIO: This land provides not just for us,
-but for our animals. -CLARE: Yep.
MARIO: And the healthier we can keep them,
the more we'll be able to push them,
and more work we'll be able to get out of 'em this Winter.
I'm sure they'll be happy.
All right, so now let's pour the meat in there.
Nice chunks of locally sourced protein.
(barking)
JOHNNY: Got a lot of meat off of it.
You know, it wasn't an easy hunt,
climbing up the hill,
chasing down deer,
spooking deer.
I'm learning that everything on this island,
there's suffering involved.
You're climbing, you're working your ass off,
you're tired, you're exhausted.
But it's just physically exhausting,
but mentally freeing.
It's the most powerful medicine ever.
It's nature.
KALEB: This is just the way it goes.
I got the sauna all loaded onto the Morooka,
traveled down 10 miles of narrow, windy road.
I had high hopes that I could get across this river,
but it was deeper than I thought,
and faster flowing than I thought from the air.
So I had to turn around and get back to shore.
But I cannot wait till it's 30 below,
and I have a warm place to go
when I'm out there working.
That, to me, is the reward for all of the work
that has gone into moving this building.
SONTA: How'd it go with you?
CHEVIE: I got a few birds.
SONTA: Ooh, nice!
-CHEVIE: Wigeon. -EMRY: Wigeon.
CHEVIE: Here you go, Emmy.
EMRY: What? What?
CHEVIE: Well, you gotta eat.
EMRY: Two more ducks!
SONTA: Nice!
CHEVIE: Shooting that gun, Emry,
that's a big-- that's a big accomplishment for you.
SONTA: Yeah, I was impressed.
She was, like, wanting to keep going,
like, "Fill it up again, Mom."
CHEVIE: That's all you want.
Hunting is just something that we gotta do
if you want to live in Alaska.
And as a parent,
it's important that you teach your kids
and give them those tools as they grow.
SONTA: Dinner is served.
(bell ringing)
MARIO: There you go.
(barking)
CLARE: The crowd goes wild!
MARIO: Who wants a little bit of stew?
(Clare chuckles)
Just how you pups like it. Extra sloppy!
(Mario laughing)
We worked really hard to put this fence up for 'em.
And we brought back
a little bit of treat for the dogs,
and they're happy.
JOHNNY: All right, that's it, right there.
Discard this carcass.
Just bones. (chuckles)
I'm-- I'm loaded up with a lot of meat.
It's gonna be straight, vertical down.
Never short of an adventure out here.
KALEB: Living in the bush, it's all about timing.
I can't afford to, uh, fall in the river
and be swept away.
So stay safe, stay alive.
CHEVIE: That's good stuff, man.
Eating that bread with them berries...
SONTA: It packs a punch.
MARIO: I'm feeling really lucky
to be able to actually live this dream.
We have each other, we have our pack.
And I think that together we can all take on
absolutely anything that comes our way.
CLARE: Yeah, definitely.
MARIO: Right, guys? Awoooo.
(dogs howling)
KALEB: To me, being an Alaska resident means
taking pride in a different style of life,
taking pride in my ability
to go out into the woods and collect food,
whether it's stopping and gathering blueberries
or, uh, packing out heavy moose quarters on my back.
And I get to enjoy outdoor privileges
that the rest of the world does not.
It's all just part of my life.
You don't fight Mother Nature, you embrace her.
And today, I'm embracing her.
I'm going to wait
until she allows me to continue.
The river will go down. I'll make it.
Just a matter of time.