♪ ♪
JOHNNY: Look at this.
Wolf tracks here maybe.
♪ ♪
Sometimes you can just move the snow away,
and if it was slushy,
it, it's like an archaeological site.
You can see the tracks of the animal.
I come out here to go fishing,
and it's like every day I walk out that door,
I just, I don't know what's gonna happen, you know?
Check this out right here.
Caribou hair.
It's like a war zone right here.
♪ ♪
Some unlucky caribou came through,
and then the wolves killed it.
♪ ♪
Small caribou.
♪ ♪
This is the spine right here and the rib bones all along it.
That's pretty neat.
These wolves got busy, man.
This is the rear leg.
Well, these animals got fed, I want to get fed,
so, I'm gonna do some fishing on this lake.
Here in Alaska, it's a hierarchy of predator versus prey.
Sometimes I'm the top of the food chain,
sometimes I'm not.
♪ ♪
You know, I'm part of this life cycle out here.
I don't feel like I'm, you know, just like a bystander,
like I feel like I'm my own type of predator out here,
just like the wolves, just like the bears,
and it's cool to kind of be in sync with them a little bit,
or at least on the same level.
♪ ♪
Cool.
That should be big enough.
♪ ♪
Alright, so...
I'm just gonna start off with doing some jigging
and just kind of see what's happening.
♪ ♪
It's a pretty vital part of living up here is...
is just having that protein, that meat source.
You know, just eating beans right now
and last of that venison that I'd gotten on Kodiak Island.
Ice fishing doesn't come easy out here.
It's one thing I've learned.
I've ice fished tons of times in Indiana, Michigan, growing up,
and you just slay 'em, catch 'em all day long,
but this is a cold, cold place.
And fish aren't super, super active.
♪ ♪
My bait's reflecting real nice.
So, I know if anything's around, it's gonna see it.
♪ ♪
Yeah, it looks like caribou way, way on the mountainside.
Or my eyes are just getting old.
Caribou just don't really hang out on the lakes
this time of year.
It, it's, it's still early winter,
but as winter progresses, that they just start coming out,
lingering around on all the scattered lakes
all around in this area.
It's a tough place to try to thrive
without getting a couple caribou or a moose or something.
♪ ♪
I had a hit.
And it feels light.
Bet you my bait's gone.
Yup. Look at that.
♪ ♪
Let's try this again.
♪ ♪
MARIO: This wonderful, wild world
requires things to be born and things to die, and...
I think people in the city can get so lost in...
their everyday mundane tasks that they forget that.
♪ ♪
This is a nice area.
There's a lot of good wildlife down here.
Let's go ahead and set some traps up.
CLARE: Okay.
MARIO: Try to bait some animals and hopefully get some fur.
CLARE: Yeah.
MARIO: These animals aren't so dumb, you know,
you've got to kind of, kind of outsmart them a bit.
CLARE: Mm-hmm, yup, totally.
MARIO: We're gonna take what we have left over here.
I've taken the time to kind of, like, freeze them solid.
Position the bird kind of like that maybe.
CLARE: Catches the eye.
MARIO: Yeah, and get a couple foot traps in
and make it nice and stinky,
and we'll get something.
CLARE: Mm-hmm.
MARIO: We don't trap for the joy of killing.
Every time I trap an animal, I feel a sense of grief,
but we take the furs and we make clothes.
These furs are useful to us.
Oh, sweet baby (bleep), that smells.
CLARE: Well, this ain't gonna take long to bring something in.
MARIO: And then somewhere right there, just like that.
CLARE: Yeah, that's perfect.
MARIO: I learned how to trap just from a friend.
They didn't teach me everything you need to know,
but they taught me enough to...
There we go.
...spark my interest in it.
I think it's just something that makes me feel
like I'm interacting with the natural world.
CLARE: Oh, interesting.
MARIO: Yeah, you see this?
There's definitely something sleeping in there.
It's bedded down.
CLARE: Yeah.
This is my first time setting up traps with Mario,
but it is a way of life here in Alaska.
It's how people have been living for thousands of years.
MARIO: That looks good. CLARE: Yeah.
MARIO: Let's get out of here before the weather gets bad.
(chopping)
You know, I think it only makes sense
to continue these practices.
When you lose the opportunity to really engage
in the natural order,
it really kind of robs you of the richness
of the experiences out here,
and I just don't think you really get that in the city.
♪ ♪
You know, we'll just trigger the book here.
Let's get out of here
and set a couple of snares on the way back.
CLARE: Sure.
♪ ♪
SONTA: We're in the woods.
You know, we're integrated into how to live on the lands here.
♪ ♪
And the kids are learning more about...
their ability to live this way also.
So this'll be you guys' first time out winter camping.
Usually we're in the cabin camping,
and that's kind of glamping.
So now you guys are really gonna be roughing it.
Here, guys.
You guys have two working arms.
I just have one.
The kids are at a really great age right now
to do a winter camp.
CHEVIE: Wrap all that stuff up in there.
SONTA: We live a really remote lifestyle,
and we need to make sure that the kids know
that these are skills they need to survive.
CHEVIE: This is the time you guys need to think about
what else you need
and make sure that your bag is getting into a sled.
So, when we get out there, it's not like,
"Where's my backpack? Oh, my god!"
Get your bag, get it in the sled.
(engine starts)
Overall, I want my kids to know
that they can camp in the winter.
CHEVIE: Ready? SONTA: Yup.
CHEVIE: And not be afraid of it.
There's times where you need to be able to camp and survive.
And this is the beginning of that.
♪ ♪
This is what you need to know to live this lifestyle.
♪ ♪
SONTA: Nice spot, Chev.
CHEVIE: Sydney, Ryder, you guys come here.
The baby's sleeping. I want to talk to you.
SYDNEY: Okay.
CHEVIE: Emry, too.
There's one sure way of failing at a camping trip,
and that's placing your camp in the wrong spot.
People do it all the time.
It's important for my kids to know
where's the best place to camp.
If you guys were out in the woods
and you guys were gonna set up a tent to camp in,
what things would you be looking for,
and why do you think that this area right here is a good spot?
SYDNEY: There are trees nearby?
And they break the wind, and you can get wood from them?
CHEVIE: Yeah. SYDNEY: They make good firewood.
CHEVIE: So, Ryder, you, you want to look for a good spot
that you could drive over 100 times with your snow machine?
SYDNEY: 100 times.
SONTA: Just find the spot that,
like, even between these trees here.
CHEVIE: This is a pretty good spot right here, yeah.
(starts engine)
(engine revving)
Oh, whoa, whoa. Run it over!
Just run that (bleep) over.
Ready?
Just run it over.
(engine revving)
Go, go, go, go!
(Sonta laughs)
SONTA: Chevie and I have been there.
(engine revving)
CHEVIE: Once you get going, just keep on going.
Make a big circle.
SONTA: This is Chevie 30 years ago, Sonta 30 years ago
learning to drive a snow machine in the woods.
CHEVIE: Good job, Ryder.
SONTA: Let's unpack this sled
and start looking at the canvas tent.
EMRY: Daddy? CHEVIE: Huh?
EMRY: I don't want to do all the dirty work.
CHEVIE: What dirty work?
EMRY: You're doing dirty work right now.
CHEVIE: That's what daddies do.
NATHAN: Getting out and doing the subsistence lifestyle,
it's the Alaska thing to do.
It's great that we have the farm and the animals,
but I think we got to find a good balance
between the self-sustainable lifestyle
and the subsistence lifestyle.
♪ ♪
SAMANTHA: I think this looks really, really beautiful.
NATHAN: I say we kind of just walk up this place,
see if we can find any signs or anything.
SAMANTHA: Yeah.
We're gonna go caribou hunting.
We're hoping to get some variety in our meat.
This is my absolute first time hunting,
so gonna be a huge learning experience.
NATHAN: Looks like something came through.
What's this?
SAMANTHA: Oh.
NATHAN: That looks like caribou, I think.
Being that there's tracks coming through here...
SAMANTHA: Right.
NATHAN: ...there could be more coming through.
If we just get a little ways up and get kind of a vantage point,
we can kind of see this whole little area here.
SAMANTHA: That's good with me.
♪ ♪
(breathing heavily)
Me and hills have never really got along.
NATHAN: Actually it opens up up here.
SAMANTHA: Lead the way.
I've had asthma as long as I can remember,
and I've never actively gone out...
Oh, wow.
...and like hiked through the woods
trying to hunt something.
Take shorter steps.
NATHAN: Huh?
SAMANTHA: Take shorter steps.
It's really, really hard on me
because I can't breathe when I try.
NATHAN: Take a break?
SAMANTHA: Oh, yeah.
I might catch my breath eventually.
NATHAN: Okay.
(Samantha exhales)
Just need to learn to travel faster than your breath,
then you won't have to catch it.
SAMANTHA: Well, I can't travel faster than my breath.
NATHAN: Okay, I'll slow down.
♪ ♪
SAMANTHA: It's too deep.
NATHAN: I'm just gonna keep following this game trail.
(Samantha breathing heavily)
SAMANTHA: I can't, I can't lift my legs.
I can't lift them up anymore.
Is there supposed to be a clearing somewhere around here?
NATHAN: Maybe.
SAMANTHA: You never know.
Maybe.
NATHAN: Only one way to find out.
SAMANTHA: I don't think I can.
NATHAN: You can do it.
SAMANTHA: Huh? NATHAN: You can do it.
SAMANTHA: Oh. (chuckles)
I'll let you hike ahead really quick
and, and see what you can see, but I can't, I can't keep going
unless there's something worth going for.
NATHAN: Okay.
Take a quick glance.
SAMANTHA: Okay.
♪ ♪
My legs are starting to burn out
to the point where I can't hardly lift 'em.
I'm actually kind of afraid I won't be able to get back,
so I'm hoping that he finds the nice clearing right up ahead
within a walkable range.
I'm not built for hunting,
but I know we need the extra caribou and stuff, so I'm here.
NATHAN: It was a little deceiving at first.
I thought it cleared up a little more than it did.
It'd be hard to get a shot off in there.
♪ ♪
It was a little deceiving.
I don't think it opens up back there
as much as I thought it did.
SAMANTHA: Okay.
NATHAN: We passed a spot, and I think you saw it on the left.
SAMANTHA: With all the tracks
and kind of a clearing and whatnot?
NATHAN: I think there's a creek down there
and it kind of opened up.
I think if we just turn the snow machine around,
head back there, hike down until we hit that creek.
It didn't look like it's too far.
SAMANTHA: I'd say head back and do that.
NATHAN: Alright. SAMANTHA: Okay.
I'm just hoping the hike back is easier than the hike in.
♪ ♪
SONTA: Ultimately teamwork is the core of an operating family.
Yeah!
And especially living a lifestyle that we do.
SYDNEY: Someone has a shovel.
SONTA: You have to have people hold up their end
of the workload.
CHEVIE: Sun's getting lower in the sky.
SONTA: Yeah.
We'll get our tent set up,
our bed made, firewood gathered.
This is a nice, dry spot for little Chavelle.
(chainsaw buzzing)
Timber!
Sydney, go help. Ryder, bring that one over here.
RYDER: Okay.
CHEVIE: Okay. Ryder, grab that big end.
Sydney, Emry, grab that little end in front
since you're the smallest.
Sydney, get the middle.
When you're working together,
you think about who has the heaviest end.
So, take two more people on this heavy end.
EMRY: Set it down now.
RYDER: I'm so powerful.
SYDNEY: Set it down now?
CHEVIE: Okay, so there's a pole, which is a tree,
that goes through here from this end to that end. Alright?
RYDER: Okay.
CHEVIE: And then we'll hold up the pole in the air like this.
RYDER: Oh, on the end.
CHEVIE: And then we got to cross two other pieces of wood.
One going this way and one going this way and make an X.
And that's what that ridgepole sits in.
When we're out there putting this tent up,
it's super important to have like a team atmosphere.
SONTA: And push.
RYDER: Whoa! SYDNEY: Ah.
CHEVIE: But it's just constant coaching
from two different people,
trying to also pull their own weight.
SONTA: Or just push it into the snow a little bit.
♪ ♪
RYDER: Are you gonna use my idea?
CHEVIE: What's your idea?
RYDER: Just tie the rope from there all the way over there.
CHEVIE: It's all about you guys thinking,
and I like that you're having an idea, you know?
And all's you can do is try it.
You don't always want to buck the tide with the kids.
Yeah, you could think of a better idea.
Yeah, you could put time and effort
into making it right without the rope.
Okay, Ryder, you want to go over here?
But the other thing is they're gonna grow up
and be individuals.
They are individuals and they are thinkers.
And anybody wants the reassurance
that their ideas are valuable.
You just got to make sure you don't hit your head on there
when you're driving.
Remember, you're gonna be here at night, too,
so it's gonna be dark.
You guys remember that rope's there. Okay?
And with Ryder, I really want to give him the feeling
that I support him, I support his ideas,
and I'm willing to try it his way.
SONTA: How's it looking, Chev? CHEVIE: Looking good.
We got to get all this stuff out of this sled, you guys.
SONTA: Mm-hmm.
I just got to keep watching for this yellow rope right here.
CHEVIE: Ryder's rope.
SONTA: Ryder's rope.
♪ ♪
JOHNNY: Man, every time I'm out here and it's cold,
I can't help but think, like, why?
Why am I doing this to myself?
But I also remember the times I would sit in traffic
when I lived in big cities,
and I would say, why am I doing this to myself?
Hey, look at that. Perfect.
That's the device that'll get the line underneath the ice.
Wsshht.
Grab this guy here.
So that'll lay right there.
And at the end of this is where I'm gonna make the next hole.
♪ ♪
Yesterday I did a lot of jigging on the lake
to no avail.
So I'm gonna try to put my set net under the ice
and see if I can snag some fish that way.
I just got to try to do these little things to get by
until the caribou come through.
Once the caribou come through, it'll be a little bit different.
♪ ♪
Every day I lay in my bunk, I'm sore.
I don't know if I've ever woke up here in the Arctic
and not felt some sort of soreness.
And I need that protein to rebuild the muscle and body.
And it's not a...
"Oh, you live out in the bush, you got to eat meat."
No, you really do.
You really, really do.
This will be the last one here.
♪ ♪
Some people might buy a big ol' tub of protein powder, right,
on the Internet and have it delivered to their front door.
That's pretty cool.
That's too easy for me, though.
Grab my little device here.
Alright, so...
Pop this through like that,
and then this stick is so buoyant
that it just comes right up to the surface.
I got to line it up, and I just kind of twist this handle
until I see it over there.
JOHNNY: There we go.
Just like that.
Cool. So, I got it through the first one.
And then I'll take that pole out, tie it on here,
stick it through the next one, and just keep threading it.
♪ ♪
So, I got a rope,
I got to get the net now,
and I'm gonna grab those bones,
and those are gonna be my weights.
Yeah, bones sink, you know, it's different than wood,
they sink to the bottom.
And indigenous cultures have been using bones
for, for sinkers for a long time.
They're heavier than you think,
but it's just enough to make sure that the ends of the net
just drop straight down.
That's good enough.
Alright.
It's never been easy catching fish out in the Arctic.
It's a lot of effort.
It's enjoyable, I do enjoy being out here and doing this,
but I do like a payoff, I do like a reward for my efforts.
Sweet.
♪ ♪
Oh, that's beautiful.
(barking)
MARIO: Out here, Mother Nature requires you
to be patient and kind.
But she also requires you to be tough and be full of grit.
♪ ♪
(dogs yowling)
(barking)
Ready? Alright. Ready?
Hang on tight.
Oy, oy, oy, oy, oy, oy!
There we go.
Alright.
There we go.
Clare, I need you to lean back.
CLARE: Yup.
MARIO: You're okay. I got you. Alright?
There we go.
Haw, haw, haw, haw, haw.
Hang on.
CLARE: I'm hanging.
MARIO: Haw. CLARE: I'm hanging.
MARIO: So today we're doing a first for Clare and I,
taking our dog team up on our trap line...
Whoa.
...to see if we have any furs to harvest.
Whoa. Okay.
Nothing's been in that Conibear.
But it looks like it snowed pretty good in there.
CLARE: Yeah, it did.
MARIO: Okay. Next trap.
CLARE: Yeah, let's go.
MARIO: Alright.
Oy, oy, oy. There we go.
That's fast.
CLARE: Coming in hot.
MARIO: Whoa.
CLARE: Oh.
MARIO: I think we have two up here.
Yeah.
Ah, it's cold.
There's nothing in that one.
Oh, no.
This one's empty as well.
That's okay.
Oh, look, there's tracks going to the left of it.
CLARE: Yeah. (laughs)
MARIO: Oh, how disappointing.
Let's get out of here and go check the other traps.
CLARE: Okay. MARIO: Okay? Alright. Yup.
It's kind of like a roll of the dice.
It's like a little lottery ticket, you know?
You can't win if you don't play.
SAMANTHA: We do need to know how to live the Alaska lifestyle.
We came up here because
of the attraction to subsistence living.
I have no idea what to anticipate,
but this is something that we have to do.
♪ ♪
SAMANTHA: Ow. NATHAN: Okay.
(Samantha grunts)
It's pretty steep. You probably have to get off.
SAMANTHA: Yeah, you're throwing rocks at me.
NATHAN: Maybe I'll reverse and just try to full-throttle it.
(engine idling)
(beeping, revving)
Alright. See how this goes.
(engine revving)
You want to pack in that side?
SAMANTHA: Yeah.
NATHAN: If you can, maybe I'll pull while you throttle,
and if you get it going, just go as far as you can.
SAMANTHA: I don't know if I can do that without getting on it.
NATHAN: You have to.
SAMANTHA: I can't keep up with the snow machine.
NATHAN: One, two, three.
(revving)
One, two.
(revving)
(engine stops)
SAMANTHA: Oh, and it died.
NATHAN: We torn this up pretty good.
SAMANTHA: Yeah.
NATHAN: Try and get a little speed,
then maybe I can get over it.
(revving)
SAMANTHA: We've put in a lot of time and effort
trying to find the caribou,
but I have struggled to breathe enough
that there is no way I'm going to be able to hike out of here.
Uh-oh.
(sighs)
Oh, now we're really getting stuck.
(engine revving)
♪ ♪
NATHAN: How about I pull a ski and then you throttle it?
SAMANTHA: Okay.
NATHAN: And if you can keep it going,
just keep going, and I'll catch up.
SAMANTHA: Okay.
NATHAN: Just hop on like you're gonna...
If we can get it up there
and just go as far as you can.
Yeah, um.
SAMANTHA: One, two, three.
(revving)
♪ ♪
Made it.
♪ ♪
I think it helps that I weigh more than you,
and then I put more pressure on the back
and it just had a little more oomph.
(chuckles)
We did it.
Hmm.
NATHAN: Alrighty.
SAMANTHA: Our view's pretty great.
NATHAN: Yeah, it is.
SAMANTHA: It was worth it.
Tally-ho, darlin'.
(revving)
♪ ♪
Um, we got it stuck again, didn't we?
NATHAN: Yeah, we're stuck again.
SAMANTHA: This thing does not like going up hills,
like, at all.
There's no way this thing's getting up there.
If you want to hike up,
I'll stay here and maybe get a fire going
or something for when you get back.
NATHAN: Yeah, I could do that.
See if there's anything up there worth looking for.
SAMANTHA: Cool.
(sawing)
Oh, that's a lot of work.
♪ ♪
NATHAN: Look, caribou tracks right here. Pretty fresh.
Think I'm gonna follow the tracks up here.
(grunts)
It seems like the caribou tracks disappeared
a little ways down the trail.
You know, I'm not a inexperienced hunter;
I'm not a great hunter.
But, you know, Samantha and I are both determined to learn
how to hunt up here in Alaska.
It's a whole new set of factors to take in and consider.
And how to find the animals and how to take them down.
SAMANTHA: Ugh, well, this is where I'm gonna die.
NATHAN: Best bet is gonna be go back down
to where those tracks are,
hope a caribou comes along.
SONTA: Alaska's not always white,
like what you might think.
It's full of color and full of life
and full of adventures.
Just being out in it is what's key.
So, you guys, the tent looks really good,
and it's structurally sound.
So now we got to get the spruce boughs,
and that's how you make your bed.
So, let's get those and pile them in,
and then we'll put tarp on top for our floor.
Great job, Emry.
Here comes Lenny, and he's gonna help.
Lenny, bring some spruce boughs back to the tent.
And, Emry, put this all in the back where our beds are.
It'll keep you off the snow.
CHEVIE: Feel like you're under a lot of pressure? Yeah, I know.
Taking your kids out camping and pushing those boundaries...
This is where the party's at, huh?
...is instrumental in their survival.
We just want to do it without burning them out.
Yeah, right there.
Be aware that they are kids.
SONTA: Oh, it's nice and warm in here, Chev.
That's comfy. Woo!
CHEVIE: We're gonna need to go get some firewood.
Alright, Ryder, we got to get firewood
for our stove and our tent, right?
So let's get a bunch of extra wood
so we can have a nice little campfire outside.
You always think you have enough wood,
but you could always use a little bit more.
It is a lot of pressure and it's sometimes uncomfortable,
but by slowly getting them into the woods and teaching 'em
the way that we grew up, it stays with them.
RYDER: That looks like enough wood.
CHEVIE: Oh, looks like it. Let's get more, though.
♪ ♪
Whoa. Big piece. Holy smokes.
I didn't know you could lift that big a piece.
RYDER: Yeah.
CHEVIE: Geez.
♪ ♪
SONTA: What do you think, guys?
What do you think about your first day?
SYDNEY: Good.
SONTA: I'm really proud of you guys for helping out Daddy
with everything and setting up that tent.
And when you're out here as a family,
you know, pulling your weight is part of it.
So you guys did a good job.
EMRY: Mm-hmm.
(crackling)
♪ ♪
JOHNNY: I don't want to teach myself defeat.
I want to exercise success.
And the only way to do that is to stay at it, stay persistent.
And that's just who I am.
♪ ♪
See if it's frozen in.
Oh, yeah, I can feel the...
the little float was frozen in, I just popped one loose.
What about this way?
Nice. Look at that. It's loose this way.
That's great.
I found the end of it, so that means it's basically
just from here to here that I have to free up.
A lot of work ahead of me.
So I just got to chip a long channel
without damaging my net.
Fun stuff.
Well, it could be worse, man.
Could be frozen 10 feet instead of five feet.
♪ ♪
Last year I set this thing a half dozen times.
I never had this problem.
♪ ♪
Oh, that's the net there, I heard it.
I got to be careful not to put a hole in it.
♪ ♪
Telling me that was it right there, huh?
That's amazing that, you know, the ice grows that much
in just a 24-hour period.
Cool, man. It's time to get this net out.
♪ ♪
Oh, boy. (chuckles) Don't start with me now.
This one's feeling a little stuck, too, man.
What a nightmare.
(groans)
JOHNNY: Alright, well, I got to do a little chipping here.
Probably just caught right on the edge.
It usually happens with these float lines.
The question is how far is it frozen in?
Is it just frozen a little inch?
So, we'll find out.
I got to excavate to locate.
♪ ♪
I don't come out here to spend my day chipping ice,
but that is part of the territory,
that's part of being out here.
If I let all the difficult challenges and hurdles
bring me down,
I never would have even made it to the Arctic.
I'd have been still back in the Lower 48,
probably working some miserable jobs with a miserable boss.
And that's just like a disease to the soul.
That's not a way anybody should live.
Running out of steam here.
♪ ♪
Okay.
This is insane.
♪ ♪
I've never had this happen before.
Right here, you can see the yellow line,
and I'm, I'm moving it.
And look, nothing's, nothing's moving.
So that means it's stuck right here.
I'm, I'm on the cusp of it.
Ugh. I wonder if I can...
♪ ♪
Ha ha ha!
Yes!
Look at that, man.
I'm dead, I am just exhausted.
And this is the problem.
Man, that's obnoxious.
♪ ♪
The net's free and, um,
it's just time to pull this sucker out finally.
♪ ♪
Come on, give me some fish.
Please.
Not looking good.
♪ ♪
Man, oh, man, that's a bummer.
That's a lot of frickin' work for nothing.
Alright, well, I'm packing this thing up,
throwing it in the sled.
Got a few hours, pop it in the big lake,
put it where I've got trout over there before, some lake trout.
I'd like to get some burbot, like to get some whitefish.
But, uh, yeah, I think I just got to give it one more go.
Just one last go.
♪ ♪
MARIO: I feel an overwhelming sense of freedom out here
of where Clare and I live,
but I also feel an overwhelming sense of fear,
because when you decide to push these limits,
there's really no one to hold your hand out here.
There we go, guys.
CLARE: Good job.
MARIO: Just because we found three empty traps,
doesn't really discourage me or Clare.
CLARE: Let's go!
MARIO: There we go. Good job.
These animals don't work on 24-hour timelines.
Alright, whoa.
CLARE: Break time.
MARIO: They pretty much travel for their survival,
and hopefully our timing coincides.
Oh, rats, there's nothing.
Just be careful where you step.
CLARE: I can smell it.
Nothing in the snare.
MARIO: Nothing, no, well, okay.
Yeah, I don't, nothing on this one.
CLARE: Nothing on that. MARIO: That's alright.
CLARE: Yeah. MARIO: That's alright.
We just check the other one and then we come back, you know?
CLARE: Yeah.
MARIO: Only time tells with these things.
CLARE: Mm-hmm.
MARIO: And I don't see any fresh tracks around here.
No, nothing.
CLARE: Nothing in here.
MARIO: But it's pretty stinky.
You know, you just got to give these things time.
CLARE: Yup.
MARIO: And it's been snowing a lot.
Animals hunker down, too, so, keep moving. Alright?
CLARE: Okay.
♪ ♪
MARIO: Alright.
CLARE: How do you want to turn 'em around?
MARIO: So, you walk them around.
CLARE: Okay.
MARIO: I'll pull the sled down this way.
(barking)
BOTH: Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!
MARIO: Damn. This brake snapped.
Here, Clare, come here.
Grab this sled and I'm gonna pull 'em this way,
and you pull this sled that way, so we can just twist, okay?
CLARE: I'm standing on it?
MARIO: No, you're just gonna pull it.
♪ ♪
CLARE: Oh!
MARIO: Hey, come on.
CLARE: Hey! Hey.
MARIO: There we go. Good job, guys.
Come on.
There we go.
♪ ♪
CLARE: They in?
MARIO: Yeah. Good job, guys.
Thank you.
(barking)
Oy, oy, oy, oy!
CLARE: Come on, guys.
MARIO: Alaska's the land without limits.
There you go. Good job, guys.
When I was in the military, I had a really good friend
who would really motivate me and push me out of my comfort zone.
There you go, straight ahead. Straight ahead.
Good job.
You know, he exposed me
to this really wild and enjoyable Alaska.
It really taught me that there was more to Alaska
than just this harsh and desolate landscape.
Alright. Alright, whoa, whoa.
CLARE: Good.
MARIO: Whoa!
CLARE: Good job.
Wow.
MARIO: Wow.
That's freakin' awesome.
CLARE: That's cool.
MARIO: Wow, Clare. Look at that.
That's very... oh, that's humbling.
Look, it definitely...there's some feathers on the ground.
CLARE: Oh, look, yeah, it ate a wing.
MARIO: It ate a wing while it was...
CLARE: Yup.
MARIO: This really worked.
Like the oldest trick in the book.
That's awesome.
CLARE: He's a little guy.
MARIO: Yeah, you know, but out here, a victory's a victory,
and we'll take what we can get out here.
♪ ♪
JOHNNY: I think it's important to do things
that we don't want to do in life.
(crackling)
You know, if we always just did stuff we wanted to do,
if we always just lived in comfort...
MARIO: Nice.
JOHNNY: ...is that building character?
MARIO: There we go. CLARE: Good job.
MARIO: Thanks for the ride.
JOHNNY: Is that building strength
for the mind or the body?
MARIO: Onward home, baby.
JOHNNY: I put all the work in, I put all the effort in.
Now it's time to see if I get a payoff.
♪ ♪
Alright, here we go.
I think it's important to get out
and challenge the mind, challenge the body.
Alright!
Yeah.
There's a fish right there.
Do the things you don't want to do.
I'll take it, man. Look at it, flopping.
Hey, we got two fish so far.
Yeah-heh-heah.
Man, it pays off here. Three fish! Woo hoo hoo!
Yeah, baby.
This is what I'm talking about.
It's like, am I more stoked that I got some fresh,
delicious, fatty trout,
or am I more stoked because I didn't give up
and I kept pushing, you know, like,
I don't know which one it is, but I don't care, man.
I'm gonna get these guys out of the net before they freeze
'cause I want to eat 'em fresh.
♪ ♪
MARIO: Experience is the best teacher,
and out here you get a lot of experiences, good or bad,
whether you want 'em, whether you're ready for 'em or not,
they're coming your way.
This is only the second marten I've really ever skinned.
And the first one I kind of messed up,
but you know, I did the best that I could.
And the nice thing about here is that,
it's just myself and Clare, and you know, nobody's out here
to judge us for the things that we do right and we do wrong,
we just learn from them and we grow together.
Oh, no!
Oops.
That's alright. We don't really do much with the tail
in terms of using it for the fur.
SAMANTHA: There's a sight for sore eyes.
So how was it, darling?
NATHAN: No caribou. Saw tracks.
SAMANTHA: That's cool.
NATHAN: You got a fire going?
SAMANTHA: Look at that.
NATHAN: Good job, babe.
SAMANTHA: Thanks.
NATHAN: I'm proud of you.
SAMANTHA: Did you just "babe" me?
NATHAN: I babed you.
SAMANTHA: You babed me. I'll take it.
MARIO: That's the thing out here,
when you got really no one out here to teach you,
you kind of got to learn things on your own.
JOHNNY: And this is the prize right here.
Each one of these sides is a meal.
Six meals, so that'll last me a couple days,
and that's why I just don't give up.
And sometimes it pays off.
SONTA: I'm really proud of you guys.
This is your first time camping in a winter tent.
It just brought back a lot of memories of camping in a tent
like this at your age,
and now you guys will have those memories.
The kids learn by experience.
We're really setting that foundation for their future.
And for us, it gives us really sound peace of mind
to know that our kids are gonna be able to do this
on their own one day.
NATHAN: Glad to see the farm's all in working order.
SAMANTHA: Did you miss us?
ADRIAN: Ehhhh, kinda.
MARIO: You know, even though there's challenges every day,
we're the kind of people that look at those challenges
as opportunity, and we're just looking to make the best
of every day out here in the bush.
JOHNNY: Yeah, there's an easy way to live.
To get a job in town, to make money, to buy food,
and that works, but it's just too damn easy.
Living in Alaska is not for everybody,
but I know damn well it's for me.
♪ ♪
Captioned by Side Door Media Services