♪ ♪
JOHNNY: This land is far removed from the city.
And that's what I'm after.
I'm not looking to live surrounded by millions and
millions of people.
So, there's fresh wolf tracks here.
Where there's wolves, there's caribou.
And where there's caribou, there's food for me.
The wolves just track the caribou in their own tracks
because it's easier to keep up with them stepping
in their footprints,
rather than breaking a trail every time they chase them.
It's a, it's a smart tactic.
I wish I could fit in their hoof prints.
This one was moving at a faster pace and uh,
caribou don't run for fun.
Seems like there's a lot of movement in this direction,
I'm just gonna keep walking.
I'm always in need of meat.
When the caribou come around,
it's important that I do capitalize
on that moment, because
I live about 70 miles north of the Arctic Circle
in the Brooks Range of Alaska.
I'm 200 miles from the nearest city.
There's nothing out here.
There's no roads. There's no stores.
There's no help.
It's me left to fend for myself.
These tracks are, they're old and they're covered up,
so it's hard to tell exactly what they are.
But, by seeing some of those grasses nipped off,
I can tell that those were caribou.
It's something in my DNA, something within me that
couldn't rest until it got to the wilderness.
I belong in nature; I don't belong in the city.
This is where the rib, looks like the sternum here.
You can see all the fat was chewed off of it.
You can see the wolves' jaws just crush right
through these bones here.
Looks like there might be some more of it right over here.
Oh yeah.
Damn.
That's the spine.
Wow. I mean, there's still red on here.
This is still pretty fresh looking.
The caribou travel in herds.
They stick with safety in numbers.
So, if there's one here, there's gonna be more.
Gonna go walk around some more and scout.
This is life.
JOHNNY: Life in the Arctic.
ALEX: I always get like, little butterflies before we
go in a bush plane, you know?
I mean I know it's perfectly safe,
but same thing with helicopters.
Just cause they're kinda bouncy, you know?
My name is Alex Javor, and I live in interior Alaska.
My ideal subsistence lifestyle is to be like any
animal in the woods.
I don't want to be a civilized human.
I'm about to take a bush flight out to a place
called Deadman Lake.
Before I moved to Alaska, I bought property there,
but I've never even been to it.
PILOT: Okay.
ALEX: Once I got up here to Alaska,
it seemed too daunting, such a remote place.
And so, I opted for a place that was closer to
a road system.
You know, Bear Creek was off-grid, remote living.
I gained a lot of confidence.
But, compared to here, it was kinda like going with
the training wheels on.
And what I wanna learn is, will this be a better place
for me to live than Bear Creek?
Because, um...
PILOT: Okay, here we are. ALEX: Thank you, sir.
ALEX: Once the pilot leaves, you know.
That's it.
I have the bare essentials to survive here.
And there's one important thing that's going to make
life a lot harder out here that I don't have.
That's Sipsey.
I left him with some family.
I know what I'm doing here is pretty risky.
That's going to be hard, not having my best friend,
but, um, I gotta think about safety,
first and foremost.
ALEX: So yeah, I feel a little bit small right now.
You know, I don't have a warm cabin waiting for me.
I'm just gonna be living in a tent.
Time is important right now.
I will freeze to death if I don't get a camp set up.
So, there's a little hill just back here.
My property is kind of on that hill.
I just gotta cut through the woods here,
get up on to that hill, and then I've gotta find a
spot to put my tent down for the night.
If I had gotten dropped off here in 2013, you know,
when I was just totally new to this.
I would have betted on me starving.
But I mean, that's the kind of scenario I sought.
So, this is my land here.
I've never seen it.
Uh, I mean.
I didn't really ever think I would see it.
But I feel ready for it now.
The first thing I need to do is focus on my big needs.
I don't want to freeze to death.
I need to get a shelter put up.
And then, I need to get some wood for my stove.
As long as I can make a fire, melt some snow,
and eat some food, I can survive.
We're just getting started.
CHRIS: Everything out here is dangerous.
But as long as you understand that.
And you prepare for it.
Life's pretty good out here.
Just don't forget,
everything out here wants to kill you.
My name is Christopher Morse.
My wife and I are out here in the wild.
There's not another soul for miles upon miles out here.
Hey, thanks for that.
JESSI: Yeah.
CHRIS: My dad built this cabin and left it to me.
We're doing our best out here, we're trying to live off grid.
All right, old girl.
Off civilization.
But you know.
We need supplies from time to time.
If we can get this trail opened up,
the amount of possibilities it's going to give us is
really awesome.
But the last time I went to Deep Creek it was steep that
there was no getting a snow machine across.
And it is like the main thoroughfare to
get towards town.
We'll kinda eyeball it and see if it's
something we can handle.
JESSI: See how it is.
I'm stoked.
CHRIS: Get comfortable. We got a long ride.
JESSI: Chris and I would really like to have a way to
get to town and back.
Be able to go and get supplies,
have an emergency way out.
And the only way to do that is to go over Deep Creek.
Holy smokes.
There's no way around Deep Creek.
It is vertical banks and it's like a 100-mile-long river.
This it?
CHRIS: Yeah.
Let's see what we got down here, huh?
Well, that does not look promising.
JESSI: This looks steep.
CHRIS: Man, this is a mess.
Deep Creek's just a lot bigger than I remember.
There's no way to get through it without building some kind
of ramp or bridge.
We got our work cut out for us.
That is steep, man.
BRITTANY: When you live so far away from the grocery store.
You have to know where to go to hunt in case you
can't get to town.
So that's something that Kaleb and I are going to do.
Uh, I missed that one.
[gunshot]
Hm.
My name is Brittany Rowland.
I live here in McCarthy, Alaska.
With my husband Kaleb and my two children,
Gilbert and Elovie.
Oh, man.
I grew up in the city.
I used to joke that the grocery store was my happy place.
Hit.
When we first moved out here,
it was because Kaleb wanted to live out here.
He grew up out here from about nine on up.
And he's a mountain man through and through.
However, as the years have gone by,
I actually prefer it out here.
Even when I go to visit the city, I miss home.
Did you see that?
Oh, man, that was awesome!
See what happens when we do one of the cans
[gunshot and aluminum pop]
Oh man, I love when things go pop.
In McCarthy, you're either hunting or
preparing for the hunt.
That's a dead bird right there.
Part of subsistence hunting, you want to have many places
that you can harvest animals,
that way you don't deplete the area.
Right now, here in McCarthy,
our small game population is really low,
it needs time to recover.
We're going to fly out to Donahoe Basin and figure out
if that's a good place for us to be able to hunt
in the future.
Hello.
KALEB: How was target practice?
BRITTANY: Fantastic.
KALEB: Can you hit anything?
BRITTANY: I hit a lot of things.
KALEB: Kids are up at Grandma's.
They're pretty happy.
They're excited to hang out with Grandma for a couple days,
I'm just getting this oil change all wrapped up,
so I'm pretty much ready to go.
BRITTANY: Cool.
KALEB: Oof, I must say I was a little jealous of you getting
to target practice this morning when I had to take
care of business.
BRITTANY: I'm sorry honey.
I wish you could've been shooting with me.
You would've seen how amazing I was.
KALEB: Deadeye Brit.
I have not hunted the Donahoe Valley before.
Okay, Piper load up.
BRITTANY: Good girl.
KALEB: It's about ten miles away.
This gets closed.
So, it's a first for both of us.
All right, off to Donahoe we go.
BRITTANY: The more self-reliant we are,
the better.
The really cool thing about having a pilot for a husband
is that when we decide we need to expand our hunting grounds,
we can fly somewhere and do so.
KALEB [over radio]: We have left the population center of McCarthy
and we are in the wilderness now.
No more humans.
Just us and the dog.
BRITTANY [over radio]: And the airplane.
KALEB [over radio]: And the airplane.
JOHNNY: You know, I'm not above any animal.
I'm not above caribou, I'm not above the wolves.
I'm living as part of them.
And I wouldn't want to live any other way.
JOHNNY: One of the first things I do when I see snow coming,
I look at the tracks that are already on the lake.
And then read the tracks right after it snows.
You can see patterns,
and that's what keeps me fed out here.
Holy [bleep].
Those are caribou.
There's a ton of them.
That's a far shot.
That's a 300-yard shot. That's way too far.
They'll think we're caribou if we just chill out.
At this point, they know I'm not a threat,
cause I'm not going anywhere near them.
So, what I'm trying to do is fool them into thinking
I'm a caribou.
These are my antlers.
That's the best I can do.
Just kinda mimic them, what they do.
They're not frightened.
They're curious.
They're walking toward us right now.
This is why you just kinda keep patient.
♪ ♪
[gunshot]
[bleep].
[gunshot]
JOHNNY: Come on, go down. Go down. Go down.
That one's hit.
I'm out of ammo.
So, I shot two caribou, one of them dropped immediately.
The second one is definitely hit,
but it's hanging on to life.
I'm gonna go approach it and, uh, try to dispatch it.
Nobody wants you to suffer, all right?
Let's get this over with.
It's okay. It's okay. It's okay.
I'm always thankful for the life of these animals.
And I definitely don't take any of them for granted.
Because it's gonna allow me to continue to live.
Okay.
So, I'm bringing this one back to where I shot and
going to get the second one.
It's cold. I'm tired.
And it's getting late,
so I only have time to process one caribou.
The second caribou,
I'm gonna bury it in snow and that should help insulate it,
so it doesn't freeze.
I do have some reservations about burying it,
because if predators find that caribou,
they're gonna eat it up.
But it really is my only option at this point.
ALEX: I'm coming out here into the wilderness.
Don't really have a lifeline out here.
Coming in with minimal equipment.
You know, I imagine there's a reason this is called Deadman Lake,
and I don't wanna make it become Deadmen Lake.
ALEX: I didn't tie this up 'cause it's a horse
that will run off.
I, I stretched it out so that I could.
This is a, ah, it's too much to explain.
That guy comes in handy.
So last night was okay.
I mean it was pretty cold but, uh, ya know,
inside my tent all bundled up I was,
I was able to sleep.
However, I'm in the interior of Alaska.
Just like, one week ago, it was negative 60.
The most pressing concern this time of year is
hypothermia, frostbite, freezing to death.
So, it's just I gotta have wood.
I gotta be able to burn wood.
I'm seeing lots of good stuff here.
There's quite a few, um, dead trees,
so I can probably get all the wood I need for, ya know,
at least the next several days.
When I first moved off-grid in Alaska,
I had never used an axe or saw before,
I just learned it all trial and error,
and it's something I've done a lot.
Oh, there you go.
Wasn't much holding that.
There's like the skills humans had, you know,
500,000 years ago to survive, same thing.
If you use them today, you'll survive.
You know?
But, you know, if I worked in a city or whatever,
I feel like it's actually less certain there, you know?
So hard to make a living and so hard to like,
know what to do.
What career path should I choose?
Everything's constantly changing,
you know what I mean?
Nature is consistent, you know?
The rules of nature's game never change, so, you know,
as long as you're willing to play by them.
That's, that's about as secure as you get.
This is great.
I got a really good pile of wood.
And then, yeah, I think I've got enough time left
in the day.
I can go down and get some water.
And then I'm, I'm set.
[humming]
Pretty thick snow.
Some ice here doesn't got too much snow on top of it.
So, this'll be an easy place to get it from.
You know one of the big difficulties about Bear Creek,
it was such a big chore to get water,
so I always having to really ration my water and
never had quite enough.
Here, I'm gonna have all the water I could ever want.
Super excited about it.
I just gotta be more careful.
Making little mistakes here, there's just not gonna be a
recourse to fix it if it gets out of hand.
CHRIS: In the city I just kinda get caught up
in the mundane.
Get lost.
Social media is one of the things that I hate the most.
The only likes that are important around here,
are mine and my wife's.
I remember coming out here as a kid with my dad and
crossing over this.
And we had two big beams in that were crossed with a bunch
of smaller beams.
JESSI: Well, that was when it was half as deep
and wide as it is now.
CHRIS: But I feel like if we shovel enough snow in.
JESSI: Yeah.
CHRIS: Pile some trees up, kind of like a little bridge,
that'll make it not as steep.
I think it'll be crossable.
JESSI: Yeah, how, where?
I don't know where even to go down.
CHRIS: Looking at Deep Creek,
you know it's just too far across to build the bridge.
Watch out it's steep.
The only thing I can figure is that you have to just make ramps.
JESSI: You go first. CHRIS: All right.
JESSI: How was it? CHRIS: Fine. JESSI: Okay.
CHRIS: Come on down!
JESSI: Yeah!
Great!
CHRIS: It's not too steep at all.
I think we can get a snow machine up this.
Yeah. Looks good.
Not too steep at all.
You coming?
JESSI: Yeah, sure.
Definitely super easy.
CHRIS: So, this is the old trail.
Uh, it goes out this way down to the Tanana.
So, I think that we should just build right here.
I mean looking down the hard part is gonna be getting back up over there.
That's gonna be though.
JESSI: That other side? CHRIS: Yeah.
JESSI: I'm ready to get working.
CHRIS: Let's do this.
JESSI: Like in every project,
Chris and I have got to split the tasks,
and I'm shoveling a bunch of snow down into Deep Creek.
And Chris is gonna go and cut some trees to make some poles.
We're gonna be using this ramp very frequently,
and there's gonna be thousands of pounds going across it.
It's very important that we do it right the first time.
I think it's gonna take 40, 40 sled fulls.
I think that's what we're gonna need, all said and done.
This is sled number five.
Here we go.
Hell of a thing getting too hot at 30-below.
What is that?
Come on over here.
JESSI: What do you think this is?
CHRIS: I wish I had known those were here.
These were the beams that I crossed when I was like ten years old,
coming out here with my dad.
Back then there was like ten families out here and they'd
come together every fall and put this in.
I've never seen 'em sitting on the side of the trail,
and I've never had the chance to actually build this bridge.
Uh, so it's kinda fun to find them.
I expected these to be a lot worse for wear.
JESSI: Well, you never know,
we might need to use these in the future.
CHRIS: Yeah.
JESSI: You ready?
CHRIS: Perfect.
Okay.
I'd love to spend four or five days out here building
a beautiful bridge, but we've got like an hour,
hour and a half left of useable sunlight and then
we've gotta boogie.
Looking good, we just need to start shoveling it in here.
We're just gonna have to call it at good enough,
so we can cross it tomorrow.
Hopefully we can get this like nice ramp going.
I think it's gonna be doable.
Fill it in.
KALEB: Living a subsistence lifestyle will keep you from
getting fat and flabby.
Whatever the case may be, it's hard, hard work.
BRITTANY: Are you going to use your skis or?
KALEB: I'm skiing over.
I ain't wading through waist-deep snow.
BRITTANY: Okay, I think I'll put on the snowshoes.
KALEB: That means you have to run the chainsaw.
He who wears snowshoes has to run chainsaw.
BRITTANY: I have to run the chainsaw?
KALEB: Yup. Come on dog.
BRITTANY: When you're out hunting,
your first goal is always shelter and to
find a way to heat yourself.
That's deep!
The shelter's all set up,
which means we need to find a heat source.
So, Kaleb and I are going to go and fell a tree.
KALEB: The way you start this thing.
You just have it in the run position,
and you get up against the compression stroke
and you just.
BRITTANY: Okay, let me try it.
KALEB: You drop the saw slightly while pulling up on the handle,
and it'll start right out.
BRITTANY: Is that kinda like rubbing your tummy and patting
your head at the same time?
KALEB: Sure.
Now you're just gonna, on there and cut.
It just has a little bit more power.
BRITTANY: And a lot heavier, okay so, ouch.
KALEB: There you go.
It's just a sharp drop and a sharp lift.
You almost got it.
Ooh, that was close.
BRITTANY: Okay. Can I like. KALEB: You can do that too.
Yeah!
BRITTANY: Woo-hoo! KALEB: Keep it running.
BRITTANY: The more often Kaleb and I go on trips like this,
the more comfortable I get.
It is scary but also exciting.
KALEB: Yeah!
First tree with a big chainsaw.
Milestones.
Progress.
Now, what I'm thinking I'll do.
I might just be able to carry this over my shoulder.
Oh yeah.
All right, I'll see you down there.
BRITTANY: Yup, oh my word.
KALEB: Maybe I should point the tree backwards.
BRITTANY: Was not expecting that.
KALEB: Ah, I'm stuck.
BRITTANY: All righty.
ALEX: I don't have to live this way.
I can use technology. It's all available to me.
I choose not to.
If life is a game, I wanna play it without the
cheat codes on, ya know?
ALEX: Yeah.
That's nice, I've got enough wood.
I, uh, I was able to keep a little bit of a fire
going last night so that when I woke up,
I still had hot water.
And this thing's almost full,
and that was just uh a small portion of it.
Uh, so that's really nice, having plenty of wood,
plenty of water.
Not having to ration it.
You know I wanna work from a place of security,
not a place of desperation.
It would be nice to lay around all day and think, oh,
ya know uh I'm so awesome, I made it, but uh,
I'm not there yet.
At Bear Creek, I didn't have any place nearby where
I could fish.
Uh, but here at Deadman Lake...
Double whammy.
ALEX: I have access to this really great resource.
So, I wanna try my hand at fishing,
'cause if I can catch fish, uh that would make a big
difference in my ability to survive.
Here fishy, fishy, fishy, fishy.
I haven't fished really ever in my adult life.
But for people who have lived here for the many thousands of years,
fishing was always an important subsistence activity.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
ALEX: Oh, C'mon. C'mon, buddy.
Get your courage up. Go for the big bite.
He's playing with it.
Yeah, he took the bait off of it.
I wonder if I should go a little smaller.
The kind of fish I'm going for here is Pike.
They're predatory fish,
they don't go and nibble on something.
They go and snap at it.
So, I don't know if I did something wrong.
Maybe the hook didn't set right.
Well, at least we know there's,
there's at least one fish in the lake.
Maybe they're smart about hooks.
Maybe that's why they kinda swipe and kinda miss it.
They're like trying to knock the bait off the
hook or something.
Little fishies just ain't biting today.
These fish are trying my soul.
Still got my bait.
I wish that fish would come back and get some seconds.
Getting a bite.
Oh yeah. We got a fish. We got a fish.
But he's too big to fit through holes.
I just gotta be able to grip his lip.
It's too far for that.
Just gotta kinda wiggle him.
It's only a 25-pound line.
There we go. There it is.
That's a good-sized pike there.
Nice fat pike.
Before I moved out here, I was like,
oh yeah fishing is something I'll be able to do there.
I don't think I really understood how important it's
probably gonna be for me.
I could probably get a large portion of the calories and
fat and nutrients that I need through fishing.
I feel like it's a game changer for me.
KALEB: Being a responsible hunter.
is more than just going out and blazing away.
You've gotta keep your thumb on the pulse of the population.
All right, I think the plan is, uh,
there's a nice line of brush over there.
It's kinda what ptarmigan hang out in.
And I think the thing to do is just go over and kinda work
that brush line.
BRITTANY: All right. Let's make it happen.
KALEB: All right. Let's go.
BRITTANY: We see any small game; I've got it covered.
KALEB: Ready to go, Piper?
Our small game population has taken a huge hit lately.
And so, what I'm wanting to do today...
Piper!
KALEB: Is to expand our range a little bit.
I want to check out this Donoho Valley and
know what's out there.
BRITTANY: What do you smell? What do you smell?
KALEB: These look like fox tracks.
He come from over there, went across the lake,
and predators means there's prey somewhere.
We'll see if this fox has any good luck for us.
BRITTANY: Cool.
KALEB: I think I see ptarmigan tracks up there.
BRITTANY: Ooh.
KALEB: Keep it quiet.
All right so, I found ptarmigan tracks here.
They're old though.
These tracks have that dusting of snow on 'em.
BRITTANY: Hmm.
KALEB: So, they were here.
Hopefully, the farther we go the fresher they get.
Oh, here's a spot where a ptarmigan landed and
made a little runway.
They just kinda stick their belly out and just kinda
ker-flop into the snow.
BRITTANY: Let's go, Piper.
KALEB: Oh, hey, Brit.
Brit!
I might see one.
Piper!
Piper, come here.
Oye.
BRITTANY: Where do you see one?
KALEB: Above that big spruce tree there.
He's just sitting up there.
BRITTANY: I think I'm gonna inch up on it.
How about you and Piper stay here?
KALEB: Yep.
Piper, you stay here.
BRITTANY: Okay.
KALEB: Momma's gonna try to get a ptarmigan.
BRITTANY: How close do you think I can get?
KALEB: 15 feet. They're pretty dumb.
BRITTANY: Okay.
KALEB: Stay, Piper. Stay.
[gunshot]
KALEB: Did you get it? BRITTANY: I think so.
KALEB: I think Brittany got a ptarmigan.
Let's go get it. Let's go get it.
BRITTANY: Oh, man.
I definitely got it.
KALEB: Definitely got him.
Good job, babe.
Tipped him right over.
BRITTANY: Look at that!
KALEB: Nice neck shot.
BRITTANY: Look how plump that is.
Especially for it to be in the winter.
So, that's exciting.
KALEB: I see why the fox is here.
He's after them fat little ptarmigans.
In moose terms, we'd be talking a 60-inch bull.
So, nice job.
BRITTANY: Nice haul, right? KALEB: Nice job. BRITTANY: Thanks.
KALEB: First ptarmigan in the bag.
BRITTANY: Yeah.
Let's start a fire and roast this thing.
KALEB: Sounds good.
Do you wanna lead or do you want me to?
BRITTANY: I will let you lead. KALEB: Yep.
BRITTANY: Thank you.
And that is why I handed him that.
Dude!
KALEB: Stuck in the hole!
BRITTANY: Oh dear.
JOHNNY: I don't think there's any such thing as
exploring in a city.
Everywhere in the city has been discovered.
I like to explore places that are isolated and
removed from society.
And to me, that's exploration.
That cold air just crystalizes my lungs.
It's hard to breathe.
See if the wolves or the cold temperatures got to the
caribou before I did.
I urinated all around it,
and I know that wolves don't like the scent of humans.
So, I'm kind of hoping that that'll keep them
away from it.
Ah, thank God nothing got to it.
That's a huge relief.
I just gotta figure out if it's frozen, and, um,
I need to dig it out.
The sun's up for just a couple hours,
so I don't know if that snow that I packed around
the caribou's actually going to insulate it and
keep it from freezing.
There's part of it.
Look at that, it's so cold that it stuck so much that
it's taking the hair off the caribou.
That's not feeling frozen.
That is awesome.
There's no way I'd be able to butcher it up,
I'd have to thaw it out in my cabin.
That'd be a big mess.
When the summer rolls around, you know bears will definitely
smell that, so I don't wanna bring a whole caribou to my
cabin now if I don't have to.
Now I gotta start butchering it because it's
exposed to the air.
These cold temperatures these things are gonna freeze
in no time.
You know, this is my food source out here.
I save all the parts, I utilize everything.
You know, I don't enjoy killing.
I never have.
It's not a good feeling,
but what is good is being part of the cycle
of life and death.
Being the meat eater I am, it's important for me to play
a role in life and death.
That was a big goal of mine, moving to Alaska,
was to never buy factory farmed meat again.
But I'm also not a vegetarian.
This caribou will last me about six weeks.
Brisket.
It's a lot of effort to put in.
The ravens will come and clean that up.
In the long run it pays off.
Oh, yeah!
Damn, any exposure to the skin, you feel it real quick.
It's no joke.
JESSI: I can do anything I want out here,
and I get to depend on myself.
And that's something that I never felt in the city.
JESSI: There's always somebody that you have to answer to.
All of that is just gone.
CHRIS: I'm a little nervous looking down this.
Once we get this through, I can get to town,
I can get supplies, I can bring plywood.
I can bring tin, we can bring fuel.
But I'm afraid of like, the SnoGo starting to go and
sliding off the side and just running right into that
big mud bank down there.
JESSI: How wide do you think it is right there?
CHRIS: Just wide enough.
I mean, at least our SnoGo is pretty skinny.
You know, I guess as time progresses so does,
so does the bridge.
I remember looking over the side of this creaky bridge as
a kid and watching like, snow fall as we crossed it.
JESSI: Thinking that was sketch.
CHRIS: Thinking that that was scary,
and now here I am looking at this super steep angle thinking,
wow am I gonna be able to make it up this?
But...
JESSI: Meet ya on the other side.
CHRIS: Wish me luck.
There's endless things we can do once we get through this.
I know it's been a lot of work,
but the payoff is gonna be worth it.
Woo! Man, that's steep!
As long as I don't wreck my snow machine.
[Chris laughs]
CHRIS: All right! JESSI: Yeah! CHRIS: Woohoo!
JESSI: Our bridge across Deep Creek is a lot more like two snow ramps.
But it's a lot less steep than it was before.
This is where it's gonna get sketch.
Here he comes.
Yeah!
CHRIS: Ah, [bleep] yeah!
Woo!
[laughs]
Give me some of that!
JESSI: Good job!
Being able to go down and come back up first try is a big
success for us.
You didn't even touch this whole spot.
CHRIS: I was just going!
JESSI: I can go from my doorway here at the Cosna to
the village of Manley in like four hours.
In Alaska standards, that is faster than the
speed of light.
This is a working bridge.
KALEB: What's this sign we saw once?
'A life well lived you should be skidding in
sideways half-drunk with a bottle of wine',
something like that.
I can't remember how the saying went.
BRITTANY: That sounds, not great actually.
KALEB: That's the one that your mom had on her fridge.
100% organic food here.
BRITTANY: If you had asked me when I was in high school if
I'd ever do any of the things that we're doing
it probably would have been a big laugh and a no.
But I think we're becoming more partners when it comes to
the outdoor stuff, too.
KALEB: I agree.
Here you go, here's a leg.
Not bad for cooking over a campfire.
BRITTANY: Mm-hmm.
KALEB: Piper, you want a goody?
There you go.
Been a lot of firsts for you on this trip, Brittany.
You did a fantastic job with the chainsaw,
with the ptarmigan.
BRITTANY: Thanks.
KALEB: I think, uh, firewood's your job from now on.
You did such a great job of it.
If things keep up, I'm gonna be sitting at home knitting
while you go out and get the ptarmigan.
BRITTANY: I don't know that you would ever want to
sit and knit.
KALEB: This is true, I would die if I did that.
ALEX: Okay. Get myself a table here.
I got kind of my most primary needs taken care of,
but you know this morning I woke up it was
probably like 3:00 AM.
And I was cold, I was covered in ice, and I was like,
legit like I need to be able to heat my tent.
I'm looking forward to getting to know this place as
intimately as I know Bear Creek.
I just wish Sipsy was here.
It's both a blessing and a curse,
you know I don't have to worry.
At the same time, I do miss him.
Okay, we just about got it.
I got the box assembled, that's the hard part.
Now all I got to do is put it inside my tent.
Everything that lives here has to live with intent,
with courage, with endurance.
From the trees, the little rodents, everything.
And not just once, you know,
it's not like oh you have your right of passage and
then you cruise after that.
Every single winter is that test.
60 degrees.
JOHNNY: If I had to, you know, go back in time and teach myself
everything that I know now it would be a ten-minute lesson.
Because it's really not about, you know,
use this gear instead of that gear.
Learn to use your eyes and ears,
nature will teach you everything.
All right, you wanna eat some tongue or what?
Where's the tongue at, over there?
Yeah, I thought so.
Let's have a peek.
If it wasn't for the caribou,
I wouldn't be able to survive out here.
There's just no way I'd be able to.
I don't know when the next herd's gonna come through.
So, I have to capitalize on the caribou that
do come through.
Do you know we're reaching negative 60's.
And when you're reaching temperatures like that,
there is no such thing as failure out here.
But there is death.
[sizzle]
Oh yeah, sounds good.
You need to stay present in this lifestyle.
That's the sound of success right there.
If you let your mind drift too much it's really,
really easy to go down a dark hole being alone,
especially in the cold.
Takes a strong mind and somebody that's willing to
reflect on their life,
look at themselves and decide whether or not
they want to push the boundaries, push the limits.
JOHNNY: Live ways that people aren't living anymore.
Java, you ready to eat, girl?
You're always ready to eat.
If we had one thing in common, it would be that.
Okay.
That's my efforts right there.
Ah, so good.
Captioned by Cotter Media Group.