All language subtitles for man.vs.wild.s01e02.Moab.Desert,Utah

my name is bear grills

i serve with the British special forces

i've climbed the summit of Everest

and cross the frozen oceans of the arctic now

i'm travelling to the moa desert in Utah

this iconic landscape

is the most dangerous desert in North America

with punishing

temperatures and some of the world's deadliest creatures

search and rescue launch 100 missions

a year looking for stranded tourists

now i'm going to show you how to survive here

this is a moab desert

three thousand six

hundred square

miles of canyons arches and sheer cliffs

every year a million people visit this park wilderness

but take one wrong turn

and it's all too easy to get lost for good

i'm about to put myself in the position of a stranded hiker

in a few moments

the pilot's gonna drop me in the middle of this desert

and then i'll be like any hiker

who gets lost and all i've got with me is a water bottle

a knife and a Flint

and i'm going to show you how to survive

in one of the toughest places on earth

my camera crew will follow me

as i try to find a way out of this landscape

the thermal updrafts are so powerful here

that is too dangerous to land the chopper

so there's only one way down to absail

we're hovering at about a hundred feet now above the desert

and even from this height i can feel the heat of

the desert floor like an album down there

i've done this before and it's dangerous one slip is fatal

but this is it

need to get out of this fast

the hell is getting pulled in lots of updrafts here

and i need to be off this road quick

wow

i'm pretty foot on i'm done clear up

i'm stranded 4000 feet above sea level on

a rocky tabletop called a Mesa

and it's utterly desolate here and it's very very hot

the heat here is just incredible you know

it's well over 110 degrees

the biggest killer in these deserts are heat

stroke and dehydration and then both come on so quickly

in this situation the best advice is to stay

put get into the shade and wait to be rescued

but sometimes help doesn't come

so i'm going to find my own way out

i know that two huge rivers run through the moab

the Colorado and the green finding one of them is going to be

the key to getting out this

whole desert is going to be full of canyons

and dry riverbeds

and if i get down to one of these and follow them

it should eventually lead to a river

and then eventually civilization

plants need water

so signs of vegetation will show me that water could be nearby

but apart from this sage brush i can't see

any at all

what i can see

though is a rim of a Canyon in

the distance at the bottom of a Canyon

a fine shade canyons can also have water in them

streams that lead down to bigger rivers

so that's what i'm gonna head for

but priority number one for me

now is to get off the top of this table top

but getting off is easier said than done

this whole table tow up

here is just formed by layers and layers of all of this

sandstone rock

and it's so crumbly underfoot and very very unstable

and what i do know

is it's often the descent this is a dangerous part of a climb

the risk when coming down a face

like this is that you climb yourself into a position

when you can't go up or down

when this happens

it's called getting rim rocked

28 year old climber William Mckeen got rim rocked on a cliff

near here he hung on for as long

as he could then fell to his death

but if this does happen

there's a technique that they teach in the special forces for

being able to make a jump of like 15 foot

and the idea is when you jump

you keep your feet together

knees slightly bent and when you land

you roll and you spread the impact

along your legs and then around your back

it's the middle of the day and the sun is now at its hottest

so i've got to get the safety and shade of that Canyon

as soon as possible

just being in a hundred and ten degrees heat

your body actually loses about a liter of water every hour

and that's before you even start

thinking about how walking or climbing or moving

the longer i'm exposed to the full strength of the sun

the greater the danger

and the most important part of the body to keep cool is

the head and the brain

i remember learning this really good trick for improvising

like a headdresser

sun hat and if i use this

this white t shirt here and then just

cut one side of it

and all i'm doing is cutting all the way down one seam

and then opening it out

and i've got a good length of material here

and all i do is just wrap it around my head

and if i twist

this nice and firmly inside of my head pull it around tight

pull it around my face

and then tuck it in on its own knot

and this will keep the sun off me

and will save me getting back to death

to give you an idea of how dangerous

this heat is the body's internal temperature is usually 98.6

degrees Fahrenheit once a body's core temperature hits 105

you've got heatstroke when this happens

you become confused the body goes into convulsions

and you can fall into a coma

i don't know if you can see this

but this whole place really is mother nature at

her most unforgiving

and this desert

has to be one of the hardest places in the world

just to stay alive for any period of time

this entire region was once covered by a shallow sea

and just teemed with life

that was 200 million years ago but now

it barely gets 9 inches of rain for a year

and all the creatures that once thrived here are extinct

i don't want to join them

i found the Canyon

that i was looking for and there's a good chance

there's water down there

because there's plenty of shade

my only problem is how to get down into it

ivab sailed into the middle of the moab desert in Utah

one of the driest states in North America

and i'm going to show you

how to survive with only a bottle of water

a knife and a Flint

i'm hoping to find water in this Canyon

and i also think it could lead me to a river

and back to civilization

but first

i need to get down into it this edge is too steep to climb

and it's too wide to jump

but if i can use this giant boulder as a bridge

i might be able to find a way down on the other side

but i've got to be pretty careful crossing this

just because these boulders can sometimes be unstable

this sandstone is flaky

and also it's a long way down here Utah climber

Aaron Ralston was trapped

by a boulder like this

when it fell on him in a remote Canyon to escape

he had to cut his own arm off with a penknife

and the key to climbing

is always to keep at least three points of contact

with the face and try

and use your leg power as much as

as much as you can rather your arms

i've made it across

but there's still no sign of a way down

and if i don't find water soon

i could be at serious risk at dehydrating

search and rescue have a saying in these parts

a lost hiker is down in 12 hours and dead in 24 so far

i've been here for five

lost away down into this Canyon

and there must be water down here

somewhere

the Canyon runs downhill

and that's the way water would flow it's the way i'm gonna go

there are over 1000 of these narrow

canyons in the moab some of them

only a few feet wide

they're known as slot canyons

the shade down here

means

the temperature is about 20 degrees less than on the desert

floor above

a really good way of finding water in these canyons

is looking for clumps of vegetation and water hungry plants

and and actually

this is a really good example

this tamarisk

and just a small bush like this is capable of sucking up

up to twenty gallons of water a day from these like aquifers

which are these underground chambers of water

and this is a very good sign that there's a water source

somewhere nearby

and there is

that there's a problem

it's polluted i can see

you can see there you know a rotting squirrel

and you know this water is not flowing anywhere

so it's just stagnant and you definitely

don't want to be drinking it

just one drop can make me seriously

ill there's a good chance

this Canyon will eventually lead to a river if i follow it

it could well be my root out of here

but my way is blocked by this water to go around it

and have to retrace all my steps

and that's just too far

so i'm gonna go through it

this water is also surprisingly cold

and it's strange because outside of this Canyon

it's just a scorching desert

but in here

where it gets no no sun

it's absolutely freezing

but i've got no choice i've got to keep going this way

the water in this pool must be about 50 degrees Fahrenheit

but the real danger these slot canyons is flash floods

the storm up to 100 miles away

could send tons of water and debris crashing through here

only a few years ago

a group of 12 tourists were killed when a flash flood

ripped through

the Antelope Canyon in Arizona

this whole whole can in here

it's just block now by this log jam

and this would have

been caused by a flash

flood just coming down and piling up all these logs and this

debris

i can't climb over this log jam because it's too unstable

and the Canyon walls are too steep to climb

if you were trapped in a pool like this for just two hours

the body's core temperature would fall below 95 degrees

Fahrenheit and hypothermia would set in yeah

there's just no way i'm getting over over this

and i suppose i could go back

but if you found yourself in this

sort of Canyon

and people do find themselves

trapped your only real option would be to try and swim under it

but the danger is i just don't know how far

how far it is to the other side

but the technique for doing this is that you breathe really

deeply and slowly for a good amount of time beforehand

and what this does is

that it gets rid of all the carbon dioxide in your body

and it lowers your heart rate

and then you just have to go for it and keep calm but

let's try

i suddenly got through that i could see the light

another five seconds

i would have been through that let's give it one more go

four minutes as maximum time as possible

for anyone to hold their breath

but in water this cold

i'm gonna struggle to hold it for more than 30 seconds

whoo

oh Ronnie Ronnie gotta pop that

oh it's just so cold

it's not gonna get out of it

holding

my breath underwater has really taken it out of me but now

there's a new obstacle i've hit

a dead end and there's no way out

i've been swimming along a flooded Canyon

in the hope that will lead me to a river and civilization

the water in here is freezing

cold and polluted with dead animals

but now there's a new problem i've hit

a dead end and there's no way out except to go back or to go up

one way of getting out of these canyons

if it's narrow enough

is to is to use what they call a chimney climb

and this is a technique

it's a recent designed for getting itself out of a well

but it's pretty dangerous and you gotta be so careful

and these are the things that are pretty pretty high

this type of sandstone is called slick rock

because when it gets wet

it becomes so slippery

my climbing shoes will struggle to get a decent grip here

and if i fall

it's a 30 foot drop

your technique

for doing this is the wedge your back against the rock

and one foot behind you

one in front and

keep working your way up

and you've got to keep the pressure forward

and the pressure behind you as that's your only

safety

okay

just jam my knees in here and amazing have a rest

get some blood back into the arms

but this rock's becoming much less slippy now

and down the bottom down there

where it's wet turns into slick rock

but this stuff is much better and i can really get that

pretty good purchase on this

okay if i just get my hand over the top make him to a fist

i can fake for use that like a pito jam it in

and if i just reach it

last a little bit and get my hand in there in a fist

i can jam that in and take the weight

啊

my plan to follow the Canyon down to a river has failed

and stepping back into the desert heat

feels like entering a furnace and still

i haven't found any fresh water

before i can think about making a new plan

i need to get out of the sun

but the nearer shade is a rocky outcrop an hours hikeway

where i might find a cave

and this mid day

heat even even

this headdress you know

it's just getting roasting hot

and i've got to think of some way just to keep my head cool

and what i can do

though is take this off and then and then pee on it

and it's pretty gross

but it's also not exactly gonna smell very good

but luckily there

not many people out here to be exactly very bothered

and it's really really yellow p

which is

a sign that i'm definitely getting pretty dehydrated now

but at least this should keep my head

a bit cooler

and at the moment my head is just on fire

and smell great

but this is really nice and cooling

it's better

this headdress will keep me cool for a bit

but i desperately need to get into the shade

ah it's just such a such a relief to find this cave

but i've also got to be pretty careful

ah other desert animals might well

have the same idea ah of looking for the shade

and especially ah specially snakes and actually

if a snake is out in the hottest part of the day in the desert

ah they will die

they have to have this sort of shade and yeah a good way

it's just to yeah lob a few

a few rocks in

just had a good look around before

but this is gonna be perfect i think for me yeah looks clear

last year a mountain

Biker Kirk Rogers went riding in the moab in 100 degrees

heat he took a wrong turn and got lost the next day

his body was found a quarter of a mile from the trail

dead from heat exhaustion

shady caves like this can literally be lifesavers

i'm gonna try

and get some rest here and move on at a cooler time of day

it's early morning

the best time to travel in the desert and my main priority

is still to find water

and it's always a good idea when you get out first thing

in the morning

any clothes

you haven't been wearing or boots if you take them off

always give them

tip them up or give clothing a good shake out

just because scorpions love to get into cool shady places

i'm down to my last few drops of water

and i desperately need to refill my canteen

one trick is to listen for insects bees

and mosquitoes always live near water

and if i can find some of them

they might lead me to a spring

i've heard some somewhere in this gully

and this is just sort of place alike

it's cool it's dark

and there's probably a little bit of moisture in the ground

as well

the sound of insects is a good sign

i could be getting close to water

and this is what

i've been looking for just this line of mineral deposits

that's the indicator

there's a seat

somewhere nearby water tricking out of one of these acrophas

and you can actually see this little pool of water

had this formed here

and what's happening

is it's filling up and then it's running away

and if i can just dig this out a bit

and then dam it and stop that water seeping out

i'll get a good amount of water

there probably in a few minutes that will fill out

then i just need a way of collecting

it and drinking it

i'm looking for a plant called a trumpet flower

native Americans use it as a pipe

because it has a hollow stem

but i can also use this as a drinking straw to get at that water

but i've got to be pretty careful cutting this

just because if i try and just break it off

it's going to splinter so what i'm going to do

is just score all the way

around the bottom and then the same at the top

and this means when i come to snap it off it's gonna come away

cleanly

and that's gonna be great

the reservoir is filled up with water and now

i can use a straw to suck it out the great thing about this is

this whole process of the water seeping through this

rock means actually

even though it looked pretty murky this water is well filtered

and i can almost guarantee that this is better quality water

than you get in most cities

just to tap water

when you're dehydrated

it's important to drink slowly as guzzling too much

water too fast can make you vomit

ah so good

i've rehydrated and my canteen is full again now

i need to come up with another plan

for getting out of this desert

and the best way of finding a route

is to survey the land from high ground

what i'm looking for

is just any signs of vegetation you know trees bushes

i don't know

if you can see that

but there's this line of vegetation long there

and that's the markings of a river and in the desert

where there's a river

there's almost always human habitation

it doesn't look that far

but the route is far from flat

and i want to try and find food before i start hiking there

i'm getting really hungry now

and i need something

that's just gonna give me some energy

and some food and this is just a sort of place this little gully

the birds or ravens would be nesting

and if i can just get myself one of those it would be amazing

catching a bird without a trap is nearly impossible

but i might be able to find some makes

bird dropping some feathers will give away their location

there's a broken eggshell here

which means

there is definitely a nest somewhere

up here

and let this more hit

and it could well be on that ledge

here we go

and this looks like it

looks like a chuckers nest here

and these eggs are bigger these are more like

these are more like ravens eggs

and this is what ravens do

they'll tend to drive a little burn away from its nest

and then lay its own eggs in it

but either way

i'm gonna eat these i'm gonna have one now

i'm gonna keep one for later

all bird eggs are edible

even the shell is a

good source of calcium and i'm so hungry i can't help

but eat it raw

but there is a risk of catching salmonella

so i'm gonna try and cook the other one

it's probably about 120 degrees out here

in the heat at the moment

and this is

this undoubtedly the hottest place i've ever been in my life

well that's one of the best scrambled eggs i had

i've seen a river in the distance

and i just hope i have enough energy to reach it

i think the river

i saw on the horizon is still almost

a day's hike away but when the landscape is uneven

it's easy to go round in circles

so i'm going to use a local plant

to keep me heading in a straight line

look at these guys

these are little compass cactuses

and they're called this

because they're pretty reliable indicators of direction

and what they do they tend to grow towards the south

and to show you how parts and dry and nutrient deficient

the soil is

it's taking these little caxes for about seventy five years

just to get to this size

but you don't really want to rely on just one of these

but you see a few of them growing in the same direction

that's a pretty good indication that south is that way

and if i always know where south is

i can keep myself on a straight line

while i'm heading for that river

the moab is part of the great basin desert

the highest desert in the us and the furthest north

it experiences extreme changes in temperature and at night

it can drop as low as 40 degrees

the heat of the day now is beginning to die thank god

but in a few hours

it's going to start to get really cold

i need materials for a fire

and whenever you're reaching around like this getting anything

you got to be so careful

just for any snakes that camouflage them so well

in the undergrowth

with the temperature dropping

i'll need to get a fire started soon

but dusk is also a good time to go hunting for food

the moab is home to a dozen different types of snake

and they are all edible i'm gonna try and catch one for dinner

i'm just gonna see

if i can just find something to eat

and replace some of these calories that i'm losing out here

all the snakes really when the heat of the day

they'll be tucked away in the shade at this time

they're out they're nocturnal hunters

and they're looking for food just like me

look look here

we go little rattler

and this is a good size

a good sized little rattlesnake here and to capture snake

use a rock to stun it

then pin its head to the ground

with a stick and crush its skull

yeah this is this is a faded midget

they're called faded midgets

because their patterning is very undistinct

it's very faded

which means they're camouflaged

brilliantly into all of this sand and rock

these are these are highly venomous snakes

and you've got to be very careful

with these guys well listen to that rattle

that's just her warning saying keep back

but she's looking straight at me here

this sort of snake for bit

you didn't get treatment it could well kill you

in a life or death situation

i'd have to kill the snake to survive

but the faded midget is a protected species tonight

i'm going hungry

snakes aren't the only creatures that come out at night mountain

lions do their hunting in the dark

as well

they're extremely rare

but this is just a sort of terrain they like

my number one priority is to get a fire going

it'll keep me warm and ward off any predators

it's got noticeably colder now

but i've got a really good tender nest here

i've got my kindling from that rabbit brush

and i've got my Flint that always try and carry with me

i got a key with a fire

it's to nurture it when it's small

it's amazing when you're all alone

just how much strength you draw from having a fire

i'm just turning this little camera on

but i don't know if you can hear that but there's

can you hear that there's definitely something

there's definitely something rattling outside

and it's either a little rattlesnake going past listen listen

other little rat snake going past

a cable

it could be a just a non venomous snake that often

what they do is

they'll drag their tails through some dry brush and like mimic

a rattle

i don't want to be getting out trying to scare this thing off

and i don't want it getting in past the edge of the fire here

but maybe if i was gonna bang this water bottle

just because snakes don't like vibrations

and they'll go on the vibrations

and if i just signal that i'm here

with rattlesnakes about it's gonna be a long night

i've been traveling for three days through the moab

desert in search of a river and at last

i can see signs that i'm getting closer

i've entered an area of dense vegetation and the bushes around

me can give me a clue as to how far i have to go

all of these tamaris and Willow just love water

and they're telling me that there's got to be this river

somewhere close now

and there it is and there's also a windmill the other side

and what i'm hoping is that there's gonna be a house

or something nearby

i'm pretty sure the only river this size in the moab is

the Colorado

one of the most dangerous rivers in America it may look placid

but beneath the surface runs a powerful current every year

unsuspecting Taurus are swept

away and drowned

and along its edge are murky pools that could conceal quicksand

cowboys were always so careful with quicksand

when they were herding cattle

along riverbanks

just because it's so easy for cattle to die in the stuff

they walk into it they start to struggle and as they struggle

they just get sucked deeper into it

but if you did get stuck in quicksand

i'm going to show you how to get out of it

and i can just feel it begin more

i try to pull the leg out the more it sucks it in

and if i just allow myself to struggle

you can see how i just begin to sink down into it

and the way to then get out of it is that you've got to stop

fighting and try

and then lift your body up

and try and wriggle onto the surface and change the angle

pull an arm up

and then ease the left legger

g try

monkey crawl your way out

okay

now i'm on the surface and then just monkey crawl out of it

and you can cross a lot of quicksand in this way

and that's why

i'm not gonna be able to wade this river

i'm gonna have to swim it

because it's all gonna be like this horrible loop

but i just need five minutes first

the windmill on the other side is telling me

i can't be far from civilization but to get to it

i'm going to have to swim the Colorado river

the way to cross wide rivers like this is to swim diagonally

and with the current

because the current in this river is so strong

it's impossible to swim against it

it's much faster flying than i first thought now

i'm actually in it

and i'm being pulled fast downstream

i just hope there's gonna be somebody actually over here

i know there are small communities scattered

all along the rivers that run through the moab wherever

there's a river in the desert

there's bound to be civilization

somewhere along the banks

i feel like my journey through this remarkable

landscape is almost at an end

if i've learned anything out here

it's just how fast

this arid parched burning desert can set the life out of you

and on your own

they say that only the strong and the lucky survive

and i don't feel very strong in fact

i feel pretty wiped out

but i do feel lucky and for me

it's definitely time to start heading home