All language subtitles for Life.Below.Zero.S02E20.The.Thaw.End.Of.Days.720p.NF.WEB-DL

NARRATOR: Across the Arctic,

the dog days of summer
draw to a close,

and Alaska braces
for Mother Nature's icy grip.

On this episode of
Life Below Zero...

One, two, three.

NARRATOR: Sue Aikens' grandson

struggles with a lesson
in bush survival.

Don't splash.

NARRATOR: A sudden danger
could doom the Hailstone's
journey home.

-Watch out.
-(SCREAMS)

NARRATOR: Glenn scours
the tundra

for an essential element
of winter survival.

And in Eagle,

sparks fly as cold weather
preparations get underway.

One spark, this whole place
will go up real fast.

You can see the bugs are
kind of thick and heavy and...

Sometimes they're there,
and sometimes they're not,

but we're gonna
go ahead and try to
put the sneak on it.

My name is Nathan.
I'm Sue's grandson.

She is trying to teach me
how to get a caribou.

Keep your eyes open.

NARRATOR: Nathan is visiting
from the lower 48

with little experience
in the bush.

Sue hopes to teach him
how to better survive
Kavik's harsh conditions.

NATHAN: My grandma's life
is very, very cool.

Hunting, most grandmas
don't do that.

I do worry about her a lot.

Um, it is good for me to
come up here and check on her.

A couple of years ago,
she got attacked by a bear.

NARRATOR: With winter
on the horizon,

Sue has a limited opportunity
to hunt caribou

before the tundra freezes
and the animals become scarce.

SUE: This ground
is extremely uneven, isn't it?

So take your time,
lead with your toe,

let your toes and everything
tell you where
the obstructions are.

Breaking your ankle out here,
nobody's gonna be
helping you, are they?

There's gonna come a day.

I don't know what
my expiration date is,
but it's coming.

And I'd like to know that

if he needs to,
he has a skill called hunting,

and he can get his own food.

What I try to instil
in my grandchildren is

believe in yourself,
be proud of yourself,

be a good person all the time.

Grab life by the balls
and live it.

I'm thinking
if we don't spook them

or see them by the time we hit
that next copse over there,

then we'll turn around
and head back.

Bugs like this, this late
in the year, it's just not
even heard of.

So they are keeping
my food source away.

We haven't
run across some caribou.

So I'm thinking they're,

they're probably fairly
stunned at the bug situation.

They don't eat them, but they
do get bugged by them.

And when you're hunting

for a means of supporting
yourself, foodwise,

it is not a guarantee.

Nature has a way of
just doing what it wants, huh?

Yeah.

It is part of life up here,
and if he's really
interested in it,

you know, like he says he
wouldn't mind running this
place when I keel.

Well, this is part of
the territory,
better get used to it.

Think you could work
in an office like this?

-Yeah.
-You think so?

Bears are gonna
try to eat you.

Cold is gonna try to kill you.

Bugs are gonna
try to carry you off.

Think you can handle that?

GLENN: If you wanna
live in the wilderness,

close to nature,
in an area that hasn't been

changed drastically
by human activities,

this is one of
the very few places left.

By the end of October,

the sun sets
for the last time.

I won't see it again
for over 100 days.

Got about a month
to get certain jobs done
that I want to do outside.

It's important to be
all set up ahead of time.

I have to cut a considerable
amount of wood out here
to get through the year.

During the wintertime,
during the coldest
months of the year,

I'll go through four cubic
feet of wood in one day.

That's about a cord a month.

Food, water,
clothing, shelter.

And to keep that shelter warm,
I've got to have wood.

You can see the forest here,
it's all green trees
that are living.

I don't like to cut
those for wood,
I like to cut dead wood

because it's lighter,
and it burns better.

I've cut all the dead wood
in this area close to my camp.

Over the years, I've had to go
further and further

away from my camp
in order to get firewood.

So today I'll probably go
a few hundred yards from camp.

It's a long ways
to get wood back,

but that's the nearest
that I can get enough
dead wood now.

I don't use a calendar
out here, but I pay
attention to the seasons.

When the leaves
start changing colour,

it's time to
get ready for winter.

Pretty soon that lake's
going to freeze over,

and I need
some firewood out here.

So this looks great.

Lots of dead trees,

close together.

I just like the feeling
of being in shape

and using my body physically.

Out here, I don't have to
worry about going to a gym.

All the jobs I do,

I choose to do them in ways
that I get a lot of exercise.

Even though the job itself
might get a bit mundane,

it's the environment
I'm doing it in

that keeps it interesting.

I didn't come here
because it was paradise

or the Garden of Eden.

I chose this spot to live

because it was the last
place in the world

where I thought
I could live this way.

The winter that's coming,

I'm gonna burn this amount
of wood in just
a couple of weeks' time.

So I have to start building
piles up now around the woods,

make sure I stay
a little bit ahead

and have plenty of wood to get
me through the cold weather.

This is a good start,
but I got
a lot more work to do.

ANDY: You're always gonna
have a few setbacks.

That's just
a part of living out here.

Everybody gets their butt
kicked every now and then.

Hopefully, you don't lose
your life doing it.

Feels like fall to me.

Feels like the middle
of fall to me.

Holy cow.
I can't believe the hills.

Right now, we're getting into
the waning part of the summer.

The fall colours
are already happening

in the high country
across the river from us,

and that's our barometer
telling us

that fall and winter are very
soon to be here.

Today's project is to start
emptying out the trash

we've been accumulating
since the flood around here

for four or five years now.

My hopes are
to get rid of this trash

by bringing it over
to the landfill,

burning what will burn,
pushing the rest into the pit.

The pit is full of water,

so any metal's gonna
rust away pretty quick.

We're getting
into late summer.

We've had a little bit
of rain,

so things
are a little bit damp.

And that's why I'm choosing
this day to do this,

but there's always a potential
for starting a forest fire,

and once started
there's no putting it out.

I think what
I'm gonna to do here

is fire this pump up,

and then
try and spray some water
around here to wet,

wet the area down
a little bit.

The type of stuff I'm burning
is a lot of paper,

and stuff that's gonna
throw out a lot of embers.

It only takes one spark
in this black spruce forest

and this whole place
will go up real fast.

(WHIRRING)

I think it's time to go get
the bulldozer,

and start hauling trash.

CHIP: I wanna be able
to give my kids
a more rounder education.

I want them to have
a countrywise education.

They're gonna
remember this stuff
the rest of their lives.

And it'll be important
lessons, and it's also an
important feeling for them

to know that they're
successful, that they can do

exactly what it takes
to provide for themselves.

AGNES: I'll go find our new
place for our cache.

CHIP: A cache is a place
where you store your things.

We frequent this spot
from February
till about the end of August.

And then the rest of our year
is spent up Noorvik.

This is a higher ridge
right here.

I'm thinking more,
more towards past
the old house pit here.

I'm gonna leave my
equipment behind, fishing net,

maybe a tent,

cook stove, stuff like that,
easily removable.

And put it right here
where there have been
other caches

and people for a couple
thousand years probably.

Just to think a whole family
probably lived there

-at one time, huh?
-Yeah.

-Now it's just
a hole in the ground.
-Yeah. Now it's our turn.

Yeah. (LAUGHS)

We could take all this
stuff home, but it would be
very expensive

and it would take many loads.

Just taking it across
the ocean would be
very costly,

and it would be very,
very, very time consuming.

I don't want to build a cache
too much higher
than you or myself

so I'll make it
just high enough

for myself to go into,
and then build you a ladder,

-and we'll put our
things right here.
-Yeah, I want it

in the willows, too,
so that we could be kind of...

-Private?
-Private, yeah.

-Right on.
-Yeah. Yep.

Yep, this will be
the place then.

I need to have it
weatherproof.
I need to have it animalproof,

and I need to have it
riverproof

because in the spring,
the river floods.

Water will be flowing
right over this.

All right, I'll get to it.

When you're gonna
build something,

you might as well use
the best materials possible.

Since those best materials
are available just
upriver from where I camp,

I decided that
instead of using driftwood,

that I would make a right,
proper, long-lasting cache.

My plan is to
get some longer poles,

the ones that will go
in the ground.

What I need are
fresher trees because they
can bear the weight.

They have the strength
that I'm looking for,

and they'll last a long time.

Yep.

Oh, yeah.

Part of having camps
and living the way we do

is to be able to leave certain
specific equipment behind.

So if I have certain things
that I use only
in a certain area,

I would rather put them
into a cache,

you know, instead of hauling
the equipment
back and forth with us.

We trust in our neighbours,

and we trust in the people
in the Kiwalik

and the neighbouring villages
not to mess with our stuff.

This could be
pretty tough work.

Work up a heck of a sweat,

hopefully,
not injure yourself,

but nobody's
gonna do it for me.

(WHIRRING)

Whoa!

Two things went on there.

My foot found a hole,

and I just skipped
a chain off.

Man, I could have fallen over
backwards on that one.

And I use a chainsaw
quite a bit by myself,

and that's a power tool.

And any power tool,
you have to respect them.

The reason why we use them
is 'cause they're
more powerful than us.

Freaked me out.

Get her in the groove,
in the groove.

The last thing
I want to do is cut myself.

Getting myself back downriver

and then finding a flight that
would take me to Anchorage

to a proper doctor

could be
hours or days in the making.

And, um, a lot of people
don't really survive that.

Okay, here we go.

You know,
you really can't drive a car
for an entire lifetime,

you can't shoot a gun
for an entire lifetime.

There's a time that comes
where things are wore out
and need to be replaced.

(WHIRRS)

I got the four logs
that I came up here to get.

They're pretty long,
pretty straight,

and I'm going to make eight
pieces of wood out of them.

So I'm pretty happy
with what I got.

(STRAINS)
This is about the most
I can manage myself.

(GRUNTS)

If I cut them up right now,

the fact is you can make
a long piece of wood
short as much as you want.

You can't make no short
piece of wood long.

So my best bet is to
keep them intact like this...

Put them in the boat,
balance carefully,

and go back home now.

Oh, green trees are so heavy.

These are still
full of moisture.

They have a lot of integrity,
they're fresh,

and they'll last many,
many years.

GLENN: I really enjoy
living out here

because the whole environment,

it just suits the way
my brain works.

I find it intellectually
stimulating to be out here,

physically stimulating.

And it's just a very
sensual experience, too.

NARRATOR:
With winter approaching,

Glenn Villeneuve
works around the clock

gathering wood
to help him survive.

The firewood process is
that I take a standing tree,

fell it in the woods,
and cut it into
a six-foot-long piece

that will
fit in my sled to get it home.

Once I get it home,

I stack the six-foot-long
sled length
pieces here in the yard.

Then I use this sawbuck

with the larger
diameter pieces

to saw them with a bowsaw

into lengths
that will fit in my stove.

If it's large diameter,

I also have to split it
after I saw it.

Winter can be

pretty challenging
if you're not ready for it.

And you get caught behind.

If you don't have firewood,
for example, and all of a
sudden winter sets in.

It can be quite a challenge
just to keep up.

It can be hand-to-mouth.

I've done that before

when I don't have
any wood in reserve.

There, just made it.

Uh, this is
an interesting thing.

Gosh, I can't count them

with just my fingernail
for a reference,

but this tree is very old.

There's the middle
right there.

One, two, three.

So that's about
10 years right there.

Ten, 20, 30, 60, 70, 80.

That tree is well over
100 years old.

Larger pieces
have to then be split,

then I can
fit them in my stove.

It doesn't want to go.

It's gonna take
several whacks at least.

A wedge is a powerful tool.

You can do a lot with a wedge.

For the most difficult pieces,

I have to use this system.

Yeah.

I'm gonna do it.

Inside, I've got
a little wood crib.

This is four cubic feet.

On a really
cold day in the winter,

this full wood crib
will get burned up

in one 24-hour period.

And wood
is what I use for cooking.

It's what I use
for heating hot water.

It's nice to have a little bit
of reserve wood pile

built up.

When I start
moose hunting in the fall,

I wanna just focus
on hunting every day.

I don't want to be
worried about

cutting firewood
for a couple of weeks, so...

I've got some firewood now
to see me through that period.

I feel prepared
and I feel excited.

Just a few more weeks.

It'll be time
to start hunting.

ANDY: There's always
a challenge out here.

There's always adaptation.

Nothing is the same
every year.

You're constantly rethinking
how you're gonna do something,

adapting to it, and hopefully
winning, not losing.

We'll see if I can
take this over there

and use my big bucket on this
to get rid of this trash

by bringing it over
to the landfill.

Well, we've got some
electrical lines

that I need
to go underneath of.

If I was to catch that
with the bulldozer

on the way underneath,

it would rip out the power
lines from our house.

Right now we're running
a 6,000-watt generator

to run the dehydrators
and the freezers.

So it's pretty dangerous
handling overhead power lines.

I better go get Kate,

make sure she can keep
an eye on this wire for me.

The last thing I wanna do
is snag that with my boom

on the tractor 'cause that's
gonna electrify my tractor,

and I think I'm gonna get
a new hairdo pretty quick.

So we've got to
come up with a method here

to get those wires
up and out of the way

until I can get past them.

So I need you to

-keep an eye
on this wire here...
-Yeah.

When I go under it with
the boom, make sure I don't
snag that wire, okay?

Just holler really loud.

KATE: I'll stand
right here by it.

Yeah, you need two hands on it

'cause you may have to
push it up. I don't know.

Okay. Watch for my fists,
that means stop.

Whoa!

(ANDY SPEAKS)

(ANDY SPEAKS)

KATE: What Andy's doing now

is a task
that needed to be done.

A lot of this is stuff
that was left from 2009.

We've got a lot of debris
and things that are ruined,

and uh,

there's just no way
of getting it out of here.

So what we're
gonna do is burn it.

It's been a really,
really wet summer,

and it's a good time
to try, and uh...

But you know,

a forest fire would mean
the end of Calico.

ANDY: I am concerned
about forest fires.

That would be
absolutely devastating to us.

If we burn
this country around here,

we got no protection
from the elements.

All right, let's get
a fire going here.

GLENN: Basically, I got
a philosophy in life.

If I don't need something,

I go without it.

What I wanna do today is
I wanna build a ladder
and put it right here

just to help me
get up to my chimney.

I clean my chimney
as often as once a week.

The reason I have to
go up there

and clean the chimney so much

is creosote, a build-up
inside the stove pipe.

It's a highly
flammable material.

If that catches on fire,
the stove pipe can get so hot,

that it can catch
the whole place on fire.

But it would be nice
to just have a ladder
here all the time.

Then I could just come out
and easily go up
whenever I wanted to,

make the job a lot simpler.

This is some leftover wood
from another project.

Hopefully, I can get enough
here to get started
with the ladder project,

if not finish it.

So I'm just going to
set it upside down.

I don't want it too narrow,
but I don't want it too wide.

So, time to make some rungs.

In this environment,
the reality is
you have to think ahead.

You have to plan

because the resources
just aren't here year round.

You have such extreme
differences in seasons.

You do have to
take into account

what's around the corner.

So when something's available,

I have to take
advantage of it.

You might wanna
live in the moment,

but you do have to plan
for the future,

there's no doubt about that.

Let's see how this goes.

Ah. It's a beauty.

Look at that. I'm gonna
go up and check my chimney.

A little creosote in there.

There.

That looks nice and clean.

SUE: You have to be

dead nuts about who you are,
what you want out of life,

and how the hell
you're gonna get it.

You better have both hands
on the pistol and ready
to aim and shoot.

Got an assload
of caribou right there.

We gotta get going
to go get them.

So I'm gonna
head down the road.

NARRATOR: After a failed
caribou hunt,

Sue and Nathan head out
for another attempt,

before the herd migrates.

SUE: I've noticed a little
bit of a change this year.

Uh, the caribou just changed
their migration route

and I'm gonna make the most

of the opportunity
while I can.

Let's go start hiking.

All right.

I wanna get closer,

but they're gonna make us.

Coming on the road,
they kind of made us.

We're gonna have water
to go through.

Try to stay low.

(SPLASHES)

Nathan, don't splash.

Don't fall.

They've seen us.
They've made us.

Give me the sticks.

Shit.

Next time I want you
to hand me to them,

I want you to open them.

He recognises that hunting
is gonna get the meat
that I need.

He recognises that
I can love animals,

turn it off, and shoot one.

Can he do the same thing?

(GUNSHOT FIRES)

Bugs.

Safety's on.

Well, let's go see
what we've done.

He's a young man that seems to
be making really good choices.

He's looking at life with
a career frame of mind.

But in the end,

he's a grandson just
wanting to be with his grandma

and get a little time in.

You got kind of wet.

Boneheaded that one section
of stream, didn't you?

What do you step on?

You step on the weeds, huh?

I think you kind of missed it,
and decided to go for a swim.

Need a shower that bad, huh?

You're travelling
with a firearm.

Safety's on.

SUE: Yeah, I'm not
swimming that.

I don't get to see
my family very often.

That's something I've chosen.

That's one of
the repercussions

of having a lifestyle
that pleases me.

But when I do, it's cherished
and valued time.

What do you think?

Meat in the freezer?

(NATHAN SPEAKS)

(PANTS)

Phew.

Well, come here.

So, this is a bull.

In the caribou family,
females and males get racks.

Males are generally bigger,
not always.

First thing we do,

you always say thanks.

This guy gave up his life
so we could have food,
didn't he?

So what do you do? Get over
here and tell him thanks.

Yeah, you respect
the life you take, man.

Being here,

I think
it's a healthy experience.

He's developing
a sense of self

and responsibility
for his own actions.

Thank you for
helping me, buddy.

SUE: We've gotta
get back to the four-wheeler,

get the knife bag,
get the trailer,

and bring him in.

CHIP: A lot of people
just don't get
the idea of being out here.

They just don't realise
that we get to
shape ourselves here,

and we get to
flow with nature.

NARRATOR: With winter looming,

Chip must build
a cache to store his supplies

before their venture
back home to Noorvik.

This should work.

Cut through the sod first
with the shovel.

We know this area very well,

and we come back all the time,
so I really need to
have the cache here,

so that I'm not hauling
this stuff back and forth.

It'll be here in place.

It's a good waterproof
place to put my equipment.

Okay.

And it's kind of
a landmark too, because

in the middle of winter
when this is all white,

that cache will stick out.

I guess the next one
will be about here.

I've selected an area
where it's nice and high

where it's fairly
brush-free at the moment.

And then I'm gonna
dig down the holes,

and when I have
the measurement of how
deep my hole is,

then I can measure
my cache off of that.

I'm pretty happy with that.
Now I've hit permafrost.

Permafrost is permanently
frozen ground

that northern Alaska
is full of.

The permafrost here
is probably about

two, maybe three feet down,
the deeper the better.

We'll call that good.
I got four holes.

I need to put in
my eight posts,

my four good
strong rigid ones,

my two shorter ones,

put my crossbeams,
make my floor,

make my walls, make my roof,
make a ladder,

and be done with it.

I want to
make it about high enough
to walk under.

And it keeps it above
the water, and it keeps it
above most animals...

Takes me and my wife
to carry the posts.

Pack them really good
so they don't go anywhere,

and then just start
building on the platform.

There, see what we can get.

Is it all the way in?

-It's about to.
-Whoa.

This one is kind of heavier.

Those logs are kind of
heavy but light enough for
Chip and I to carry them.

But if something were to fall
on us, I'm sure it would

put a pretty good scratch.

CHIP: Part of the renewal
process is making storage.

If you don't
store your things properly

through the winter away from
the animals and the weather,

you ain't going to
have it very long.

Ooh, my God,
I can't even lift this
over my shoulder.

This one's heavy.

Add some mud in there,
oh, that one go deep.

Right on.

Okay, I can do
the rest of this myself.

AGNES: Oh, that's gonna be
a good one.

Yep. I'll get to doing this.

Do you have
berry picking to do?

-Yep.
-Get your berry picking.

(SCREAMS) Oh, scary.
Oh, my God!

Fucked up.

CHIP: Never trust a tree.

That was fucking scary.

One of the posts just leaned
so it freaked me out.

But always got to remember
your surroundings
and keep your eyes open.

CHIP: I have my four tall
posts in the ground,

and I'm making my
short posts that fit
right up next to them.

This place
floods out every year.

That's why I wouldn't build
anything permanent here.

Because every year,
this is completely underwater.

If I had to
take it down and move it

or if I needed
firewood for burning,

this would be down
in probably 20 minutes.

That's the way I like it.

Uh, this is recycled rope,

probably costs me less than
a gallon of gas.

When it came to
using the chainsaw,

probably cost me
10 gallons in gas

to go get the trees
from up the river.

So I would say it costs
me 100 bucks probably,
and my time, of course.

It's coming along
like it should be.

These are sheets of plywood

that we collected
up off the coast.

If you go down the coast,
and there's a sheet of plywood

sitting by the side
of the beach,

you tend to
throw it in your boat.

Two summers I accumulated
11 sheets of plywood.

Yeah.

I can handle that.

Well, a fellow can certainly
look around at the Kiwalik

a little better from up here.

This is an excellent perch
in the middle of an
excellent hunting place.

I'm gonna
box this in basically.

Whenever we want in the cache,
we'll just have to untie
the front board,

and drop it down,
take out whatever it is
we're looking for.

We spend so much
time here at this camp,

that this is worth
leaving behind.

This should
work out pretty good.

GLENN: I'm not out here
for the isolation,

but it goes
with the territory.

I'm out here
for nature and wilderness.

Where there's much
wilderness left,

there aren't
a whole lot of people.

Maybe I should put another
piece of wood on the fire.

Fall's short up here.

It's about a month long,
and then it can be winter.

Then all of a sudden,
there's snow
over all the land.

The resources
just aren't here year round.

You might want to live in the
moment, but you have to plan
for the future to a degree.

There's no doubt about that.

I remember the first time
I ever camped at this lake.

That was...

Must have been
13 or 14 years ago.

It was like I just found

a perfect little spot
for me out here.

I just thought
it was like paradise here.

(SIZZLING)

Tasty looking.

Whitefish, mmm.

Really tasty.

Days are getting shorter.

My favourite time of the year
is just around the corner.

In another month from now,
I'll be hunting moose.

I'll be real busy
with plenty of work

to do at that time, so I don't
want to think about firewood.

I don't want to think about
building a ladder.

This is the time
to get all that taken care of,

so I got my ladder built,
chimney clean.

Got some wood cut.

I'm going to be well prepared
to take advantage
of the hunting season,

my favourite time of the year.

Go out and get a moose,

and I won't have to
think about firewood,

and these jobs that
I'm taking care of now.

SUE: I'm already
worried about winter.

I've got to think
all of the time.

How can I get
what I need to survive?

NARRATOR: With the
mosquitoes dying down,

and the caribou
herd migrating,

Sue must seize every chance
to stock up for winter.

SUE: I am an opportunist.
We all are when we
live out in the bush.

The opportunity to get meat,
sure you're gonna do it.

There he is.

I gotta be very careful,
I'm close to camp.

If we stay low,
there's a chance they could
cross this direction.

So let's get
closer to the bush.

Camp is here.

We're here.

The caribou
are between the two.

-Do we have clients in camp?
-Yes.

Do you know? Can you tell
exactly where they're at?

No.

All right, so what is
the one direction
we can't shoot?

We can't compromise the
safety of other people, huh?

-Yeah.
-SUE: It would have been good

had it
been the right direction, huh?

You're guaranteed
an opportunity to hunt,

but you gotta
do it wisely, huh?

We've got a little meat in
the freezer we gotta take
care of, so let's go do it.

You know what,

proud of you for
that decision, man.

Sometimes all's you get out
of the hunting experience

is a good stalk
or a good stretch of the legs.

Anything that way?

-Just right about there.
-Right about there? Okay.

That's the direction
we can shoot in, huh?

So you wanna try
and go over there?
Is that a clear shot?

-Yeah, it is.
-You wanna try
and sneak on them

-and see how far it is?
-Yeah.

All right.

Just keep low.

That's an awful
tough location.

Come on, Nathan.

You're gonna have to
hang onto the brush.

I need sticks.

Gotta get a clear shot
without him being
in the water.

(GUNSHOT FIRES)

I can't see him,
where'd he go?

He dropped to the ground.

SUE: Another one down.

That was the way
to take a caribou down, man.

Well, he's another decent one.

This guy has a big rack.

Get up his belly.

I'm putting my knife

in between
this fascia area and the skin.

What you want to do,
you feel their muscles,

and that's kind of
where you want to cut.

NATHAN: I do enjoy
watching my grandma hunt,

and I do learn from it.

I do feel like I'm learning
many things.

It was pretty amazing.

SUE: My grandson
came up to visit,

I got to spend
quality time with him,

help teach him some skills
that he didn't have.

Meat paw.

This thaw season has seen
the end of my first year
being a business owner.

It's been good,
clients in and out.

Thank you.

SUE: I've learned a lot.
I've learned that I have
a lot more to learn.

And there's been epic fails.

No, no, no, no, no...
(SCREAMS)

Ah!

Mother!

But there's been epic rewards.

-(GUNSHOT FIRES)
-Got it.

Yes! It's working. Yay, me.

(GUNSHOT FIRES)

Thank you very much.

You'll be
some tasty little meat.

But that's life. Whoo!

All's I can say
about this winter

is bring it on, motherfucker.

I'm ready for it.

This next year's
gonna be a blast.

ANDY: Every day's an
experiment out here.

The only thing you can
really rely on is yourself

and your skills,

and your creativity
with those skills.

KATE: I can't even imagine

what would happen
if this place burned down.

-Fingers crossed.
-All right,
let's give it a shot.

Three, two, one, go.

-(SCREAMS)
-Whoo-hoo.

(LAUGHS)

Oh, my...
I think I had a heart attack.

-We got a little fire going.
-Yep.

All in all, kind of
a disappointing summer.

Nothing in this end.

The fishing was disappointing.

That ain't working.

The cabin project didn't get
nearly the amount of time

that I had hoped it would.

Almost every day it rained.

But you never know
on the Yukon River.

Things can go from
really easy to really bad

in about two hours.

Yeah, baby.

There's a definitive timeline,
and that's winter.

When winter hits,
everything stops.

If you didn't get it done,

you wait another year
to get it done.

I don't think I've ever

gone into winter completely
finished with all the projects
or all the things on my list,

but my whole reason
for living out here
is to live with the land.

So to do it well,
you just gotta get your
ass up in the morning.

You gotta get out there
and do what you gotta do.

Whoo!

KATE: Bye-bye, garbage.

CHIP: I like
getting up every day,

getting absolutely filthy,
dirty, bloody, muddy,

and sweaty wet.

Going home, cleaning up,
getting up the next day

and doing it again.

Well, I imagine if we're
gonna pack stuff up,

what I need to do is make
a better ladder
up to the cache.

You guys take this apart,
take everything
out of here, and dry it out.

When it's all good and dry,
we're gonna wrap it up
and pack it up,

and by then
I'll have the cache ready.

We'll put it in the cache,
and pack it away.

And then we can
get out of here.

We'll be Kiwalik to
Kobuk River Express.

We always
hate leaving this place,

but we have more things
to go do closer to home.

We've gathered lots of meat,
lots of food,

and now it's time to go home.

We're starting to get
darkness now,

so basically
our summer is over
and our fall is here.

It's not sad to be
leaving here, but I ain't glad
to be leaving here.

This is just
wonderful country.

AGNES: So we have a whole day

of just
cleaning up camp today.

Getting all our stuff dried
out and emptying this teepee

so we can go on ahead
and collapse it

and put it up in the new cache
Chip built for us.

Yeah, that'll work.

Okay, empty.

It's very educational for the
girls to come down here.

It's always a good investment
and good learning process.

You know, we're always
getting ready,

always getting ready
for the next season.

All of summer is just
nothing but a
preparation for winter ahead,

and the winter's nothing
but a preparation
for the summer ahead.

We're basically gonna leave
this here for the next time.

And there will be a next time,
I'm sure.

All we got to do is move
everything over

-and we're ready to go.
-Yep.

I always feel like
I'm never done here.

There's just so much to do,

there's so much
excitement around.

Have to bring everything
to the cache and secure it.

It took all the family
to work together

and managed to
put it all away today.

We're all stored
and ready to go.

CHIP: I'm gonna put
the front door on
and call it good.

Okay.

CHIP: Everything we own
except for our boating stuff
is in the cache.

Tighten it all down real good.

I call this cache done.

Ready for next season
in the Kiwalik.

And the one after that
and the one after that.

The girls
got to catch caribou.

Ooh, ooh.

They got to go out
and catch geese.

They got to
catch salmon in the nets.

They got to go egging.

They got to learn
how to look for smelts.

Not only did they
learn and observe,

but they got to put
hands on and participate.

And my daughter Qutan
can cut a salmon now
just as good as I can.

Well, if we're gonna do any
travelling tonight, we better
get started with it.

Let's go, Carol.
Pull it in, Qutan.

We got a big ocean to cross,
a big sound to cross,

and then we have
a big lake to cross.

Okay, we're loaded.

Just the adventure
and the health

that came out of it
is worth every penny.

The whole summer's turned out.

AGNES: Yeah, ready, girls,
to go home?

Home sweet home?

Gonna be a long ride.

Yeah.