All language subtitles for Life.Below.Zero.S03E14.The.Thaw.The.Bottom.Line.720p.NF.WEB-DL.x264-KangMus_track3_eng

SUE AIKENS: I have people,
clients coming in tomorrow,

and I don't even know
if I can give 'em electricity.

NARRATOR:
Kavik River Camp serves
as a remote fuelling station

on the north coast of Alaska.

For Sue Aikens, making sure
that camp is up
and running for her clients

is vital to her business,
and her way of life.

SUE: Get up on the perch,

any time you can
gain elevation...

You're gonna have
a much better picture
on things that are around you.

And I'm scanning 20 miles out,

Anything that looks weird.

(AIKENS SPEAKING)

It is possible
that we have a bear out here
about a mile-and-a-half.

And the way
the wind is blowing, whatever,

theoretically,
that can't smell anything
in camp right now.

The smell
would be going this way.

So that is a bonus.

I need to get the generator on
for power,

if I get attacked,
if I get hurt,

I need to make sure
I have communications.

Electricity, air-to-ground,
it's gonna save my bacon
when I need help.

Can't even begin to fathom
getting hurt again.

♪ I need to get
my generator running ♪

This is my little gen.

This right here is gonna
give me the power in camp,
to get stuff done.

It hasn't run in four months.

It may not want to.

Get this
in the neutral position.

That's tight, that's tight.

All righty.

(GENERATOR STARTS)

(ENGINE SPUTTERING)

♪ Little baby didn't want
to keep running ♪

Give it a minute.

(GENERATOR STARTS)

(GENERATOR CONTINUES RUNNING)

Okay.

Now I've got to go check camp,
make sure that, you know,
things are running.

I have a huge clean-up job
to do.

I don't know exactly
how I'm gonna get that done.

Go me, get my ass to work.

CHIP HAILSTONE:
Kiwalik here is home to me.
It's a good place to be.

Coming with me?

Get in the boat, dog.

I'm gonna go downriver,
I'm gonna go get firewood,

and I'm gonna
take my chainsaw.

I'm gonna hunt and kill trees.

And I'm gonna
come back here
with some tree flesh.

Come on.

Good girl.

NARRATOR: The Hailstones
spend their summer in Kiwalik,

gathering resources
for the months ahead.

Harvesting firewood
is essential

to providing camp
with heat, drinking water,
and food preservation.

CHIP: Logs here come from
about 20, 25 miles upriver.

And by the time
they get down here,
takes 'em a few years.

This what I call
a mighty fine log.

This is a good, dry piece
of knotty, twisted wood

that has really
no carving value,
no splitting value.

If you split it,
it wouldn't split
and make two halves,

it would make a big twist
like a rifle barrel.

So it's gonna be firewood.

My chainsaw fired up.

(CHAINSAW WHIRRING)

We need firewood,
all the time.

Keep ourselves warm,
dry ourselves out.

'Cause we got caribou
to dry up,

pretty soon
there's gonna be seals,
and skins and oil to put away,

and whatever else
we gather on.

I have to have firewood.
It's just part of the process.

The only time the girls
ever take any notice of
my firewood-getting abilities

is when there is no wood.

Then they remember...
(HIGH PITCHED) "Dad!"

Come on, dog, join me.

That's some nice-looking logs
you have there.

Can't have too much firewood.

My next step
is putting up a meat rack.

Around here
they call it Inisuk.

We need a place where we can
hang meat up off the ground,
away from the dogs.

-We're gonna have to
tie the dogs up soon.
-(GRUNTS)

And keep the wind
and the breeze on 'em,
and the flies off.

Let's just get it done.

JESSIE HOLMES: I strive
to live a simple lifestyle,

on the river
doing the things I love.

(DOGS HOWLING)

What you doing, Polar?
(CLICKS TONGUE)

NARRATOR:
Along the Nenana River,

Jessie Holmes lives a life
dedicated to his sled dogs.

Feeding them and himself
is a full-time job.

But before he can gather fish,
he'll need a place
to store them.

So I'm getting my chainsaw,
nice and sharp and ready,
so I can go downriver.

I'm gonna build a smokehouse.

So, starting there,
I'm gonna have to go find
some nice post,

and get the bark
peeled off of 'em,
and some poles.

Start getting all my material.

I'm so pressed for time,

because this is
just a small part
of what I have to get done.

Thing is, I need to do this
in a timely manner,

so I can move on
to my next project,

then my next project,
and then my next project.

This is better
than any day job.

Or city job.

When I'm out there
and I'm doing this,

it is like I'm working,
but I'm working for myself.

I'm working towards my goals,
not somebody else's goals.

So I'm gonna head downriver,
and look for a really good
spot to cut post and poles at.

Not every place
has the right kind of trees,

so I got a couple places
in mind to go look.

Where, they typically have
really good poles.

It's about
seven miles downriver,

pretty close to where
I'm building fish camp.

It's a nice,
practical location.

My time is limited right now,
'cause I'm trying to get ready
for this fish run coming.

The fish are already
in the river,
and I'm missing out.

As soon as I get this done,

then I can get on to repairing
my net and my fish wheel
so I can get some fish.

Got all my tools I need.

Got my life jacket,
I got my hammer,
and my chainsaw,

and my tools
for de-barking logs,
and my tools for the boat, so.

Go downriver,
check some spots out,

find some good posts
for the smokehouse
and get started here.

Well, every time I go out
on the Tanana River,
or the Nenana River,

I'm very apprehensive
to safety,

'cause anything could
happen out there.

Got to watch out
for sweepers in the river.

That's this thing
that's sticking out,

but there could be big logs
sticking out of the bank

that you can't see
under the water.

This river's so dangerous,
like, so many people
with a ton of experience

have ended up
dead in this river,

so I try to always
think about that
when I'm out here.

This boat is great
and everything,

but it's getting older,
and it'd be easy to
puncture something through it,

if you hit a log really hard.

Lots of stuff in the water
right now.

It's high water,
it's windy out.

These are the kind of days
you gotta be careful
on the Tanana River.

Old camp right here.

Well, you know
what I think about

when I see
a little old structure
like that,

I think there was
some smart old guy
that used to camp down here

'cause there was
everything you needed.

That's a nice-looking spot
here, maybe.

All right, Tobias.
Hold up, Tobias, come on.
(WHISTLES)

Tobias, up. Good boy.

The beavers have really been
at work here, you know,

and you can tell that this is
some nice old seasoned wood.

This is exactly
what I'm looking for,
for smoking my fish.

Looks like some good wood
in here.

Nice spot to spend the day,
de-barking and
getting these ready.

GLENN VILLENEUVE:
What a place this is.

This is my favourite place
in the whole world.

Getting packed up
for a little overnight trip.

Several years ago,
down in Fairbanks,

I met a man who used to
trap up in this country.

And at that time,
he was living
in a little cabin

that's several miles
from here.

When he left the last time,
he told me that he didn't know

he wasn't gonna ever
come back.

And he left
a lot of things there.

I'm going down there today,
take a look around.

See what I can find.

If there's anything there
I can salvage,
I'll bring it back with me.

It's been 30 years
since anybody was down there
that I know of,

so, there's a good chance
that stuff got strewn around
on the ground

that would have been
buried in snow,
in the wintertime.

Now the snow's melted,
I can go down there,
take a look around.

Who knows what I might find?

Long way to go.

The trick is gonna be
finding the cabin.

It's a long ways from here
and when I get down there,

I'm gonna have to look around,

figure out exactly
where the place is.

I don't have
a map of the area,
I don't have a compass.

I just go by the sun
and the landmarks,

I'm familiar with
the mountains, the rivers.

And just looking at the sky.

That's how I find my way
around out here.

There are no trails out here
other than the ones
the animals make.

Sometimes you can follow
a game trail
for a little while,

and then it peters out.

This here is where
a bear's been
digging up roots to eat.

Looks like he's just been
through here this spring.

They like to eat roots.

Certain plants.

They store their nutrients
in the roots in the fall,

and they're still nutritious
in the springtime.

So when the bears
come out of hibernation,

that's one of the first things
they do

is they start digging up roots
and eating 'em.

That's why this time of year,
even when I'm not planning
on hunting any big game,

I carry my rifle with me
just in case.

You never know
when you might run
into a grizzly out here.

The sun looks like it's about
as high as it's gonna get.

It's midday now.

One of the biggest obstacles
to overcome,

getting my stuff out here,
is the transportation.

If there's stuff
that's already out here
on the ground,

that I can make use of,

well, I won't have to
fly those things out myself.

Gonna start looking for signs
that somebody's
been in the area.

Where people cut firewood,
that shows up for a long time.

So if I see any stumps,

I'm likely close to the cabin.

Up ahead here,
looks like there's a lake.

The trapper,
whose cabin I'm looking for,

he had a cache on a lake,

maybe a half-mile
or a mile from his cabin.

This could be the lake,
I don't know.

Look at this.

Stumps.

Somebody cut this tree
with an axe.

Looks like it could be
about 30 years old.

More stumps.

Here, look at this,
that's the cache right there.

(SNIFFS) That's the cache
he told me about.

Oh, yeah, this is the place.

This is definitely a cache,

roughly 30 years old or so.

It used to stand up
on top of poles,

there's just one left
standing here.

These metal cans,
they're to stop animals
from climbing up the pole.

There's an axe stuck
in the tree over here.

And a whole bunch of traps
hanging up from this pole.

It's gonna take
some restoration,

but that's a little
Hudson Bay axe.

It's really lightweight,
I don't have one like that.

Probably weighs about a pound
and three-quarters, the head.

Really useful
for just carrying
when you're travelling light.

I'll take that.

Bunch of traps here.

But I'm not so much interested
in these leg-hold traps

and they're a lot of weight
to carry back,

but it's good to know
where they are.

I might come back
in the wintertime

when I could drag 'em
on a sled.

It's really interesting,
the stuff you find like this

has been sitting around
here for decades.

This is a piece of aluminium
that was used
in printing a newspaper

at the time that this place
was built here.

July 24th, 1982.

I was 13 years old.

Time's taken its toll
on this cache.

Most of this stuff here
is really beyond use now.

I got this one axe out of it.

This will be useful to me.

Most importantly,
now that I know
where the cache is,

I ought to be able
to find the cabin.

Because the cabin's within
a mile of here.

I bet you
the cabin's just up ahead.

CHIP: When you're familiar
with a place,

and you know
where the resources are,
it's an easier life.

We want all of these poles
to go over there, girls.

Pretty sure you know
how to build one of these.

It's the same thing
I've been doing for years,
and years, and years.

NARRATOR: After the Hailstones
recently harvested
a caribou in camp,

building a rack is essential
to preserving the meat

and the rest
of their summer food supply.

CHIP: Well, I'm gonna
make a meat rack.
An Inisuk.

And my wife wants
a meat rack built,
and she'll use it for fish.

She'll use it for seal.
She'll use it for caribou.

While Chip works on
the meat rack,

I'm going to be
with some of the girls

just butchering and skinning,
and butchering this caribou,

and reducing this one,
and then taking the other one,
and doing the same thing.

CHIP: I'm gonna make
a couple of tripods.

And I'm gonna put a top piece,
and I'm gonna put side pieces.

And then we'll go from there.

We've had a lot of rains
already today,

and what we don't need
is wet meat.

When you get water
on the meat,

it makes a real
slick taste to it,
a real...

It's just not good.

I'll stand it up.

Now you got to get 'em
to go like this, dear.

Mmm, maybe a little more.

So far I got
a couple tripods up
with my daughter Mary, here.

We got up a top piece.

Nice smoothed-off piece
that we use for the tarp.

(SPEAKING)

(AGNES SPEAKING)

CHIP: I just got to keep
hustling along,

and this should be done
fairly quickly.

Want to go grab a tarp,
want to go grab
a little bit more rope

for tying things on.

(AGNES SPEAKING)

AGNES:
When we're in this area,
and my girls are around me,

I always try to teach 'em
and tell 'em why we do this,

why we're gonna do this,
how we're gonna do this.

I'm not quite sure
what the English word is,

but it's...
(SPEAKS IN OTHER LANGUAGE)

It's our responsibility

to our tribe, our culture
and our peoples.

So I try to live
that lifestyle.

And I try to let
my daughters understand
what my lifestyle is

so they can, say,
you know, have a choice.

"I like my mom's lifestyle,
maybe I'll just, you know,
follow hers."

CHIP: Well, I'm gonna put
the roof over top.

Gonna spread a tarp over this.

I'm gonna make it
nice and tight.

And I'm gonna hopefully get it
to lay over top of this,
right here.

(MARY SPEAKING)

(CHIP SPEAKING)

(MARY SPEAKING)

CHIP: Like that.

This Inisuk is made
from the same poles
I had from last year.

I don't cut any of 'em up,
I know exactly
how many I need,

and I have one to spare.

So... (CHUCKLES)
She's back again.

That's my Inisuk,

and now
we're a full-fledged camp.

We're here,
we're ready to make meat.

And that's how
we're gonna do it.

JESSIE: Everything I'm doing
during the summer

is to like think about
how I'm gonna be able
to mush dogs all winter.

Well I'm looking for something
not too big,

that's not gonna kill me
to carry to the boat.

NARRATOR: To feed himself
and his team of sled dogs,

Jessie must harvest materials
for a smokehouse

to store
and preserve his catch.

But with the chum salmon run
on the way,

time is crucial.

(CHAINSAW WHIRRING)

JESSIE: I really enjoy
working by myself,
to be honest.

I'm a very social person,
but when I'm working,

feel like I do
my best work alone.

That way I can just
enjoy my time.

Gotta keep in mind,
with these heavy logs

that I don't drop it
hard on my boat.

My boat isn't as new.

Be really easy
to puncture a hole in it.

Phew.

(CHAINSAW WHIRRING)

This is the spot
where I'm gonna
build my fish camp.

And it's kind of
an ideal location for me,

because my house is only
about five miles from here.

Work on taking the bark off
of these

so they can sit out here
and bake and kinda dry
and not be so slippery.

I got a log spud, that I use.

Hopefully,
these aren't too dried on.

What you do
is you get a strip started
going off of these,

with the drill knife
or the spud.

Thing about logs,
a lot of times,
each one's different.

Some of 'em will peel good.

I am a little bit late
doing some of this stuff,

so it's not quite
the ideal time of the season.

This one's peeling
pretty good.

Ha, off she comes.

I like this spot
because it's nice and secluded
from too much sand and wind.

I really just like the view,
and I like to have this island
for my dogs to run around on.

It's gonna be something
that's gonna last
for years to come.

All right.
Now I have
all my material here.

I'm gonna
clear out some brush,
to open this up,

so I won't be tripping
and falling over it,

and right here
is where I'm gonna
put my smokehouse,

so I need to clear
this brush outta here.

(CHAINSAW WHIRRING)

I try to not think about
how many fish are going by
in the river right now,

that I'm missing out on,
because I really need
to put 'em up,

and, you know,
I gotta get this done.

Been a lot of work already.

I'm just getting started.

Fuck!

Oh, my chain came off.

Sometimes, you know,
your chain comes off.

It's the kind of things
you have to deal with
out here.

You gotta have all your tools
so you can fix it.

You know, I'm just doing
what I got to do right now,
to get by,

but as things get better,
and I get better
at doing this,

you know, like,
I'd have a nicer chainsaw.

I'd even have a sawmill.

But, right now,
I got the simple tools
that are effective

and, you know, some people
spend a lot of money on tools.

But I got this chainsaw
for 50 bucks.

(SPEAKING)

(CHAINSAW WHIRRING)

When I'm doing
all this hard work,

I just try to think about
all my big goals.

And that doing this work
helps me get to that.

Now on the last post.

Yeah, so,
now I'm onto my next stage,

and now,
I'm just gonna start tying it
all together

with the planking.

The planking for the sides
of my smokehouse,
it'll nail into my post.

Come from a sawmill
my friends own.

Just bartered for it
with them.

I've never really
done this before,

so I'm kind of just doing it
as I go.

Trying to make it
as functionable as possible.

I can taste that fish.

Oh, that's the reward
to all this hard work.

SUE: For the business
of Kavik,

safety, security, fuel,
rooms, and fun.

I got the generator going,

and testing to make sure
I've got power
to places I need it.

The biggest,
most important thing for me,
right now to check,

is going into the dining hall,
or what will be
the dining hall again.

And checking
for my air-to-ground.

The radio.

And I just clip-clip,
knock it a few times,

and the white light comes on
and we're all good.

All right,
so I can see right now
I've got power in here.

This is the heartbeat
of the generator.

It's telling me
how it's running.

This part is running.

There you go.

If I have to call for help,
I mean smoke signals
aren't gonna get me real far.

Erm, there is no
standard telephone
you can pick up.

I can't use my cell phone
and get a signal.

It's air-to-ground radios.

So this is Sue
at Kavik River Camp,

122.9 on the eastern half
of the North Slope.

Just letting you know
that I've got
the generator running,

and I'm open
for business again.

Yee-haw.
Good to be back, guys.

Done.

GLENN: I live simple
and I live close to nature.

I love nature.
I love the wilderness.

That's why I live in Alaska.

NARRATOR: After hearing
of an abandoned trapping cabin
near his camp,

Glenn has hiked
into the rugged terrain
of the Brooks Range

to gather any supplies
that were left behind.

Look at this.

I found the creek.

This is the creek
he was talking about.

Right here,
just how he described it.

Isn't that a beautiful creek?

He said the cabin
was right down
on this bank of the creek,

with the mountains
out in front.

Another tree,
somebody cut this with an axe.

It could have been
this very axe
that I found at the cache.

This tree right here,
could have been used
building the cabin.

There it is.

There it is, I can see it
through the trees.

Look at that.
It's still standing.

A lot of times,
a 40-year-old cabin
might not still be standing.

It might have rotted
and fallen down by now.

There's the old woodpile.

Somebody left
without realising
they weren't coming back.

They cut all that wood
for nothing.

Bow saw.

Oh, beautiful.
Thirty-six-inch bow saw.

That's something I could use.
Just as a spare.

Takes the same length blades
as my bow saw.

Blade's no good,
it's all rusted up.

But I've got blades.

That one's a classic.

It's got some history
behind it.

I wonder how many
cords of firewood
would cut with this saw.

Hey, look there.

Binoculars.

Looks like a bear
bit into 'em.

Wonder if they still work.

Piece of junk.

Bunch of bear hair here.

It looks like a grizzly bear
was rubbing up
against this tree.

And that's how
a lot of this stuff
gets strewn around.

Bears come along
when there's an old place
like this,

and they just
help themselves to it.

Go inside, look around,
throw stuff around.

They're very destructive.

Can see where
a bear's been on this tree.

Bear probably threw most
of this stuff out in the yard.

Gonna look around some more.

Couple of
cast-iron frying pans.

This would need
a little restoration,
that's for sure.

There's a lot of history
behind this place.

This cabin
was originally built
about 40 years ago.

It's been out here
a long time.

Let's look inside.

There's the old door.

Hey!

Roof's all fallen in
on this side.

The beam
that supported the roof,

it rotted and cracked
right here.

It's like an
archaeological dig in here.

Check this out.

I've never had
a radio up here.

FM, AM, weather, air, police.

Chilli powder.
But it's 'empty.

Look at this.
Can you believe it?

Un-waxed, yeah not my type.

A file.

A little rusty,
but that'll still cut steel.

I can use that
to sharpen that axe.

Hey, what's this?

Little hatchet.

Let's see what's in here.

It's heavy.

It's definitely
got something in it.

(GASPS) Look at this.
Ammunition.

375 Winchester.

30-06! That's what I shoot.

$12.60 a box.

I pay over $40 a box now
for ammo for my 30-06.

Full box. Brand new.
Never used.

That's gonna be perfect.

Ammunition's getting hard
to come by these days.

This is a find.

This is definitely
worth taking,
this ammo here.

Found all this ammo.

Some of it's for the same gun
I shoot.

This is great.

Look at all this firewood
he cut

and never got to burn.

Sat here for three decades.

A little bit of it
is gonna get used tonight.

Got myself a new axe.

Resurrected after
three decades of disuse.

A file.

Spare bow-saw handle.

Couple hundred bucks
worth of ammunition.

And had a really good time
coming down and exploring
this old cabin here.

It's just fascinating to me
to look at an old place
like this

and think about the things
that happened here.

Think about how
somebody lived down here,

spent a whole winter out here.

They lived in the same area
where I live
in the Brooks Range,

and they lived
a similar lifestyle.

It was a long day
walking down here
looking around.

I'm gonna eat
a little dried caribou meat
for dinner,

lay down right here,
spend the night,

and head back up to my camp
in the morning.

CHIP: So there's a lot
of resources here.

And I can make a good living
and I always have made
a good living here.

We busted our butt yesterday
getting this meat dried up
and the rack put up.

They've busted their butts
cleaning up camp,
putting everything away.

We got firewood,
and gonna go take the kids out
for a little pleasure cruise.

We're heading downriver.

We see most of the birds
in the flats here
are settled down

so they must be nesting.

There's hardly
any of 'em flying.

Erm, it's a good indication
that it's nesting time,

so, the least we could do
is get a hold of some
really good eggs for now.

And we could get
a few dozen of 'em,

we could put 'em away
and they're very large.

We're pretty happy to have
any eggs we get a hold of.

AGNES: Okay.

CHIP: Go ahead, ladies.

IRITAQ: Oh, nice and warm.

CHIP: Listen, ladies,
I'm gonna let you
walk this island.

I'm gonna go to the far side
of the island with the boat
and watch the boat, okay?

Jump this creek.

Right now we're looking
for some, eggs.

And if we probably
go closest to the point

towards those dried grasses
we might find some.

When we just go around
the whole area we look for
raised-up grasses,

or little dry patches
where there's a few feathers
here and there.

That'll lead you towards,
towards eggs.

Oh, yeah.

-One.
-IDI: Want to put them
in here?

-Oh, yeah.
-Three.

Four, five, six.

It's real flat, so it's easy
for us to separate.

We can actually see
there's no bears or wolves
or anything else here.

It's all right for everybody
to just go on ahead
and run their separate ways

without any firearm,
or real danger around.

We're just gonna keep walking
around the area,

keep looking up, looking out
and just have a good day.

(QUTAN SPEAKING)

Geese eggs. Five geese eggs.

Or six.

Oh! We found one.

Yeah, those are seagull eggs.

TINMIAQ:
It's a wild goose chase.

The goose looking
for the goose nest.

My name means "goose".

I was born the day
when the geese come,
so my name means "goose".

Oh, you got a nest,
look there's a nest
right here too.

I didn't know
there was one right there.

CHIP: Looks like my kids
are doing really well.

And this'll be the first day.

We'll do this
a time or two again
and call it good.

Found goose eggs.

What you find, princess?

Oh, lots of 'em.

-Eleven.
-Two, four, six,
eight, ten, eleven.

-Wow.
-Six seagulls and five geese.

(CHIP SPEAKING)

Man, that's looking good.

Everybody back in the boat
and let's go
to the next island.

(AGNES SPEAKING)

JESSIE: For this hard work,
you get a lot from it.

(HAMMERING)

I like working
on this side
of the smokehouse,

I'm starting to get
a little relief from the sun.

NARRATOR: For Jessie,
building a smokehouse
is key to storing the fish

that will feed himself
and his sled dogs.

But with fish
already in the river,

there is little time to waste.

Shit.

JESSIE: My short-term goals
and my long-term goals

are basically wrapped around
the same thing right now.

Acquire some more top dogs,

keep my breeding
programme going.

Keep my resources
and my fish coming in.

And spend more time at home
with my dogs,

so, living on the river
is the perfect lifestyle
for that.

(HAMMERING)

I've got enough of these on
to get some structure

to where I can
get up higher now
and get my ladder on it.

And then I'm gonna run
my crosspieces across,

which I'll put
my roofing poles on.

(GRUNTS)

(EXCLAIMS)

Damn. (PANTING)

(SPEAKING)

This next piece
is probably my heaviest piece
that I have to get up high.

I don't have the wall
to use the ladder on
like I did before, so...

I'm just gonna have
to muscle this thing up here.

And so this is kind of
a significant point for me,

because best-case scenario is,
it's not a problem at all.

Worst-case is it comes
tumbling down,

and I have to
figure it out again.

Or, you know, hopefully,
I don't fall off the ladder
with this on top of me.

(GRUNTING) So what I'll do,
try to get this here.

(GRUNTS)

(EXHALES SHARPLY)

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

(WOOD CREAKING)

Whoa.

(CLICKS TONGUE)

(SIGHS)

Well, damn it.

Got to fix that.

Try this again here.

(GRUNTING)

(EXHALES)

These are only nailed in,
you know,

to not withstand weight...

Just kind of try to
teeter it up on this
and hope it'll stay.

But...

Isn't the safest thing
in the world to be doing.

Like that. (SIGHS)

It's a lot more difficult
than I would ever imagine,
to live out here on the land.

The rugged lifestyle,
the challenge.

I love all that, you know?

Yeah.

You gotta be tough.
You gotta be mentally tough.

It's more than that, too.

You have to like,
be very intelligent about how
you plan things and organise.

I'm gonna put a tarp up
on the top for a roof.

It'll shed water nice
through this nice slope.

And then I'm gonna be able
to go get my dogs,
and finish setting up camp

and get some rest.

SUE: Figure out
who you want to be,

how you want to be,
and then live it.

And live it honestly.

Anything I'm gonna
keep in here,

I'll just move over
into that corner.

'Cause everything
has to leave.

Time to change from
winter living quarters
back to summer dining hall.

I've got people dropping out
of the sky any minute,

and I'm nowhere near ready
to be in business.

This is how
I keep the dining hall.

Normally, has tables.
It's a dining hall.

You come in, you sit down,
I feed you food.

But right now,
during the winter,

I take all of that out,
I put four beds in here.

If I pull out
all the bells and whistles,

I can house 83
at maximum in Kavik.

Can't imagine wanting to.
But I have done it.

Thirty-three is what I have it
set up for right now.

Phew... (SPEAKING)

You know the accident,
cost me my health.

Somewhat of my sanity.

Could in the end
cost me Kavik.

I've lost over 300,000
in potential revenue.

That's how much money
did not come in,
because I wasn't here.

I'm just getting through it.

What I can't do,
I can't lift any of these.

What I'm actually doing
is just doing it anyways.

There's nobody here
to help me.

And that's just the way
the cookie crumbles.

Have I gotten down on myself
a few times?

Yeah.
This is shaky ground for me.

This is a very
physically demanding place.

Winter is brutally hard here.

If I can't make it
in the summer,

I sure as shit
can't make it in the winter.

I should be able
to come in here
and knock this shit out.

But the body simply
is starting to tell me
that you know,

I can't do everything
on my own.

I hear the plane is coming in,
and he's gonna need fuel.

This is Susan to Kavik,
how's it going?

DIRK: Good, we'll be there,
just a couple minutes.

All righty,
I have not had a chance
to work on the runway,

so er, take a low,
slow flyover.

You've got...
It's a bumpy ride

and taxiway alpha
is a little bit un-groomed.

(DIRK SPEAKING)

SUE: All righty,
see you soon,
fly safe.

I was in the middle
of trying to change
the winter-style dining hall

into the summer-functional
dining hall

when my buddy Dirk landed
and needed fuel,

so, that's my first legitimate
Sue's-on-camp fuel sale.

And he's just gonna get
some hundred low-lead.

It's back to business.
That's what it should be.

Business, business, business.

The business
of keeping people safe.

The business
of giving 'em food.

The business
of being in business.

Hopefully, when you come back
the next time,

I will have running water,
showers, baked goods,
sandwiches.

I had a lot of cancellations.

People heard that I got hurt,

and when
I couldn't answer rapidly,

you know how people are.

If you hear of anybody
that needs a place to be...

I keep it tiny numbers,
I don't overcrowd.

Keeping it
six to ten people a week.

Now do you want
to deal with this today?

(DIRK SPEAKING)

-You want a card or do you...
-(DIRK SPEAKING)

A cheque is fine.

I started out 300
in lost revenue, 300,000.

That's a $500 sale,

so now I'm 299,500
in the hole.

I'm coming up.

Every little bit's
a little bit closer
to being solvent.

We can do the best
that we can do.

And then you just gotta
go kick ass.

CHIP: We're all happy
to be here.

I'm certain of that.

(DOGS BARKING)

AGNES: Careful.
CHIP: I'm tired,
I'm wet, I'm, hungry.

Careful with those eggs.
Boy, we have lots of eggs!

We're gonna just eat
by the grass, yeah?

CHIP: Yeah, we'll go
sort 'em out over there.

So we'll store 'em for now.

MARY: I found
a couple small ones.

CHIP: Two-hundred fifty-five.

AGNES: Two-hundred fifty-six.

CHIP AND AGNES:
Two-hundred fifty-seven.

CHIP: Two-hundred fifty-seven.
AGNES: Two-hundred fifty-seven
eggs.

-Look at these ones.
-Yeah.

-Big as my hand.
-Whoo!

We did real good
for the first day.

What we're gonna do
is we're cleaning 'em off,

we're getting
all the bird crap off of them.

All of the eggs
that sink are perfect egg.

All the ones
that float aren't,

are going to have
little bit of bird in it.

CHIP: We busted butt
getting the caribou chopped up
and putting up a meat rack

and then we busted butt
to get out there
and get them eggs.

Erm, you ladies
want to go over the rack

and grab some of that
dried caribou,
or half-dried caribou?

We need
a little more water, ladies.

(TING SPEAKING)

CHIP: Yeah.
It's never hard work,
if it's hard fun.

AGNES: Right on.
The eggs are almost done.

Yay, let's see.

Wait, wait, wait.

Pass me one, Dad.

QUTAN: Me and Mary
had fun learning too.

CHIP: Every single one
of my kids has taken part
in gathering food here.

And to me,
that's all just really
satisfying family work.

You get to work together,
we get to have a good time,

and the best friends
you usually have
are the ones you work with.

I like my kids,
and I like being around 'em.

This is like
the ultimate picnic, huh?

We're here at home,
we got fresh eggs,

dried caribou,
good old Kiwalik River
behind us.

This is awesome.

JESSIE: Ever since
I come to Nenana,
everything's gotten better.

(DOG BARKS)

Hey, North.

Ready to go to camp, North?
Yeah.

I'm so stoked.
This has been a long day.

I just want to get these dogs
in this boat,

and get 'em down there,
get 'em settled

so I can get some rest
and start fishing tomorrow.

What are you doing,
Rowdy Smalls?

Just getting the last couple
of my pups here.

These dogs
are about eight months old.

Gonna take 'em down
to camp with me.

Way I can work on
training 'em,
letting 'em run around loose,

and just develop a bond
with me.

Pup, pup, pup, pup, pup, pups!

Tobias, Tobias!

Come on, all right,
all right, all right!
(CLICKS TONGUE)

Let's go!

These are some of
my best up-and-coming dogs,

so I really need
to spend a lot of time
working with 'em.

Whoo! Yeah, buddies.
Let's go for a boat ride.

Biggest thing is gonna be
teaching these dogs
how to ride in this boat.

Come here.

That's... You'll have to be
seeing how that'll go.

Come on.

(LAUGHS)

Polar.

Polar.

I wouldn't want to be
out there without dogs.

-(DOGS GROWLING)
-All right.

No fighting.

I like to have a dog with me
wherever I go.

Take these guys out here
is what it's all about.

Bring up the next generation.

And that's how you load
a bunch of crazy young dogs
into a boat.

-We're ready to go
to camp now.
-(DOGS WHINING)

Probably be
camped out down there
for the next few weeks.

My goal is to be there
as long as it takes
to put up the fish that I need

and use this resource
to the best of my advantage.

Come on, Rodney.

Ha-ha.

Amazing thing
about those pups,

they've never done
any of this before, yet,
so they take to it right away.

I raise all my dogs loose,
till they're five months old,
just running around in a pack.

(ALL BARKING)

Dogs need exercise, good food,
and it's amazing
what you'll get out of 'em.

Sometimes life is fun,
sometimes life is work.

When I'm out
in a place like this,
doing things like this,

you know, it's hard to
not think about how lucky I am

to have found
a lifestyle like this.

It's just a real blessing
to end up here.