All language subtitles for Life.Below.Zero.S03E20.The.Thaw.Lost.In.The.Wild.720p.NF.WEB-DL.x264-KangMus_track3_eng

(AGNES SPEAKING)

(CHIP SPEAKING)

You don't know the channel,

it's best to have a marker
to apply your eyes to,

so you can range yourself.

(CHIP SPEAKING)

NARRATOR: The Hailstones
are returning to camp
from a hunting trip,

but without a marker
to guide them along
the treacherous river,

their path home is uncertain.

(SQUAWKING)

CHIP: This is it right here.

You see how hard that was?

This is just inches off
the surface of the water.

You see how much trouble
that was trying to figure out
where we were?

That's why I was kind of
fudging along here thinking,

I'm gonna take it slow
till I know exactly
where I'm going.

We were having trouble
out in the, um, lagoon,

trying to find the, uh,
mouth to the river.

CHIP:
We came in really well
over the sandbars.

It's these real high tides
that took away the marker
that was here.

Oh, it was wood that
was staked down in here
and it had jerry jugs,

red jerry jugs
hanging on it,

and you could
see it for miles.

It's gonna be important
you know where the mouth
of this channel is.

This point is receded
quite a bit.

The old marker's fallen over.

The absolute best thing
we can do for ourselves
and other people

would probably be
to put a marker here.

AGNES: Me and him
know how to get into
this river and this area

without any landmarks
or anything.

But for the kids to learn
and to be comfortable
with coming here,

it's good for them
to have something
to aim for and say,

"Hey, I know where I'm at."

I wanna put a tower here.

We can use a tower
for multiple uses.

We can use it
for orientating ourselves
to come in,

we can use it
to orientate ourselves
in the wintertime

when it's snowing
or when we're travelling
and it's foggy.

And we'll also be
able to get up in it

and look over and see
if the ocean is rough,

and maybe even see a seal
or two if they're popping up
around here.

Shouldn't take too long
to dig and chop and tie
something together

that'd be very, very useful
to everybody around here.

SUE: Coming up
with new ideas,
improvisation,

that's the nature of living
out here in Alaska.

(PLANE ENGINE WHIRRING)

So that's the, uh, plane
that takes my nephew,
Jesse, home.

-All right.
-All right, Auntie.

(SUE SPEAKING)

-No problem, Auntie.
-You did an amazing,
amazing job.

SUE: He's definitely
been a big boon,
a big asset this year.

I could not have made it
through the season
without him.

Time for me
to get back to work,
get ready for winter.

It's coming.

Nobody here to help me,
and that's just the way
the cookie crumbles.

NARRATOR:
With her nephew,
Jesse, gone,

Sue Aikens
must rely on herself

to survive the long
winter months ahead.

Preserving
her winter meat supply
is a priority.

Time for Susie
to look for some parts.

Making a smoker's
pretty simple.

You got your source of heat,
which creates the smoke,

you send it up
into the smoker.

It's not gonna go there
like a dog.

You gotta channel it
using pipe.

Here you go.

(GRUNTS)

Might be able to use that.

This bone yard
is pieces and parts

that I've taken apart
and changed.

And as I change and update
and upgrade camp,

this kind of stuff is extra.

There's another
little elbow or two.

This goes up into my smoker.

Yay, smoke comes in.

I am happy
with my little parts,

and, uh, time for me
to get 'em together
and carry 'em in.

(CLANKING)

ERIK: This is the life
that I've chosen to live,
and it's just what we do.

Martha and I
have been really busy
the entire summer

running our fishing lodge,
and we're here
right at the end.

Our last client
left yesterday.

We're leaving Iliamna
for Wiseman in a few days.

NARRATOR:
Erik and Martha Salitan

have spent the summer
at their lodge in Iliamna,

taking advantage of
the area's resources

to maintain
their subsistence lifestyle.

With dark winter approaching,

the couple has one last chance
at harvesting salmon

before they return
to Wiseman.

You know,
Martha and I eat
a lot of fish.

It's a real nice break,
to break up
our red meat diet

that we primarily
eat up there

with moose and sheep
and caribou.

And, uh,
we just wanted
to get out here,

put up a few fish of our own,

and be able
to take those fish
home to Wiseman

for the winter.

Because Erik and I rely
a lot on subsistence,

it's, uh, very important
that we take advantage
of what's in season,

so right now salmon
are in season.

ERIK: So these fish here
in the Iliamna drainage
are sockeye salmon

that are locally
known as reds,

one of the best
eating fish on earth.

ERIK: I'm looking forward
to getting home to Wiseman.

MARTHA: Yeah, me too.

I'd like to put away
some salmon, though.

MARTHA: Fish on!
ERIK: Fish on?

MARTHA: It's foul-hooked.

For salmon, you gotta
catch 'em in the mouth,

you're not allowed
to keep 'em
unless you do,

so when
you hook 'em
onto the fin,

or anywhere else
on the body
besides the mouth,

you have to let 'em go
'cause it's called a foul hook
and that's sports fishing.

Well, let's head downriver
below the rapids.

I think the fish are better.

Even that one was
a little reddish,

it's kind of turning.

I think the fish
below the rapids are
far less beat up.

Let me fish a couple more.

Oh, you wanna fish more.
Okay.

Girl loves to fish.

MARTHA: The water coming
down the river right now
is all silty and glaciery,

and it comes into
this little creek right here

and then you can't see
the fish any more,
because it's all murky.

Not to mention
that the rain makes it
hard to see,

'cause it disturbs
the surface of the water.

I told Martha,
like, 10 minutes ago,
like, let's go,

and she agreed,
and she's still
over there fishing.

The girl is obsessed
with fishing.

Push the boat off here
and pick Martha up,

since she refuses
to quit ever,

and see if we can't
get on the fish
a little bit better.

How am I supposed to get in?

-Like that?
-Yeah.

JESSIE: Any time
I get a chance to, like,
get out, go camping,

and go hunting
and fishing,

that's just, like,
everything to me.

That's why I live up here.

(DOGS BARKING)

Well, I'm going up
into what I call
Bigfoot Country.

I'm about to travel
100 to 110 miles

through three to four
different rivers,

just to kind of
get more in touch with
the country out there.

That's the whole
purpose of this trip,

is, uh, to go out here
in this time of year

before moose hunting season

and just kind of check
the country out and
get to know it better.

(ENGINE STARTS)

NARRATOR:
Jessie Holmes is journeying
deep into the wilderness

to scout for resources.

Finding an area
to fish and hunt
for the fall season

is crucial to feeding
himself and his sled dogs
through the winter.

JESSIE: All right.
Daylight's burning.

It's pretty important
to, like, be familiar with
the land around you.

I don't really rely on
compasses or maps,

so this is just all a part
of developing my intimacy
with the land out there.

I feel like I'm going on
a great adventure,

I feel like
I'm Jeremiah Johnson.

But I ain't.
I'm Jessie Holmes,
the River Man.

Well, I think this is
Ding Mac Puck's Slough.

But I'm also thinking
this still might be
on the Tanana River.

I'm just trying to sense
where I go as I go.

I don't necessarily know
exactly where I'm at.

I just know I'm on the river.

We might still be on
the channel of the Tanana
and, like,

Ding Mac Puck might be
up here around the bend.

Only been here one time, so,

I just kind of
gotta pay attention,
you know,

it's really actually difficult
to navigate out here.

It's what I call
a critical point
of the journey,

knowing where
the hell you're going.

Gotta make sure
about these things, man,

you don't wanna spend
a bunch of gas going
in the wrong direction.

I don't have a GPS,
I don't have a map.

Find out one way.

You have to
always constantly be aware of
the water and what it's doing.

It's full of, like,
sandbars, logs.

The river's been
dropping a lot lately.

We're gonna be dealing
with shallow water.

It's okay, fella.

We're not bothering you,

we're just trying
to get by you.

Pretty shallow.
Hope we make it through here,

'cause we already
came a long way.

I don't wanna
turn back around.

(ENGINE STARTS)

Think I'm lost.

Took a wrong turn
quite a ways back there,

and I'm tired
of trying to battle up
this shallow water.

I don't think I'm going
the right way.

I've never even
been this way before,

so looks like
I made a mistake,

and now I'm gonna have
to turn around and go back.

This isn't good.

I'm gonna have to lose
a lot of time and gas
because of this.

This is disorienting country,
you know, it's easy
to get lost out here.

I have to make sure I have
enough gas to make it back.

If I make another
big mistake like that,

then I'm gonna have
to cut my trip short.

It's frustrating
to go the wrong way,

but these are just the kind of
things you deal with out here.

When I come out here,
I'm out here by myself.

I got my life in my own hands,

because I'm way out
in the middle of nowhere.

This is a place that makes
some people worry.

This is a place that
makes me feel comfortable.

That's a nice looking moose,

so I guess I'm out in
the right country now.

I love coming out here
and seeing animals,

you know,
that's a good thing.

That's what I'm looking for,
is animal country.

It's getting late.

Been travelling long today,
been about 10 hours,
11 hours on the river.

So, I'm gonna
check this out

for setting up camp
for the night.

This looks like
a good enough spot
to camp to me.

It's got the most
important essentials,

easy to get up the bank,
it's got firewood.

Tobias!
We're gonna camp here, buddy.

The main thing I wanna do
right now is have a fire

and relax and eat
and enjoy it.

I personally would've
liked something
a little more scenic,

but, you know,
you take what you can get.

You like it here?

You keep an eye out,
all right?

Tobias, he's, uh,
pretty much retired.

I've had him for 10 years
and he's done his duty,
he's won dog races.

There ain't many dogs
in my kennel that can say
that they won a dog race.

He's a critical leader for me
for many years
of getting started in mushing.

'Course I'm gonna give
the oldest, best dog in
my kennel the respect

and retirement
that he deserves.

Spend some time
fishing tomorrow,

and spend some time
exploring around also.

See what I can't rustle up.

It's just the excitement of
a new day out in the woods.

Nothing's
a guarantee
out here.

But I can guarantee you,

if you're not willing
to work for it,

you ain't gonna get nothing.

Here you go, buddy.

Good boy.
Sure glad you came with me.

SUE: The biggest trait
you have to know

is curiosity, ingenuity,
imagination.

(SQUAWKING)

(GRUNTS)

I love projects.

NARRATOR: In order
to preserve and flavour
her winter caribou meat,

Sue is building a smoker
using salvaged materials.

Preserving the meat
is critical to her survival in
the coming winter months.

I get a little table.

I can put these things on it,
utilise it when I'm done,

clean it up, store it,
use it again next year.

Or try to make it,
it fails miserably,

I grab a brewski,
laugh about it,

and think of how I can
do it better next year.

I don't have really
the right tools for the job,

I don't have a hole saw.

I have a drill bit.

(WHIRRING)

I drill the little holes and
then kind of play connect
the dot with my jigsaw.

(WHIRRING CONTINUES)

In a perfect world,
I'd maybe put it through
the bottom,

but I just need
to inundate it,
it's a cold smoker.

I'm not trying to cook it.

I just wanna inundate it
with the smoke.

Doing the cold smoking,
it's a flavour thing,

and to make it unattractive
for pests and bugs.

I'm not trying to cook it.
I'm trying to imbue a flavour.

All righty.

(PANTING)

Now...

This is my little stove.

I use him for when
I'm going camping
in the winter.

But he can have other uses.

This is where
you kind of start playing
jigsaw pieces.

Okay.

Come on.

You know you want to.

Susie loves you.

Come on!

Nice.

Okay.

I'm gonna get
something in there

and get it starting
to smoke.

We'll see if it's gonna work.

This is, uh, some meat
that got donated to me.

It's here, it's fresh,
and I can get it right
in the smoker.

Bam, bam.

Just gonna
set that one inside,
go get another one.

(FIRE CRACKLING)

It is smoking.

I had meat donated to me,

and I did my little idea,
and funky as it is,
it seems to be working.

Life is good in
the Kavik hood.

CHIP:
Every year is different.

Every time
I come down here

there's something
different going on.

This place surprises
me all the time,

and I kind of look
forward to that.

Tinmiaq? Carol?

You two
got yourselves
squared away?

-Ting, you got a rifle?
-Yeah.

Today, we're going to go
put up a post marker

at the mouth
of the river,

so that we can
know where to go in

when we're coming
through the channel.

CHIP: I see a lot
of things that happen
to kids around here,

is they get diverted.

It's easier for them
to sit and play games
than it is to go cut fish.

I want my kids to know
how to go up to a place
to get what they need.

You know, you gotta eat.
You gotta be heated.

You need shelter and clothing.

And they can do it all
by getting these things.

They can make money
to buy the things that
they can't get.

Seal, seal!

Right there on
the fucking grass!

(AGNES SPEAKING)

You want to get closer?

Go get closer.

Go get closer.

(AGNES SPEAKING)

(GUN FIRES)

(BOTH EXCLAIMING)

(LAUGHS)

Right over here was
a small ugruk check.

And, uh,
my daughters jumped out
and decided to hunt it.

Carol took a shot, missed it.

No ugruk check.
(CHUCKLES)

You know, right now,
we're gonna go get some wood.

See, look,
really junky up here.

Why don't you girls
spot us out some poles?

We'll be digging down
a couple feet,

and then we're gonna want them
up about six feet above us.

Add about four feet to that.

So, I would say probably
14, 15-foot-long poles.

They can be a bit larger,
but we have to be able
to carry them.

If you wanna just go
spot a few of those out,

I'm gonna sharpen the saw

and get things running
from this end.

I would go
a bit further,
Ting.

TINMIAQ: Okay.

Go a bit further down there,
probably about 200 yards,
and start looking.

It doesn't have to be that
tall to be a good marker here
because it's so flat.

And whether
you're on the water

at sea level
looking along here,

or you're, um,
on a snow machine,

which is at sea level
on top of the frozen water,

it's good to have
a marker around here.

TINMIAQ: Holy crud.

Holy moly.

Magic poles, Carol.

Right there.

All righty.

CHIP:
When we're down here
it's like shopping, man.

We just get
the resources
we need.

We need heat.
There it is.

We need building material.
There it is.

We just skip
the money part
entirely.

Right here, Carol.

One, two, three!

CHIP: I'm gonna cut
this pole right here.

We have to get our wood
and stuff into the boat before
the tide changes,

before it goes down,
so we can pull it out of here,

'cause this is about
a quarter mile of, uh,
extremely shallow water.

(CHAINSAW WHIRRING)

TINMIAQ: One more, Carol.

CHIP: We gotta
get out of here,

'cause the tide's
just starting to turn.

Got your jackets?

So, I think we're timing
this out just right.

ERIK:
I came to Alaska
as a teenager.

I was in search of
a sense of adventure,
and I guess I found it.

NARRATOR:
Erik and Martha are
travelling upriver

to fish for salmon.

It's their last chance
to harvest fish
for meat and protein

before they return to Wiseman
for dark winter.

MARTHA: It's swift
out there right now.

I've been fishing
at the same spot
since I can remember.

Coming here for 24 years.

I have a lot of good
memories over here.

Fish come by this one rock
every single year,

and it's the greatest
fishing spot for red salmon.

Wow!

There's a lot of fish.

I still feel like a little kid
when I come out here.

Of course you go
to the best spot.

I love my wife,
but she's a game
and a fish hog.

Look how
net-rashed
that one is.

Yeah, the fish are just...

Different days they run up
in different ways.

We're foul-hooking
a bunch of them.

It's one of those
kind of fisheries you...

You can fish
all over the world
and be a great angler,

and then you come up here
to Alaska and try this,

and you gotta get dialled in.

Haven't got dialled in yet,

but once we get dialled,
we'll punch 'em out
pretty quick.

MARTHA: Oh,
that was in the mouth!

ERIK: Was it?

That's the first salmon
of the day that we've caught
legally in the mouth.

This is some really good,
good fresh meat.

Meat like this sells
for $19.99 in supermarkets
across America.

Found free,
here in the wilds of Alaska.

Can't let 'em get
over the waterfall,

if they get over
the waterfall,
you're done.

If you don't use a net
while you're fishing
these salmon

you lose a lot of 'em,

so you gotta have control,

even though
you see all the fish
in the water there.

You just get the net ready
'cause it happens quick.

Hey!

ERIK: Now?
MARTHA: Yep.

Nice job, honey.

Keep it off the rocks.

Nice!

All right.

We got the limit.

So, this is the last fish
of our limit today.

Martha and I had
the goal to put up

a couple hundred pounds
of salmon for the winter.

Got our last 10
in the Rubbermaid.

We're gonna go home,
set 'em up, clean 'em.

-Ship these fish to Wiseman.
-And have fish head soup.

And definitely have
fish head soup tonight.

I'm so hungry.

Let's rock and roll, babe.

JESSIE: There's no way
a guy couldn't get by out here
if he wasn't determined to.

NARRATOR: To scout
for resources to survive
the coming winter,

Jessie has journeyed more
than 100 miles from his home
into unknown wilderness.

JESSIE:
Travelled a long way
to get here.

First thing I'm gonna do
is start fishing right now.

Then I'm gonna
be heading up,

further up the river,
this evening.

Deeper into the wilderness.

Testing spots out
as I go along the way.

For me this is just exploring
and broadening my range,

you know, like, getting
a greater understanding
of the country.

At this point in my life,
I wanna spend a lot of time
out in places like this.

Make it to where
I can live better out here.

I ain't seen a fish jump
since I've been here.

All right.

Come on, buddy.
Man, there that sucker goes.

He's fighting now.

Gotta wear him down
a little bit,

where you can get him in.

Yeah.
Pretty good-sized one.

Oh, yeah.

That is a beautiful fish
right there.

Son of a bitch!

You've got to be kidding me.

That was a huge fish!

Yeah, I lost him.
Line snapped.

Fish over.

I saw another pike in there.

It's a nice-looking
fish right there.

Fish are feeding
at a certain time of day
and coming in and out.

Sometimes
they're up in the lake,

sometimes they're
down in the river.

So, timing's everything here.

We're in freaking
pike country.

Yes!

I saw that guy
jump out there
and I cast it.

Got it!

That's definitely
our biggest catch
so far out here.

Yeah, look at that guy.
Great fishing out here.

One more.

Got him.

There it is.

You know, that's when
you're really getting ahead
in life up here.

When you're
putting fish away
for the winter,

when it's hard to catch fish.

It's taking advantage of
this resource while it's here.

A lot of people don't want to
work that hard for their food,

but I don't want to do it
any other way.

Main goal in life
is to be able to make
a life off the land

and put food
that's wholesome
in your freezer.

It takes a lot of resources
to be able to live like this.

Takes a lot of time
and knowledge.

Some people
like to do it with less,
I'm not that way.

I want to do it right.

Couldn't do this
if I hadn't worked at years
at getting prepared,

got my own boat,
and my own motors,

and my own everything.

I earned every bit of this.

Now it's time
to get camp set up

and get fed
and get to bed.

Rest up for the next day.

(CLICKS TONGUE)

We're out here
in some serious
wild country now.

Travelled deep
into the wilderness over
the last couple days.

I don't want to go around
out here without a gun.

So, I'm looking forward
to getting further
into the wilderness

and setting up camp tonight.

You never know what's
gonna happen out here.

Just got to put yourself
in the right situation.

CHIP:
We get to teach our kids
how to live this way.

We make 'em comfortable
and we make it acceptable.

It's acceptable
to live in a tent.

Well, at least the sky
is getting sunny.

NARRATOR:
For the Hailstones,

building a tower marker
will help them navigate

the dangerous waters
of the Kiwalik River.

CHIP:
I came down here
to take this wood.

Dig some holes.
Chainsaw some wood.

Tie some ropes together
and get her done.

Yeah,
if you want to start
digging these holes,

I was gonna show you
where I want 'em put.

I want 'em put
in these different places.

They gotta be oblong, too.

They can't be
just perfectly round,

you're gonna have
to make them oblong,

'cause we're gonna put
two posts side-by-side.

(CHAINSAW WHIRRING)

We're getting the poles ready.

If you go get the rope, yep.

This is where
the platform part
to the top of it

is gonna be placed,

to hold it together
and give it some integrity.

These didn't cost us much,
time, wood.

Doesn't cost us much
to do these kind of things.

This'll probably stand
for a few years,

or at least
I would hope it would.

We'll, uh, tamp it down
and put some crosspieces
up here.

What this will do is probably
give me a good orientation
when I'm coming in here.

Especially
when the tide is high

and I can't really see
the land very well,

I'll know right where
the mouth is.

You know, we could put
a platform up here

and the kids could sit up top,
and scout the place out,
get them a spotting scope.

Maybe make a fire pit.

Eat a little bit of lunch.

I'm pretty happy
with this today.

SUE: Life is just a series
of events you overcome.

And succeed.

(GASPS) Look at that!

It's meat and it's not cooked,
you know?

It's just smoked.

Just gonna cut a little hunk.

Spent quite a bit
of time there.

And you have the smoke
look and flavour,

but you can see it is
not the hot smoke

where you're physically
cooking the meat.

You're just flavouring
and keeping the bugs off it.

So, let's go see
how yummy it is.

Hmm.
Smells pretty tasty.

(SIGHS)

Doink.

Bon appetit,
as Miss Child would say.

That's pretty tasty.

The season is done.

It's been a tumultuous year.

The injuries
I sustained last winter

were just the injuries
that didn't want to let go and
just let me get on with life.

You know, the injury
cost me some time

and a little bit
of body parts.

But, financially,
it's ruinous.

Three or four weeks
of my busiest time of year

had that much revenue.

Nobody was here
to run the gens to keep
the food frozen.

It all went bad.

I lost all the food,
I lost all the appliances.

You never get to pick and plan
when things break down.

You pick and choose
how you react to that.

And how do I always react?

I jump right back
in the saddle

and kick it
into high gear.

That's just who I am.

One last thing to do,
and then I'm done for the day.

I'm back.

Haven't seen
this little rat bastard
since I got hurt.

(SIGHS)

So...

Say hello
to my little friend,
Susie's back.

This is for my shoulder.

This is just because.

It turned out not to be
such a good fucking tool!

It's a piece of machinery.

It didn't have
any evil intent.

But I tell you what,

sometimes swinging
that frying pan

and making contact
feels good.

I'm not somebody
who gives up easily.

I am not somebody
who finds it a strength
to say I need help.

It's just been
the course of my life that,

"So you can't get it done?
Draw a little deeper.

"Dig a little harder.
Learn a little bit more."

This injury taught me fear,
respect, some new limits.

Whoops!

Been waiting months
to do that.

(CHUCKLES)

Hurt me, will ya?

I'm back, motherfucker.

It's time to back
this bad boy up,

and get him out of
my shop for good.

I don't like seeing
the little rat bastard,

but, you know,
I almost kind of want to make
a shrine out of it

because
this one taught me something
I obviously needed to learn,

a little bit of fear
and respect.

And I'll never forget it
'cause I'm forever changed.

ERIK: Life is good.
Life is busy.

I like to get out and just
get my hands dirty.

NARRATOR: After catching
their limit of salmon,

Erik and Martha begin
to process the fish

so they can be shipped to
their winter home in Wiseman.

Let's get this
done and eat.

Even though we use
the salmon to sell
and bring guests in,

we also love to eat salmon.

There's not
a whole lot of salmon
up in Wiseman.

So every year,
when we leave Iliamna for that
at the end of the summer,

we make sure that we bring
a couple hundred pounds
with us.

You won't find
a filet much fresher than that
in your local supermarket.

Every time Martha and I
go into a grocery store

and we see
a sockeye salmon,
$19.99 a pound,

and we laugh and we look.

And we look at
one fish in there

and think about
how that's $100,

and we say,
"Man, just all you got
to do is go in the boat

"and putt along a few minutes

"and you're gonna come out
with several thousand dollars
in fish."

We got these fish
all cleaned up, filleted,

and now we're gonna go ahead
and vacuum seal these fillets

and get them ready
to ship up to Wiseman.

MARTHA: Oh, boy.

What are we at
for poundage right now?

ERIK: 50-pound mark.

Last two.

All right, where's that?
Can you grab that Sharpie?

MARTHA: Sure.
Let me turn this off.

Even though
we're leaving Iliamna,

we're taking
a little bit of it with us,

which is, uh, the red salmon
that we're vacuum sealing here
and bringing with us.

So, in a couple months when
we're kind of missing Iliamna,

we'll be able to break out
some of that salmon
and, uh, enjoy it again.

ERIK: All right.
We're ready to roll, I think.

Let's go ship this out.
Let's ship it to Wiseman
and, uh,

go back to the lodge,
start breaking things down

and close it up
for the season.

I got the fish,
you got the door?

Yep.

JESSIE: You can't get a feel
for the country you're in

unless you're willing
to get out in it.

NARRATOR: Jessie
is scouting a remote location
for signs of resources.

Locating areas that he can
hunt and fish in the future

is critical to surviving
the harsh winter ahead.

JESSIE: Worn down
moose holes here.

This is where one's
bedded down at,

all the grass is laid down.

There's moose tracks
all over the place.

By the looks
of this track here,

I'd say it's
a really new track.

A day or two at the most.

Looking out for a good
moose hunting spot,

that's one of the main
things I'm looking for,
is right here.

A sign that they're here.

A fresh sign.

This is moose scat.

Pretty happy with what
I'm seeing around here.

That's why it's so important
for me to get out here

and go walk all
of these areas.

I might be trampling
through the brush

and that seems, like, hard,
but to me that's just fun.

I don't want to, like,
come out here
and blindly hunt,

I want to come out here and
feel like this is my camp.

The work is done,
we're in the moose country.

I'm coming back here
and hunting for sure.

Kind of just gives me
a better idea of how rich
this country out here is.

There's some spruce chickens.

(GUN COCKS)

(SOFTLY)
Tobias, stay, stay, stay.

Tobias, don't scare it off.
Come here, Tobias.

(GUN COCKS)

There he is.

I love spruce hen.

Especially this time of year,

they're full of berries
just like everything else.

You got to know
what you can eat and
what you can't eat

and take every advantage
you can get.

I want to go home
and cook this grouse up
and relax around camp.

I've done a lot of
tramping around today.

All right, now I'm home.

That was a heck of
an adventure there.

Found my happy
hunting grounds

and this is definitely
gonna be where

I come back to this fall
for moose hunting.

You never know
what's gonna happen out here.

You might get a bear, too.

Well, right now,
I'm sitting out here in some
new country to me

and feeling very inspired
of where my life's going.

This year it's just all been
about my boat and the river.

'Cause those are
my main providers.

The fish wheel
has been stuck

and looking like it would
never make it either.

Got that unstuck
and came back and
got that thing going.

That's a huge relief
to see that old piece
of equipment survive,

hopefully another year here.

Getting my dog yard set up.

New doghouses, new chains,

so I'm not stuck worrying
about this stuff
come wintertime,

when it's time
to really get busy.

Now I'm out here,
scouting new country,

and, uh, finding
a nice place that I want
to come back to here.

Come fall time,
put up some moose,

berries,
and some peace
in my heart.

This is a life of adventure,

and that's why
it's the life for me.

I'm not a sedentary person,
I'm a nomadic person.

I mean, I got a lot
to learn out here.

The reason
for coming up here
is to invest my time,

going out into
some real country.

That just intrigues me
and makes me feel small.

I love that feeling.

Feel very small out here,
I feel very on my own.

(FIRE CRACKLING)

A lot of negative
things can happen

and a lot of things can be
thrown in your way,

but it's your attitude
and outlook on life

that control where you go.

And that attitude
has brought me
to a place like this.

CHIP: We have
12 and 16-hour days
out here.

We will work
from the time we're awake
to the time we go to bed.

AGNES: Well, here's our lunch.

A few pieces of salmon from
the inisuk for our picnic.

I built a tower marker
down at the mouth
of the river,

and I'm gonna go
show it to my wife,

and she wants to go down
there and go eat lunch.

It's just another
wonderful day
in the Arctic.

Okay, loves.

We'll go take us
a little cruise down
the mouth of the river

and see what we see!

AGNES: I love it.

Awesome.
You guys did an awesome job.

CAROL: I'm gonna go up.

I'm just putting
the finishing touches
on this thing.

Seems like my wife likes it,
which is important to me.

Well, this thing's
for everybody.

It's for you,
it's for Buckland people,
it's for Deering people.

Everybody'll see it,
if they're off the trail,

they'll know which way
to get back to the trail.

No problem-o.

AGNES: Wow.
CHIP: There you go.

We should just throw
all that wood in a pile
right here and start a fire.

You could get
some tea built, huh?

Yeah, sounds like a good idea.
Man, I'm hungry.

CHIP: Did pretty good
on berries this year, huh?

AGNES: Yeah. Yeah.

CHIP: Down by the ocean,
we're down here all summer,
the resources are rich.

It's just been a really
wonderful summer.

I love the peace here,
it's always quiet

and there's just me
and my family here.

If the rest of world
would be here,

I don't think it would
ever be the same.

CHIP:
We're gonna be
going into winter,

right now darkness is coming,
and it'll be dark winter.

And then it'll be
light winter again,

and we'll make our way
back down here in February.

I see this has been
a pretty good year.

Good spring, good summer.

We got a lot of fish up,
we got a lot of smoked salmon.

The women are picking berries,
and while they're doing that,

I've been gathering wood
and building things

and then, uh,
getting firewood,

because that's
constantly being used.

We're heading into fall.

Yep, something
to look forward to.

Well, I look forward
to going to Noorvik, huh?

Don't you?