All language subtitles for Into.the.Canyon.2019.1080p.WEBRip.x265-RARBG2_English

Man: Ooh!

Ooh.

How cool is this?

Pete: Well I, sometimes I can
get ahead of myself, and my
enthusiasm can lead me

Into things that I hadn't
fully thought of or
planned out that well.

(music)

It's hard not to love
the grand canyon.

"grand" is too simple
of a word for the place.

(music)

I'm a photographer and I got
the idea of exploring the
canyon on foot

'cause I saw that the
place is changing.

Lester: It's one of america's
most iconic landmarks,

But now a proposed project
is drawing controversy.

Newscaster: The proposed
development would cover
420 acres of navajo land,

Right down to the canyon floor.

Renae: That needs to be
protected for our children.

Pete: What is the state
of our public lands?

Is it true what was happening
that I'd been hearing from
people that live

Inside the national park?

Man: The helicopters are a mess.

Woman: It's overdeveloped.

Where does all this money go?

We were never supposed
to let it get that bad.

Jason: The developers
have tricked people.

This whole area is littered
with uranium mines.

David: This is the most
protected place in the world,

And yet I spend most of my
time protecting this place.

Pete: I decided to
hike the entire length
of the grand canyon.

You don't know what
you don't know.

How hard could this be?

(music)

Kevin: I don't have a good
explanation for why I actually
listened to pete mcbride

When he showed up at my house
in flagstaff, arizona and laid
out this idea

Which basically consisted
of, "hey, you and I should
walk through the grand canyon.

I want to do this project and
I want to do it with you."

Pete: Kevin, uh, I knew where
he was gonna stand on things.

But I proposed this idea to
him maybe walking the park.

I told him I could convince
national geographic to give
us a platform to tell a story.

Kevin: He assured me
that I didn't need to
do anything to prepare.

That I could basically get off
the couch, and, and, and head
into the canyon

And it would be cool.

Pete: I somehow made kevin
believe that we could do this.

Kevin: He knew that I was
fascinated by and obsessed with
this landscape and he knew that

That idea would be almost
impossible for me to resist.

Pete: Did I sell
kevin a bag of goods?

Uh,

Ye-, on some level, yes.

Kevin: What do you have in here?
Did you sneak like a garbage bag
full of burritos in here?

Did you stop at taco bell?

Pete: Should I not
bring chocolate cake?

Pilot: Alright, let's roll.

(music)

Pete: So here's the thing.

Even though kevin and
I have worked in and around
the grand canyon for years,

We're not what I would call
hiking fanatics, but we
deeply love this landscape.

As crazy as this idea was,
we wanted to do it in part
because so few have done it.

More people have stood on the
moon than have hiked nonstop
through the grand canyon.

But more importantly there's
this growing notion that the
canyon is for sale.

(music)

Hiking is one way to see
what's at risk to be lost in
grand canyon

If we don't pay attention.

(music)

The pack feels really heavy.

We're gonna get in shape on this
I think right, is that the plan?

Kevin: I don't know, I'm
starting to think maybe this
wasn't such a good idea

Of it ah and we're, we're
at the point of n-no return.

Pete: I guess we're
going, that way.

For a long ways.

Rich: Yeah, I've spent
700 nights below the rim.

But uh, this will by, by
far be the longest trip.

My first introduction to grand
canyon was you know twenty-five
years ago on a river trip

And I came away just
amazed in awe and I've spent
half of my life in that place.

Pete: Rich is probably the most
seasoned grand canyon hiker
that exists on the planet.

Rich: I got a call saying, you
know, "pete mcbride is looking
to go walking the canyon.

Could he tag along with us for
the first twelve days through
a difficult section of the

Canyon?"

Alright, step over the line.

Kind of get their sea legs
under them, if you will.

And they will hopefully
acquire enough knowledge
to continue on their own.

Carry on, lads.

(music)

(music)

(laughs)

(heavy breathing)
pete: Hour 1.

How far are we going?

Kevin: I don't think we've
gone 5 miles yet.

Rich: People thru-hike the
pacific crest trail or the
appalachian trail, 2,000,

Almost 3,000 miles .

And so when you talk
to people about hiking
through grand canyon,

And I-it doesn't really
click as being significant.

But hiking through the canyon is
probably one of the hardest
things that you can do on earth.

There's not a trail at all.

You're climbing up and down
thousands and thousands of
vertical feet .

Pete: I'm good, I'm good.

Rich: And friends have got
to store food ahead of you.
Pete: Nuts.

Rich: Or you'll starve.

Grand canyon is so enormous, and
the idea that you could just hit
the sos button and the park

Service will swoop in in
half an hour and scrape
you up is a fallacy.

Pete: The leg cramps, the
hand cramps, the arm cramps.

Kevin: I was told that
the yesterday would
be the hardest day.

Man: Agh!

Kevin: Wow, that arm is trashed.

I don't see any difference
whatsoever between yesterday,
the day before yesterday,

The first day and today.

Rich: Water is
tremendously important.

Nothing will kill
you faster in grand canyon
then running out of water.

It is a remarkably
dangerous place.

(sound of falling rocks)

You know, helping
these guys isn't easy.

(laughs)

They weren't prepared for
the terrain.

The 100-plus degree
temperatures

They had too much gear they
were carrying, and they quickly
fell apart on many levels.

Their feet turned to hamburger,
kevin sprained both ankles, pete
nearly went unconscious

From a condition called
hyponatremia, it's basically
the opposite of dehydration.

It had become pretty clear
to us that, that pete and
kevin were not gonna make it,

And they we're going
to have to exit.

Kevin: We returned to flagstaff
with our tails between our legs.

Pete: It was embarrassing,
and it was really humbling
for me, uh, on many levels.

Felt bad I talked kevin
into this, I mean, total
(bleep) show.

Kevin: The other thing that
happened after that first leg is
that the woman I lived with, um,

Moved out, 48 hours
after we got home.

So um, so there
was that too, yeah.

Pete: I've known
kevin for a while.

Working as journalists I often
tried to convince him to do
what I thought were the untold

Stories, the important stories.

Kevin: Magazine assignments in
different parts of the world.

I went through a series of these
with pete before I internalized
the lesson that it was just

A bad idea to be working with
pete in the first place.

Pete: Djibouti. Took a lot of
images of people selling an
illegal drug there.

The complicated narcotic trade.

Kevin: Uh we were deported when
they discovered we had tried to
enter the country with tourist

Visas claiming that
we were scuba divers.

Pete: Had to smuggle the images
out, that was challenging.

Following the largest migration
of caribou in north america.

Kevin: You would think
that two journalists would be
capable of locating this herd,

We spent about three
weeks out there and we
found one dead caribou.

Pete: That was an oops.

Everest, the sherpa nobody
knows about, who built the
route on the south side.

Kevin: We were almost killed
by a massive avalanche
inside the icefall.

It was a debacle.

Pete: Not ideal.

Kevin: Everything that we've
done has basically turned
into the equivalent of like,

You know, a very large boat
that ran into an iceberg.

Pete: Well, I mean,
may-, yeah, well, maybe.

Are the feet still trashed?

Kevin: Ah, they're
getting better.

Pete: If we were gonna have any
hope of finishing this project,

We had to rethink our entire
plan.

Kevin: There are two ways to
hike through the grand canyon.

You can do so as a continuous
push which is called
a thru-hike without stopping,

Or you can break that
journey up into sections.

Pete: Moving at a steady
pace would take about
two-and-a-half months,

But we decided to break up
the hike over the course of a
year to see the canyon

In its different seasons.

Alright, all said and done, I'm
going from this tripod to that.

Kevin: Thank goodness.

Pete: We had to totally
redo our program.

Cut down our weight, rethink our
nutrition, and we realized we
needed some canyon gurus

To help us find our way.

So we spoke to rich and he
called a bunch of his buddies
to make sure we didn't kill

Ourselves in the process.

Part of me wants to actually
throw this shirt out 'cause it
reminds me of that whole first

Experience.

Kevin: Can you still
smell yourself?

Pete: I washed it twice.

It still kind of stinks.

Alright so this is round two.

Matt and kelly are kindly
helping us find the route
on this next section.

We've learned the hard way that
carrying really heavy packs
in a really hot place is dumb.

Kelly: You're 5 pounds heavier
than you were last night.

It's 37 pounds .

Matt: That's 1 camera addition.
What are we at?

Kelly: 37.
Matt: 37.

Pete: 37? You don't have my
water in there either.

Kelly: You have
no water in there?

Pete: We, I'm missing a bottle.

Matt: This is the weight
of one camera right here.

It's not backbreaking, um, but
it could be day after day.

It's the difference between
having a really fun,

Free-flowing moving
trip and suffering.

Pete: And tell me
about blisters, kev.

Kevin: I'm, uh, ub, I'm, um,
suffering from uh, eh, selective
memory loss as a result

Of the pain that was induced by
the blisters last time, so.

I've got my feet
basically encased in
duct tape at this point.

(music)

(music)

Pete: You doing alright?
Kevin: Yup.

(music)

(music)

Pete: The grand canyon
is over 6,000 feet deep.

It's so deep you could stack 5
empire state buildings, one on
top of the other, inside it.

There are river miles , and
there are hiking miles.

The colorado river is the main
highway through the canyon, and
it's two hundred and seventy

Seven miles long.

If you're hiking, you have to go
up and down and around all these
drainages and tributaries.

It ends up being more like
seven hundred and fifty miles.

(music)

It's like hiking the entire
length of california.

Matt: What do you got there?

Kelly: I have the sole
to an old, I mean, work
boot is what I can see.

And the nails, you could see
all the nails coming through.

Held up fairly well I'd say.

Matt: It makes one
understand how close the
dam was to being built.

This was almost an
industrial complex here,

That this river corridor in the
dam was nearly industrialized.

Kevin: We demonstrated
the wisdom to create a
national park system.

We love to think of
it as our best idea.

Teddy roosevelt stood
on the south rim of the
grand canyon in 1903,

He was speaking
to a series of developers,
timber barons, and miners,

And he said this is a landscape
that needs to be left as it is
so that it can be passed along

To future generations
of americans.

The prospect of monetizing
beauty is almost irresistible.

I mean, the land is incredibly
powerful, but the one power that
it doesn't have is to articulate

What it is and what it wants.

Wilderness cannot be
its own spokesperson.

Matt: All clear, kelly.

(music)

Kelly: That is so cool. "hi."

(music)

(music)

(laughs)

(music)

Ohhhh!

(music)

Pete: Got it.

Our boy jp's been taking care
of us, helping with the food.

So he, he camouflaged
it with mystique.

"dear person of curiosity,
the content's insides
mean life or death.

We're relying on this
to survive, please leave
it be so we can live.

Continue with great thanks."

Let's go see what we got.

(walking sound)

Kelly: Yeah!

Harlan: We're just kind of
nearing the confluence of
the little colorado river,

Which is kind of become a site
that's been of recent conflict.

Some developers that are
looking to install a tramway
coming up off from the rim,

With this kind of paralleling
the river coming down the side
of the red wall cliff here and

Eventually meeting the river um
right down near the confluence,
right at the point of

The confluence of the
colorado river and the
little colorado river.

And then there'd be an entire
establishment down there

Of restaurants and shops and
walkways along the river.

It would completely change
the face of this area.

Pete: So we're hiking up above
the confluence, which is sacred

To three native american tribes
here.

One of them is the navajo.

We're going to hike
up and meet with them.

And this is their land now,
we've left the national park.

And this route we're hiking up
is basically shadowing where
this tram would be built.

I'm trying to understand
how it's dividing and
affecting the navajo nation.

(music)

(music)

Ready.

Kevin: Uh, we just
hiked out of the canyon.

We're headed for window
rock, the capital
of the navajo nation.

There's a legislative session
where the escalade project is
going to be debated.

Pete: How does it
feel to be driving?

Kevin: It feels pretty
cushy to be sitting behind
the wheel of a truck.

Padded seat instead of walking.

(music)

Legislation has been introduced
to the navajo nation.

It is making its way through
a series of committees.

This is a project which is
being sold as a solution

To the extraordinary economic
challenges of the navajo nation,

And the developers who are
behind this project are doing

Everything they can
to ensure its passage.

Man: (native language),

If we start establishing these
particular projects across

The navajo nation, how are
we gonna be in five years,
in ten years?

Why can't we invest back
into our own cultural
tradition way of life?

(native language)

Lamar: We're providing a
solution to a
need.

You're gonna employ an
awful lot of people in
an impoverished area,

And help them save
their culture.

What's, what's better than that?

We're into this
now 6 years and 4 million
dollars in time and money,

I think everybody's
entitled to have a, a
grand canyon experience,

Whether it's on a mule or hiking
or on a helicopter, and so we're
trying to offer the average

Person that below-the-rim
experience.

(music)

(music)

There's a little bit of
elitism that says, "hey, well,
you know, the average person

Shouldn't be able to enjoy
the bottom of the canyon."

I mean, if I were to hike down
to the bottom of the canyon I'd
had to be airvac'd out

Because of my knees and ankles.

So, uh, oh so I'm not worthy
of, of that type of experience?

There's lots of
great places out there, um,
where do you draw the line?

(music)

David: You know you're never
gonna be on the top of everest,

You know you're never gonna be
out in the middle of the ocean

In a kayak, you're never gonna
be floating down grand canyon

Because maybe you're
not able to do that.

We can't provide every
experience for every person

Based on their own individual
abilities and,

And it's just one of those
balancing uh things that are,

It's difficult but at the same
time I take a lot of pride
in in how well we do do that.

: How do I say
"smile" in navajo?

Woman: (speaks navajo)

Pete: (responds in navajo)

Woman: Y-you go like this.
(speaks navajo)

(laughs)

Woman: You say it the
wrong way, you can say it.

Pete: I'm sure I do.

And then how do I say,
"thank you" again?

Woman: (speaks navajo)

Pete: Ah that's so hard.

Women: (speaks navajo)

Pete: The navajo need some
economic stimulus

And this project's being sold
to many of them as a solution.

But many of them that live
right above the confluence feel
like they're being ignored.

The navajo, they need to make
a decision for their own land.

Renae: "we got to save it."

Our own nava-nation council have
the power to protect it, they
have the power to preserve it.

And that's what they need
to act on, for their elders,
for the generations to come.

Woman: (speaks navajo)

(speaking mavajo)

Translator: Um, she said
that, "it's our identity,

We're a culture, the stories
about us that are sold there.

That's what's gonna make money,
we're not gonna make money."

Pete: I think that's
the division that's in
the navajo right now.

When I think the tram is being
driven by development elsewhere.

(music)

It's not a singular issue;
it's related to everything
happening around the park.

Kevin: The people who are
opposed to the tramway on
the navajo reservation,

Primarily a group of women
who belong to an organization
called save the confluence,

Are fighting it with
everything they've got.

And they are so outnumbered,
and they are so out -gunned.

Rita: (speaks navajo).

Come by and sign our
petition, we need your help.

We are trying to stop a
developer from building a
tramway to the bottom of the

Grand canyon, ok?

They project that it's gonna
be up to 10,000 people a day.

Going up and down that tramway.
Woman: Really?

Rita: This is development
geared towards tourists.

Which is fine, you
know, that's fine.

But not down there.

We're presenting these
petition signatures to
the navajo nation council,

And they're gonna
be voting on it.

Did you guys get some stickers?

Put that on your hat.

(laughs)

Renae: The confluence.

This is where the colorado
river meets the colorado river.

Where they meet, this
is where life begins.

This is what our
grandmothers tell us.

Our ancestors.

(music)

It is a sacred space,
it is a sacred area.

You leave it the
way you found it.

We don't want to see it develop,
and we don't want to see the
disneyland on the edge

Of the canyon.

If the tram comes
through, it would dig into
the beautiful landscape,

And that's why I fight so hard.

(music)

(music)

Pete: So it's, what day is it?

Tuesday?

It's Tuesday, and we'll try
to do

About 14 miles today.

Ahhhh.

(music)

Kevin: I had a pretty
significant connection

To the grand canyon
before this project.

My dad had this dream
of moving to the west.

I must have been in
4th or 5th grade.

One day he sat down and asked
the family what we thought of
the idea of pulling up stakes in

Pittsburgh and just
moving to colorado.

And my dad's dream pretty
much died that night
at the dinner table.

But I retained memory of
this, and is at the heart of
what I do as a journalist.

(music)

I'd started apprenticing
as a river guide, working
on the river at the bottom

Of the canyon, getting to
know that environment.

Pete: The poop boat?
Kevin: The poo boat.

Pete: The poo boat, you're
right, he rode the poo boat.

Kevin: All of this was part of
the research for a book that I
would later go on

To write called.

It was about this river guide by
the name of kenton grua who set
a speed record in a boat through

The heart of the grand canyon in
1983, and he was also the first
person in recorded history to

Walk the length of the grand
canyon, and the opportunity
to walk in his footsteps was

Impossible for me to resist.

I knew the bottom of the canyon
pretty well, but my entire
perspective consisted of sitting

In a boat looking up.

(music)

I thought that the river was the
key that unlocks the door that
enables you to understand this

Landscape, and I realized
that's totally untrue.

And the place where
human beings have no control
whatsoever is not the river.

It's the cliffs, and the ledges,
and all of that bare naked rock.

It's a place that has no
trail leading from one end
to the other where very,

Very few people go.

And where the few people who do
venture there quickly discover
that they have no control.

(music)

Pete: Stay.

Ahh.

Getting out of the,
the only water hole we
can find is a bit hard.

Give me a holler.

Kevin: Woo!

Ahh!

Is there any water!?

Pete: Nooo!

Kevin: Great!

Water's a huge challenge. I
mean, you'd think it wouldn't
be that big of a deal

Because there's a river at the
bottom of the canyon but,

You know, it's very rare
that you're actually at the
river level.

Much more often you find
yourselves kind of marooned,
several thousand feet [meters]

Above the river, several
thousand feet below the rim.

You know, when you're in the
middle of the desert, you must
continuously be aware of how

Far you are moving away from
the last water source and
can you get back to it.

Pete: Feeling a bit salty,
and heading out here to,
to hopefully find water.

It's such an ongoing
recurring theme that is what
keeps us rolling out here,

The only thing at times.

Some running water sources,
wind and erosion that create
these little perfect pools

Of hopefully, they're full.

Everything around here, all
these little tiny holes are dry.

It looks like a
swimming pool from here.

Kevin: Oh!

Pete: So that is what we fear.

Bone dry.

Kevvie, pumpkin poo.

Kevvie!

Still can't find water.

It's just beating down on us.

Sun.

Beating down.

(exhales)

Kevin: I feel like I'm
in a swedish sauna.

Pete: You look like
you're getting a little
bit of heatstroke there.

(labored breathing)

There it is.

We're afraid that would be dry.

Hey, we have water.

Kevin: No water?

Pete: No, there's
water I could see it.

Kevin: Thank god.

Pete: Yeah, I know right?

It's right there.

I was starting to
think we were done-ski.

(music)

(music)

I've actually spent a
long time chasing water.

(music)

I grew up on a small
cattle ranch in colorado,

Which is at the headwaters
of the colorado river.

Learned to swim in it,
learned to fish in it.

(music)

Did all sorts of
ridiculous things in it.

(music)

What do you think pablo?

John: Um, too early to think.

We just feel.

(music)

Rider and ailerons are good.
We all set?

Pete: All set.

John: We go.

Pete: My father's a pilot.

He flies a single engine
plane; you know one of
these bush planes.

John: Look how green
it is over here.

Pete: I'm gonna go
wing mount pablo.

John: Huh?

Pete: Look hard,
look, look over.

John: Oh my god.

You can't hold that steady.
No way.

Pete: No problem.
John: No way.

Pete: My dad's always giving
me the "you oughta" lecture.

"you oughta do this."

And he was telling me,
"you oughta look at
your backyard river,

You oughta look at
your backyard, you're
always going away."

So I started thinking
and I was like, "you
know maybe you're right."

The colorado river is this
lifeline that supports 40
million people, 7 states,

2 countries.

And I wanted to know where
does our irrigation water go?

How long does it take
to reach the sea?

And the grand canyon was one
spectacular beautiful 2 hundred
and 77 mile stretch

In the middle of it.

But downstream, the
river changes quickly.

You really see what happens when
you ask too much of a resource.

It completely vanishes.

The river no longer
reaches the sea.

(music)

That was a little bouncy.

(music)

(music)

Rich: This is very unusual to
find something this large.

Most of the archaeology you find
in this more recent period are
much smaller points for rabbits

And deer.

Absolutely remarkable piece.

I finished my
continuous thru-hike.

But I can't stay away.

You're giving me cheese?

Oh god, it's like
a hundred calories.

Kelly and I were able to
go back and join them with
our friend amy martin.

Amy: Woo! We were able
to find some other pieces,

And slowly put them together.

Looks like a big storage vessel.

Rich: I was enthusiastic about
going back, and, you know,

See what they'd learned along
the way.

They gotten their shit together,
and, you know, it was like,

"holy cow maybe they can tell a
story."

Pete: I'm gonna get some
water from this pothole.

Maybe not.

In the winter in grand canyon,
you could have snow, rain,
sleet, and in the next section,

There's some places where you
really need to know the route.

And it's so remote, uh, carrying
enough food can be very tricky.

So I just wanted to go back
and provide some first-
hand knowledge

Of how to get through
there safely.

Ve got uh,
likelihood of snow tonight,

Snow tomorrow, down to uh
maybe even 3,000 feet .

We're at about 46 hundred
feet here so we're gonna
get hammered pretty good.

This storm's gonna
get pretty ugly.

Pete: (inaudible) stormy!
Hoohoo

(heavy winds)

(background voices)

Kevin: So my big question
is when do I start to panic?

Right now.

No idea how the hell we're
gonna get out of here.

Rich: Holy...!

Pete: Hard to imagine
now that's potentially
3,000 feet down.

(music)

I love the snow but it's making
it a little challenging.

(music)

(music)

Rich: The storm was a lot
worse than I expected we
could get in the winter.

(music)

You have to concentrate on every
single step that you put down,
and if you hit ice and you slip,

You, you're gone, you're dead.

(music)

Kevin: I was really afraid
that I was gonna slip and die
and I was even more afraid

I think that somebody else was
gonna slip and die.

(music)

(music)

Pete: The great thumb mesa,
you walk around there's
no way to come off it.

Everybody's cold, and
everybody's hungry.

(music)

How you doin?

Kevin: Psh.

Rich: This is uh, owl eyes bay,
and was named for those two
incredible hollowed out ice

Sockets up there that
look like a big owl.

And uh, in 2012, a friend
of ours, ioana, was walking
through here and uh, slipped,

And she fell 400 feet .

So uh, this, uh, place is
you know special to us for,
for uh, remembering her.

This monument right here,
it's uh, neat to see that uh,

This is uh, surviving the test
of time.

Kevin: The sun has just
come up, literally,

And it is just lighting
everything up.

Everything is going off.

Pete: Woohoo! That's what I'm
talking about.

Kelly: Yeah!

Mmm, actually feels really good.

Rich: I love the sun
in the morning, oh man
would've been so cold.

This is the tour I signed
up for, right here!

(laughs)

Kelly: Woohoo!

Aha.

Oh there's a little waterfall.

Kevin: How's the view?

Rich: (inaudible), unbelievable!

Pete: Olo canyon, it's like
a doorway into the subway
system of the grand canyon.

(music)

We have just come around what
was the hardest, psychologically
most challenging part

Of the trip into this eden that
you don't even know exists if
you go down the canyon by boat.

(music)

Rich: Olo canyon's
incredibly beautiful.

There these grand cathedrals
that are hidden in the fabric of
grand canyon

That people don't ever get to
see.

(music)

And then when the light changes
the reflections on the pot holes
just make you think

That you're seeing some kind of
divine intervention.

(music)

(music)

Kelly: We have our olo pass!

We're gonna eat again!

Woo!

We are fat and happy tonight!

Rich: Stretched 8
days into 10 days.

(cheering)

Kelly: These are my
favorite crackers!

Rich: Open up, cheez-its!

Oh my god, cheez-its.

(screaming and laughing)

Pete: Oh this is like christmas!

-What are these?
Amy: Dark chocolate
pomegranates.

Rich: Oh, yes, cheddar potatoes.

Kelly: Peanut butter pretzels.

Rich: Let's see the pete
mcbride happy dance.

(laughs)

Pete: My ankle hurts, my
ankle hurts but I don't care.

Have you ever run
this thin on food?

Rich: Uh, no.

(laughing)

750 days in the grand canyon,
and I usually exit with more
than, you know, 5 peanut m&ms.

Kevin: The days are incredibly
hard, but there is this

Moment in time that occurs
almost every night.

It's when we finally
stopped and set up camp.

(music)

We can hear the river far below,
although this place was carved
and polished and created

By the river that is flowing
along its bottom, there's a
second river.

It's the river that emerges
after sunset, in the form
of a ribbon of stars.

(music)

(music)

No matter how hard things get,
there will be this moment that
awaits you each and every night.

(music)

(music)

(native music)

(native music)

Carletta: Our job
as havasupai is to keep our
culture and keep our songs,

Cause that's all we have
left as indigenous people.

(native music)

My reservation is about 20 miles
from here, and the uranium mines
are just waiting to contaminate

Our groundwater source,
and when this contamination
does reach our home,

There'll be no more havasupai.

No more of my people.

Curtis: The uh, native tribes
they are well within their right
to protest or oppose us

In any way they see fit.

Just like we're well
within our right to, to
mine this uh, deposit.

But I don't think that they
would be satisfied unless we
just announce one day

That we're abandon,
abandoning this operation, and
we're just not going to do that.

We need electricity for our
cities, but look that stuff

Doesn't come from magical
sources.

It comes from mining, it comes
from oil and gas, it comes from
drilling and that sort of thing.

The mining that we do out here
is heavily regulated, we're the
safest, we're the healthiest,

We do it the right way, we
protect the environment.

I just really don't think
that there's any chance that
we're going to have any,

Any impact to the grand canyon
through our operations here.

Kevin: There's been interest
in mining in and around

The grand canyon pretty much
from the very beginning.

This is one of the best
places to find uranium
ore, in the world.

Rich: During the 50s, 60s, and
70s especially, companies would
come in, they'd sink shafts,

Mine ore, and when they
figured out that the economic
potential wasn't there,

Or the commodity prices of
uranium for example had gone
down, they'd just leave.

Pete: Horn creek comes off the
south rim, and you walk by it
and it's this very humble,

Perfectly clear creek,
and it's the most obvious
spot to get water.

But it sits below a
defunct uranium mine.

You shouldn't drink horn creek,
you're advised not to because
the water's too contaminated.

Kevin: To be moving through the
heart of the crown jewel of
america's national park system

And you arrive at a spring that
you can't drink from because
it's got uranium in it,

It's radioactive,
that is bizarre.

And that is also a reminder of
how incredibly inter-connected
this entire landscape is.

Rich: Water slopes
into drainages that
feed into the canyon,

Which feed into
the colorado river, which
flows right into lake mead.

Which you know provides
drinking water to 40
million americans, right?

(music)

Kevin: Everything that happens
on the rim of grand canyon
profoundly affects

What happens inside of grand
canyon.

That will have a profound
effect on that matrix of life.

(music)

Those consequences are enormous.

Pete: It's a nice view.

Suddenly we're in
western grand canyon.

It's remarkably silent.

A silence, and nothing
but the sound of your
feet for hours at a time.

It's a real luxury
at many levels.

Pretty amazing.

You're making me nervous.

Kevin: Yeah well, it's pretty
remarkable, I mean, over
looking out at the,

Pete: Can you step
back from the edge?

It's only 3,000 feet
to the river.

This is maybe about the
biggest drop we've seen.

What's your favorite layer?

Kevin: What's my favorite? Um.

I think I like the bright
angel shale best for the name,
the red wall for the color,

The coconino for the
cross-bedded texturization, the
kaibab because it's on top.

-(snoring)
-(laughing)

I'm going to slowly work my
way over to you, alright?

He would put himself last in
pretty much every situation.

He's like the rudder.

And yeah the rudder may be
at the back of the boat, but
the rudder keeps you going.

Kevin: I think the best way to
think of me is kind of as the
tin can tied to the back bumper

Of the pete mcbride
express train.

I mean you could go up
high here, but unless
you want to go under,

You could crawl under that.

(rocks falling)

Pete: You through?
Kevin: Yeah.

Probably the thing about pete
that I find most challenging to
deal with is his tendency

To just undersell difficulty.

Pete: Back in here, all
the way around here, all
the way up here, out that.

Kevin: He'll say like, "oh yeah
and we'll just cruise around
this and then we'll head around

To this other point
it's no problem and then
maybe we'll get up there,

" and I'll look at the
map and be like, "are
you (bleep) kidding me?"

We're moving through a really
hostile environment with really
severe consequences

If you make mistakes and you
are completely and utterly
dependent upon and must trust

The person you are with.

Pete: Ah, not that one!

No no no no no no no no no!

Kevin: It's much
bigger on my side.

Does it look good?

-Is it gonna look good?
Pete: You can keep coming.

Kevin: Oh jeez, didn't see that.

Pete: He's worried about me
because he knows I'm always
going to bring my cameras but

I'm desperately worried about
him because I feel like, you
know he could walk into a stop

Sign by accident.

He has the potential to
be a disaster at times.

Kevin: Ok I gotta.

Pete: Dude, dude, you
just dropped.

Kevin: That's so out of my
comfort zone that I need a
passport to get back

To my freakin' comfort zone.

Pete: Would you
come down please?

But friendship really
carries us through.

And it may be an odd
couple friendship but it's
uh, yeah, it's a good one.

Alright now what's your
opinion of the hiking?

Kevin: If I was like spiritually
aware, right now I'd be doing
yoga, or meditation, or um,

I don't know maybe I'd
be writing something,
you know, profound?

If I was this spiritually aware
kind of dude that the girlfriend
who dumped me after the first

Phase of this hike really
wanted, that's what
I'd be doing right now.

That's what the boyfriend that
she wants to be with and.

Pete: What does this have to
do with anything right now?

Kevin: I don't know!

You can delete this,
put in the tape.

Pete: Kev and I, we can smell
the barn on some level.

It's late March, and we know
spring is starting to happen,
and we're getting very close,

But we're moving slower than
we anticipate, and we're
not moving efficiently.

Man: Nice.

(panting)

Kevin: I fell into a barrel
cactus, and now I got all
these weird lumps on my arm.

Ok, let's put the camera away.

Ah, I will say though that my
thumb feels somewhat numb.

Pete: Alright well just
hold it up like that.

Kevin: Hold it like this? Ok.

Pete: Alright let
me clean it up.

We're getting out to that edge
of, of safety, and I just had
this gut feeling that something

Would go horribly
wrong if I pushed.

So our 57th day on the
trail, or whatever.

Kevin turned his arm into
a bleeding stuck mess.

Kevin: Kind of healing
well, don't you think?
Pete: Yeah I think uh.

Kevin: Don't say no, because out
here in the middle of nowhere,

And not healing would
be not good.

Pete: Grand canyon
is winning right now.

Kevin: I'm trying to
get a drink of water.

Pete: What's up
with your bottles?

Kevin: They're pretty empty.

Pete: This the best we can do?
Kevin: Yeah, for now.

(music)

It's out.

(music)

Bleh!

Pete: We're climbing a
completely inconsequential pass

That I don't even
think has a name.

So kevin and I are gonna name
it, "the demoralizer,"

Unless you got another name
for it you like.

Kevin: No that sounds quite
appropriate right now.

Pete: What do you say?

Kevin: Dude, I don't know
what to say. Woo woo!
Grand canyon!

Sublime

Obi-wan-kenobi-style-jujitsu-wil
derness-hoo-hah and I'm like

(bleep) that, that
this just blows.

Oh man.

(laughing)

Pete: All right. Look where
we've come from.

Kevin: Yeah look
where we've come from!

Nowhere!

(music)

(music)

Pete: Are you ok?
Kevin: Yeah.

Pete: I thought you fell.
Kevin: No.

Pete: You scared
the hell out of me.
Kevin: It's the rocks.

Pete: A jumping cactus
just jumped all over me.

Ahhh.

Jeez.

Ah god.

Kevin: As you go across the
land, the noise changes
according to the terrain.

Soft crunch as we move across
the dirt of all kinds.

Red, and brown, and black,
and pink, orange and tan.

When we move through it,
across the hours and days,
the dirt bleeds into us,

It works its way into the
cracks of our fingernails, the
lines at the edges of our eyes.

And deeper than that, it works
its way into our veins, and
perhaps even into the chambers

Of our hearts.

All of it, dirt, dust, the
stuff that makes up the canyon
itself, it becomes part of us,

And we become part of it.

(lighting)

Man: This place is bananas!

(making sounds)

Pete: I can't believe
you guys found us.

Rich: Isn't it so good to see
a big smile on kev's face?

(laughs)

Kevin: Please tell me
you brought chocolate.

Rich: You got me!

Kelly: Yeah, it's
tight through there.

(music)

Nice kev.

(music)

Pete: You started with us, and
watched us detonate, and now
you're back out here with us.

What the hell are you thinking?

Rich: I'm pretty proud to
have a chance to finish
with you guys, actually.

Pete: I don't think
kev and I would be here
if it weren't for you.

How you feeling?

Kevin: I'm feeling a little beat
up but better than last night.

Rich: First flight.

Rich: Here they come.

Pete: Here it starts.

(helicopter aproching)

(helicopter aproching)

I wanted to experience walking
through heli alley because this
is the issue which

On many levels is driving a lot
of the other issues, it's the
economic engine that's creating

Development pockets
around the park.

It became the most crowded,
populated helicopter landing
area in the world in a decade.

There's a lot of money
being made, and that's
where it's complicated.

Wooo.

All of these different native
american tribes, they're seeing
visitors unloading

Their wallets, why are they
not making money? I get it.

And I'm no one to be telling
someone not to fly, coming
from a family of pilots.

It's just, how do
we find a balance?

Walking with the remarkable
ongoing sound of helicopters.

Well over 200, walked
right past a bunch of them.

And uh, ah.

In 8 hours, I counted 363
helicopters, and that was
just an average Tuesday.

This happens 7 days a
week, all year long.

Kevin: It's been just a constant
presence throughout the day.

It's added a feeling of
intensity and intrusion
to the landscape, and uh,

Robbed it of the signature
quality, one of the two
signature qualities

Rock being one but silence
being the other.

(music)

(music)

(music)

Pete: Hello bush.

(music)

(music)

Wow.

(music)

Alright, the end of the trail.

Not a single, not a single
complaint hiking with you.

Kevin: I thought there were a
few moments out on the esplanade

Where you were ready to get rid
of me.

Pete: There's probably been
a few I thought you wanted to
get rid of me but

I don't even remember them now.

Kevin: No it's been amazing.

Pete: Start running.
Kevin: No we're gonna
do this together.

Pete: You got a lead on me.
Kevin: Ok ready? Let's go.

Pete: No we're
doing this together.

Step over the imaginary line.

Alright.

Kevin: Ready to do this?

Pete: Yeah you?
Kevin: Yep.

Pete: End of the park.
Kevin: End of the park.

-Here we go.
Pete and kevin: Boom!

Rich: Alright!

Pete: I'm in the park!

I'm not in the park!

I'm in the park!

I'm not in the park!

Rich: Nice work guys, congrats.

Pete: It's awesome!

Woo-hoo!

(music)

Rich: Uh, I completely
underestimated you guys.

I mean you and kev uh,
just absolutely had to
be committed for uh.

(laughs)

Rich: I'm low on water, so I
guess I gotta stop this it.

(music)

(music)

Renae: We are in wind rock,
arizona in front of the council
chambers today for a special

Session of the navajo nation
council, which was called

To expressly address the
escalade legislation.

So we hope to be heard,
and hopefully voted up.

Man: Again here we are in front
of the navajo nation council.

If you look back at the
revenue share you'll see sales
tax, hotel taxes, that's,

That's what the nation
will be receiving.

As the numbers of this
just goes up, your share
of the revenue goes up.

Dwight: I don't know
what businesses that
say, "oh, by the way,

We don't want to pay taxes."

Man: I'm wondering about your
comments saying that it's job
creation when actually

It would be the navajo nation
to be fronting the whole bill.

Activist: You're not
being honest, sir.

Man: Thank you.

Activist: You have not consulted
with the water people.

You have not consulted
with the wind people.

Man: Thank you.

Ok, motion to cease debate
unless you want to continue on.

Ok, simple majority.

Going once, going twice,
going three times.

By vote of two in favor, 16
opposed, the motion fails.

(applause)

Renae: No. More. Escalade.

The navajo nation
council said no escalade!

(cheering)

Rita: Yes, yes,
they listened to us.

I'm going to go home
and sleep for two days.

(cheering)

(music)

Kevin: The canyon is a ruthless
cathedral, and like all holy
places, invites people to think,

Reflect, and I think above all
to move towards and embrace an
element of humility.

(music)

It invites us to reframe our
perspective of where we stand,
and forces us to conclude that

In the end, we are not
large, we are not important,
and we do not matter.

And we so need that.

(music)

Pete: I went in to try
to understand the place.

And I'm still trying
to understand it.

I think it changed me.

Maybe I walked out
of there with a little jar
of silence and simplicity.

It reminded me why
it's important that a
place like this exists,

And that's I think the question
with any national park.

Do we want them to be these
coddled landscapes of amusement,
or do we want them to be

Experiential where you might
actually shed some layers

And be reminded of what's
important in the world.

If we can't protect grand
canyon as a national park,

Then what can we protect?

(music)

(music)

Captioned by subtitlepro llc