Original subtitles

SUE: There might be a storm coming in.

-I think it could be pretty serious. -(WHIRRS)

You can see and you can feel,

um, there is a little bit of south wind.

If you look above,

you've got blue sky above,

all around me

the wind is kicking up all this frozen particulates,

which is showing me, you know,

the halo effect on the, uh, on the sun.

The ptarmigan are coming out to eat.

Shows me that I might not be too off in my assessment

of where the weather is.

This time of year, you just,

bad weather comes at ya at 100 miles an hour.

If I'm gonna have hurricane force winds hitting me,

it's nice to know and get ready for that ahead of time

and not wait till it gets here.

If you're one of those people that procrastinates till it gets here,

you're not gonna be here long.

(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)

NARRATOR: In order to survive the harsh storm approaching Kavik,

Sue Aikens must secure her camp

to prevent damage from high tundra winds.

SUE: All this blowing snow is like a talcum powder of snow and

it will get into everything and stick to everything.

I'm looking at any trailer, visualising.

I am looking to see

are all the windows up, are all the doors flush.

Here's a screen

on the top edge I need to verify that the window is up.

The glass is up.

(CLATTERS)

Normally this is all sealed up.

That should always be twisted, locked and secured.

Anything out on the tundra can become a missile

in these windstorms.

Fifty-five mile an hour doesn't sound horrific,

but you add it to 20 below zero

brittle things break and fly off.

Right now, I am with a specific eye towards what can fly

and damage camp if the winds actually do pick up.

One minute thing happening way out here,

almost a quarter mile away from where I live,

is going to chain react

and send me to Deadhorse in about three seconds flat.

My entire life is invested in this camp.

My heart is invested in its success.

Every time I think there's gonna be a gnarly weather system,

every time I think I've got a predator

tearing crap up out here, I will be out here

making sure the integrity of my camp is maintained.

Did the boundary and the perimeter on camp.

It's secure.

I have other chores away from camp that I need to complete,

so with camp being secure,

now I can get my mind to other chores.

When there's a big storm coming in,

you don't plan your chores for when it starts to blow.

When it starts to blow, you better have your chores done.

CHIP: We're always preparing for the next season or the next hunt

or the next fishing trip.

Preparing to us is like half of the battle.

We've got a lot of snow now.

We had a pretty good storm, dumped a lot of snow.

It's just gotten cold, our river is just freezing solid.

So we're right at the edge of being able to use these things

anywhere and anytime,

so right now is the time to make sure they're good.

NARRATOR: The Hailstones depend on snow machines

to travel along the tundra and frozen waterways

-to hunt... -(GUNSHOT)

...fish and gather resources in dark winter.

But travelling on icy conditions is dangerous

and to ensure his family's safety,

Chip must constantly give his machines

proper maintenance and care.

CHIP: These aren't recreational vehicles to us.

These are our cars.

These are not toys to us.

If you don't take care of your stuff, it won't take care of you.

I don't want my wife or my kids to go off in the country

and have to walk back.

I'm definitely gonna get it

maintained and serviced and ready to go.

So the thing is that with preventative maintenance,

we don't have troubles out there

because we're trying to cure those troubles here.

Go have a look at the undercarriage.

I look for dead shocks, the feel of dead shocks.

I want to feel some pressure and some compression.

These are feeling good.

One of our wear parts on a snow machine is a belt.

You can burn 'em up, bust 'em, blow 'em,

all kinds of things happen to belts.

So we always travel with a spare.

These are our guide rods.

These are down in the snow and when we wanna turn,

these are the rods that make a turn.

These are essential to steering,

so I always check the guide rods.

I wanna go take it out and give it a real ride.

I want to open it up. We call it a shakedown,

you go out and go find out what's wrong.

(SNOWMOBILE ENGINE ROARS)

Right now I just wanna check and make sure

the engine is running fine

and we do that by opening them up fully

for as long as we can.

You know, anywhere from, uh,

like a 10 to 20-mile ride is a good shakedown here.

We're always getting ready.

Our winter's just started.

Our river's just froze up.

We've hit some really cold temperatures.

It's time to use the machines. So, we've got 'em prepared.

Every time we get a chance, you know,

you just go out and get it ready again.

Add gas, check your belts.

It's just a very routine thing.

I like the engine, I like the drive train.

My undercarriage sounds good, my drive train sounds good,

my engine is sounding good.

Now I'm gonna go take it for a ride across the tundra,

which is a much more torturous place for a snow machine.

(ENGINE STARTS)

(ENGINE ROARING)

JESSIE: The reward at the end of the day is being out there on the trail

with your dogs, doing what you love.

They're my dogs and I'm their human.

-(SQUEALS) -Get off.

Can't go without Flash.

No, I can't go without you.

NARRATOR: Along the Nenana River,

Jessie Holmes has devoted his life

to racing sled dogs in the Arctic.

After weeks of running frozen trails,

Jessie and his dogs are preparing for a test run

during the first official race of the season.

Today's my last day before the race.

It's gonna be in the morning at 8:00

and I got to travel 100 miles to get there.

This is my first kind of shakedown race.

I'm taking these 14 big dogs out there.

I'm practising for longer races, 'cause this is 51-mile race.

I'm looking at 300, 400, and 1,000 miles.

-(HOWLS) -So I just get out there and

use this as a maturing event for the dogs.

I'm gonna be taking it very easy, this is a young dog team.

I'm just trying to set their heads up

and their mentality to enjoy this.

So I'm not going there to push or race, per se.

My main thing is to come home with healthy dogs

that had a good experience.

(SAW WHIRRING)

I got to get this beef cut up into manageable pieces

to where I can thaw it out really easily

on the trail for the dogs.

I can't take a big giant block of beef

out on the trail and expect to be efficient,

so I've gotta cut this up into small pieces.

For what I'm doing, I need about 60 pounds of meat

to feed to my dogs on the trail.

Dogs need warm meals, so you have to make it

to where it doesn't take you hours

and days to prepare this out there.

So I'll package it up in bags.

What this will do is it will all freeze thin

and that way I'll take a bag

and I'll put it in some hot water,

thaw it out in the cooler, so right when I get to the checkpoint,

where my dogs are gonna camp and rest,

I've got that meal ready and prepared

and they need this red protein meat to

build muscle and they burn a lot of calories.

You can't have these dogs waiting to get their food

because then they won't recover correctly.

I've got a lot more to do before this all

can come together and I've got about 30 hours,

then I got to be down in Cantwell at the race start.

It's pretty much nonstop from this point on out.

This is where you get your sleep deprivation training for the longer races.

I don't even think about the finish line,

I'm just trying to make it to the starting line right now.

GLENN: Some people don't need variety,

but a lot of people, they're missing something and maybe they don't realise

there's a lot of variety out here the way I'm living.

My camp's on a small lake

in a valley between the mountains

and all winter long, when I'm hunting and trapping,

I just get around on foot.

If I need to return home,

I can only go so far during a day

and then I have to turn around and come back to camp.

Yeah, you gotta cover a lot of country.

In order to intercept the animals out here,

you have to cover a lot of country.

There's times when I sit here, looking at this lake

for a month, not a single large animal crosses it.

That's not uncommon in the wintertime.

So I gotta broaden my horizons.

I gotta get out and travel more country

in order to intercept animals.

If I build another camp down here,

that will extend my range.

So I'll build a woodstove, and I'll build a lamp

and then I'll take that canvas tent

and I'll set up a camp further away from home.

This is a little sweat lodge I built

about a year and a half ago.

It's nice place to take a sauna,

but this time of year

I'm burning up so much wood

when I heat this little tent up

that I've decided not to use it any more this winter.

I'm gonna reappropriate the woodstove in it

for my camp down the valley.

I'm gonna use some of this moose fat to light

my tent with.

What I have to do is get the fat all cleaned up

and then melt it down.

Now I'm gonna use some of this moose for food,

I'm gonna use some of it to light my tent with

and what I don't use

something else will come along and use.

This moose was living its life eating the willows around here

and those willows got turned into this fat, this big cycle.

This is what is happening in the modern world.

People are getting disconnected from the cycles of nature.

You just turn on a switch and you've got light

and you don't think about where it came from.

But when I build this lamp,

I'm gonna think more about where it came from

'cause I killed this moose.

I just heated it up on the stove until it melted.

This is now liquid, but I have to cool it off

and turn it back to a solid so I can transport it.

I'm gonna pack everything on my sled.

It'll all be wrapped up in this tarp.

There.

Got everything I need to build my home away from home right there.

I'm gonna head out.

(WHISPERS) Hey, there's caribou right here.

I'm just gonna leave my sled here.

Try to sneak up close enough to these caribou

to get a shot.

I'm going to try to work my way through the trees really quietly

to get close enough to get a shot.

They heard me coming down through the woods

before I got close enough to get a shot.

They took off and ran away.

Just up ahead

there's another lake.

Caribou kept going.

I don't think I'm gonna get a second chance at 'em tonight,

but I gotta go back to my sled,

get my stuff, bring it down here.

I'm gonna set up camp in this area.

I'm real close to the lake,

where caribou often hang out down here

and there's a chance they will come back.

It's been a couple of months since I've seen caribou.

It's good that they're in the area.

Some years they aren't, you never know.

There are times when months pass with no caribou at all,

but right now there's some caribou around, that's good.

Good chance I'll find more caribou.

AGNES: I know in the back of my head,

hey, these girls are gonna be comfortable when they grow up out here,

so I don't have to worry about them.

-The shoulder's gonna be right there. -TINMIAQ: Up, up, up.

Up, up, up.

Put like marks, like right there.

NARRATOR: For the Hailstones, passing down Native traditions

ensures their way of life will be preserved.

Today, Agnes will guide her eldest daughter Tinmiaq

in sewing winter clothing from harvested animals.

AGNES: We're making me a parka today.

This is gonna be a pretty light parka.

When it's all sewn together, we have three wolf skins.

Our traditional style for women is usually wolverine,

so I'm gonna be using the wolverine

skin as my ruff and my trims.

Most women don't use wolf skins,

but if it's warm and it works and the hair don't pull

when you're out in the extreme cold, why not?

Lay there like this.

This will be the top of my shoulders up here and then,

it'll just go rounded up, eh?

While I work in here and try to make me a parka,

Chip's outdoors, uh, working on our snow machines

so when we get to actually get out to the country and travel,

we'll be warm and we'll have a good ride.

TINMIAQ: Back.

So this would fit over you.

These should be your armpits right there. Perfect.

Good?

-Good? -Yeah.

Okay, now that we have this all

cut out the way we want it

we could just start getting our sinew and our sewing bag...

-Start sewing? -Start sewing.

AGNES: I've been teaching her all the little tricks and

different kinds of stitches

that I know that my mum passed on to me.

I am hoping when she has her own children,

she'll pass those on to her children.

Right now, the parka's inside out and, uh,

this is the way we work on it, but once we get done

we're gonna turn it the other way

and it should turn out pretty good.

Custom fit.

JESSIE: If you love what you do, you never work a day in your life.

Gotta have my sleeping bag.

Never know what could happen out there,

so you got to be prepared to take care of your own self.

This is a very important part of my equipment right here.

NARRATOR: With his first test run of the racing season

only hours away, Jessie must quickly gather his equipment and 14 sled dogs.

JESSIE: It's time to race, man.

This is what, you know, all this training

and all this work and acquiring and breeding

and getting all these dogs is all about, is racing, so.

A little bit nervous until I actually get to

the starting line of the race, so it's, uh,

still got travel, time,

never be surprised if the truck broke down.

All right. Well, these dog boxes are done,

now all they need is a bunch of dogs in 'em to christen it.

-Come here, buddy. -(BARKS)

What I lack in not being established in this sport,

I plan on making up for by my physical and mental toughness.

Hold up there, buddy.

I'm not gonna be the weak link

and it sets a good example for the dogs

of what we got to be like out there.

They're looking for leadership

and if I can lead them with that mindset,

to be physically and mentally tougher than other dogs

and other mushers, that's my goal.

It's yet to see what this team can do,

but I can do all the right things to set them up.

I secure everything now and give everything a final check,

hit the road.

Still got a good few hour drive ahead of me.

Gonna take it nice and slow and make sure we get there.

That's why you start early, that's why you sleep less,

because you can take your time and be safe.

(ENGINE STARTING)

(ENGINE ROARS)

(ENGINE STOPS)

Damn it!

(ENGINE STARTS)

Well, the truck's running. That's a good sign.

I've had way more problems with trucks

than I've ever had with dogs.

Trucks, you know, they take a lot of TLC

and love and care, just like the dogs.

I got all my dogs loaded up and we're heading south.

Got a three-hour drive ahead of me

to get to the Denali Highway.

I got precious cargo on board is the main thing, you know?

This is precious cargo to me. That's my whole life back there in those boxes.

This is a good, short race.

It's a good opportunity to get them young dogs out there

and get 'em some experience,

so I pretty much have a split team of

my good veteran dogs to set a good example,

and then I got a lot of young prospects in there.

They gotta get the experience and I feel pretty nervous.

When you got nerves like this before a race,

it means that it means something to you, racing, you know?

So...

I'm glad I'm a little bit nervous.

All right, we're here.

Now the work begins.

So, once I get my dogs all out

and they all get a chance to use the bathroom,

I can get my sled pulled out and stretched out

and start planning my exit.

-(BARKING) -All right, straight ahead,

straight ahead. Easy.

-Jessie Holmes! Jessie Holmes! -Got it.

Thanks, guys. Thank you.

Being physically and mentally weak is not an option.

I have to keep my head in the game always.

I have dogs that depend on me.

They depend on me to be a rock in the storm.

I don't care about first place.

I care about my dog team, and I care about their long-term future.

Easy, boys.

SUE: Some people beat the traffic to get to their jobs.

I'm beating Mother Nature to get to my job.

I'd like to say I got one foot ahead of the storm,

but I think I'm right in the thick of it.

NARRATOR: As Kavik's sole resident,

Sue performs various tasks

to ensure safe passage on the tundra

and prevent damage to the ecosystem,

but with a fierce storm on the horizon

heading into high winds and freezing conditions to collect the data

is a dangerous mission.

Work that I'm getting ready to do, the snow depth,

I've got to take my equipment

several different

spots further north.

I have to stop and take 20 measurements at each site.

For the state to be able to open the ice road permits,

they need to know that the ground is a minimum of five below zero

and that you have certain snow and ice depths.

So one of my jobs is to go and take some measurements.

My temperatures are dropping real quick.

Weather here during the winter,

the severity of it is the difference between life and death.

The wind has now shifted coming in out of the east,

which is where all the big wind is coming in at.

If it hits me, doesn't mean I can't go.

Just means I'll be grateful for having a cab on a truck.

(ENGINE REVVING)

We're only going a couple of miles out,

but you can get lost in between here

and the next building if a storm kicks up.

Uh, here I just have some light tools, rope,

tarp if I need to tarp it and do something.

I've got extra mittens, extra warm weather gear,

to try and help me stay safe.

The dangers of going away from camp in this kind of weather,

I mean, you may not find your way back.

I can see some, I can't see everything.

That's a danger.

The wind kicks up any worse,

I may or may not make it back home.

AGNES: We're able to live together, work together

and it just makes us even stronger.

(MOTOR ZOOMS)

NARRATOR: After performing maintenance

and testing his snow machine on flat terrain,

Chip must now take the vehicle out to the more gruelling tundra landscape.

Right now I'm getting the machines ready for

using here during the winter.

'Cause it's only gonna get colder

and the night's gonna get longer

and pretty soon it's gonna be really cold.

It only makes sense to ride something you can depend on.

If I knew something was wrong and I took it 20 miles out,

I'd probably be walking 20 miles back.

The whole trick is to, uh, is to get ready beforehand,

and, uh, I'm getting ready.

Fucking damn it!

My undercarriage is fucked up.

My undercarriage is frozen.

I don't mean frozen as in cold,

I mean as in stuck

and the rods got rusted and the thing is stuck.

(GROANS)

I'll try to see if I can get this one to go good.

I just need to take it home.

Take it home, thaw it out, take the undercarriage out.

Uh, probably change the shocks out.

That's probably my best bet.

But at 35 below zero, this is no time to be trying

to take this thing apart outside.

So, I'll have to wait till the weather warms up,

then I should be able to unbolt and undo things

without ripping the gaskets, without ruining the bearings,

without snapping the bolts off or breaking any plastic,

so, my life's dictated by weather.

We're not prepared.

This isn't prepared, and I'm not gonna be going anywhere.

Sometimes you just can't do anything for it.

JESSIE: When one lets go of trying to control the outcome all the time,

I think better things happen for you.

Haw! Good, straight ahead.

Haw.

Good dogs. Good dogs.

Haw, haw.

Hey.

Haw.

Haw, haw, haw. Haw.

Ho. Ho.

Stay.

NARRATOR: Jessie Holmes and his sled dogs

are competing in the first race of the season.

To avoid injury and fatigue, they must camp out at the halfway point

of the 51-mile race.

Time to shut these dogs down for a few hours.

Get some rest in 'em while they're still looking great and on a good note.

I just need to get these booties off the dogs and

get a little meal into 'em.

We just did 31 miles.

Gonna lay down some straw and let 'em rest.

Charge their batteries.

I'm gonna mix this in here and let it sit for a sec

and then what I'm gonna go do is go take all these

booties off these dogs.

Hey, buddies. Good dogs, you did so good.

That way I can get to see every dog

and see how they're feeling.

Try to make sure I get the food in 'em, within, uh,

30 minutes of arriving at camp for optimal recovery.

Oh, they're happy. They're ready to eat.

Oh, yes.

Yup, see, they're like a family

when they get out here and do this.

It's important for team bonding,

eating meals together.

Okay, guys, we're gonna get a good little rest

and then we're gonna hit the trail.

Yeah.

Make a big ol' bed for you guys,

-you can all cuddle. -(SQUEALS)

Keep each other warm.

Gonna pull out my sleeping bag

and sit on it and stay nice and toasty.

That way the dogs get the idea,

but that's it, you know, that's what you do

all the work ahead of time for is to have your routine down

and that's one of the things you're practising out here

and getting used to, the dogs have to get used to it.

Still hard, but I'd say it's getting a lot easier for me.

Keeping at this.

Nothing to do now but, uh,

wait for the dogs to have a few hours' sleep

and then bootie 'em back up and hit the trail again.

My journey don't end here.

SUE: There's dangers no matter where you go.

You don't let those dangers rule you,

but you better know where they are.

NARRATOR: Sue is recording snow depth measurements

to protect the tundra's ecosystem.

But with her visibility worsening

she must collect the data quickly

or risk being stranded in a brutal storm.

SUE: The conditions are worsening.

The wind has picked up.

Harder for me to see.

I wanna get to my location, I wanna start the process.

(ENGINE STOPS)

Wow, that's some hard-packed snow, man.

I have got

200 feet of rope here.

I have to go so far, take a reading, go so far, take another reading.

If I start to lose visibility, I won't be able to see how to get back to my own vehicle.

So I'll do 10 measurements this way,

10 measurements that way, move on to the next location.

Three. Two and a half.

What they're looking for is two foot of snow overall.

There we go.

And then this is...

You're getting damn close again, three and a half feet.

So...

So far my average is between three and three and a half feet.

All right.

So that's a wrap on this side.

There's definitely more wind, colder temps.

I want to be careful.

'Cause as the wind picks up and the sun goes down,

the temps are gonna drop

and that means it's more dangerous on my skin.

The temperature's getting colder,

it's getting harder and harder to see,

it also is getting a little bit harder to take deeper breaths.

But that's 10 measurements this way, now.

I'll write it all down.

Once I'm done, I'll move to the next location.

(ENGINE REVVING)

But

it's really degrading.

The uh, visibility is not good.

-(ENGINE STARTS) -If the winds get horrifically bad,

then I'm gonna have to bail on the second location

in favour of waiting for the winds to drop.

I can't do it when it's a danger to life and limb.

The wind is filling in my tracks

and those, they're not even 15 minutes old,

so it's time to call it a night.

Think I've gone about as far as I feel comfortable going.

I need to be able to see my tracks to get home.

I can get lost pretty easy in this.

I just have no spatial relevance.

I cannot see shit.

Doesn't take a few minutes and whatever track you make is gone.

The wind takes care of the tracks pretty damn quick.

So I'm back on my own runway.

Well, I made it home.

Definitely not as windy here

as it is just a couple of miles up to the north.

Time for me to maybe get some electrics going,

and then look at the,

look at the documentation that I just got.

This right here,

this is, uh... This is the gold.

You know, these are all the locations

and the numbers for the state to approve the tundra travel.

Right now what I'm seeing with all the measurements I took,

we're well above that.

Next step is, put it in an email, send it to the state

and say, this is what I got, tell me what you think.

This is the culmination of all of the efforts of the day.

Getting up, securing camp, watching the weather,

getting my machine rolling, trying not to be blown over

by the wind as it picked up.

This is what I'm here for.

This is the information I get to help people out

to make the decisions that keep this area what it is.

Simple as that.

CHIP: Some people are about quantity.

I'm about quality.

I don't want numbers, I want results.

(ENGINE STARTS)

Earlier today I went and tested out the rides.

This one here is parked. It's kind of grounded for now.

It's got some troubles that we can easily take care of,

but I couldn't find them till I actually got out and ran the thing.

About this time of year we usually have

a pretty big pile of firewood.

Haven't had a chance to replace it yet,

so this is my first chance to go out

and go get another fresh batch of firewood.

Mmm, I'm gonna get some Umaks.

I'm gonna get some woods, willow woods.

They're good hard-burning, they're dry,

they're easily available

and they're a lot thinner than trying to chop a whole spruce log up.

(GROANS)

When you work for yourself and you're self-employed,

I tell myself to get up and get firewood.

I tell myself when to get up and go and when to stay home.

I make those decisions and if I make a wrong decision

and I get cold, I gotta live with it

and since everybody's counting on me,

I gotta deal with it.

I've seen people do crazy things for heat,

even burn their clothes and boots.

I'm not gonna get that far down.

Hopefully the ladies have gotten pretty far on their parkies. I'll go see.

(ENGINE STARTS)

-AGNES: Ta-da! -Oh, sweet.

That looks really cool.

Wow.

That's the best overcoat I ever saw

and it'll fit right over your other parka,

that's the best thing about it.

We'll be safer in the deeper cold.

If we break down,

that's the kind you can curl up and sleep in,

in the middle of the night on your way home.

Thanks for the help, Bun.

-Your hands helped out a lot, I'm sure. -Thank you.

AGNES: I am real happy with our work.

It's nice for me to know she's able to make parkas

and sew with sinew we've made by ourselves

and it's something I learned from my mum

and it's nice to be able to pass it down to her

and hopefully she'll be able

to pass her craftsmanship to her children.

We'll have to wait till it warms up and we'll check out

your snow machine and see what parts you need.

For now, we're double riding?

For now, we'll just double ride.

(LAUGHS)

To me, winter's officially here.

I went out and got a bunch of firewood.

Got some good clothing made for the deep cold.

Got to go travel around and look around

and just be outside again.

These are things we do to get ready for winter.

It's our way of getting ready.

You know, it's preparations for the deep cold.

So to me, winter's just begun.

GLENN: There's so much to learn out here.

Life's going by and you only got one chance at it.

Nice big tree.

(SNIFFLES)

Probably put my tent right here.

NARRATOR: In the Brooks Range, Glenn is setting up a new camp away from his cabin.

The second camp is vital to improving his travel limits,

and the ability to hunt animals for meat and protein.

I wanna face it south, get the sun.

What little sunlight there is.

Face it right there, I can get up in the morning,

walk over and take a look at the lake.

This is the spot.

The first thing I need to do is to find some good,

straight poles, cut 'em down and build a tent frame.

I personally like this lifestyle

because of the direct contact with natural processes.

I like to have to learn these things

and learn how to take care of myself in different situations.

I've always liked to operate on my own

and I really enjoy the autonomy out here.

People are becoming more and more restricted, less and less free

and out here, there's still a lot of freedom.

(GROANS)

It's gonna be so nice to see the smoke coming up out of the chimney tonight.

It's getting cold.

I like to be comfortable when I camp out.

I got to get my stove set up and get this thing heated.

I got a lot to do still.

It's, this is not a simple process here.

Now that I got the tent all set up

I just need to pick some spruce boughs.

These'll cover the floor. Makes a nice soft floor covering.

Hey. Look at that.

There's a grouse.

(WHISPERS) In that tree, there's a spruce grouse.

(COCKS GUN)

Hey, there it is.

(GUNSHOT)

(COCKS GUN)

A lot of times,

where there's one grouse you'll find others.

There's another one! Right there!

(GUNSHOT)

I got 'em both.

Two grouse for dinner.

I got a nice view of that lake

and I got some grouse right here in my back yard.

This is a nice spot down here.

A lot of caribou sign around.

That's the thing I've learned out here, is that if you're patient,

nature always gives you something to eat.

Sometimes it's not what you were expecting to find, but you always find something.

You just have to take your time

and be patient,

and you will find something out here.

Got a cup, got a little moose fat.

I'm gonna melt that on my stove.

That'll be the fuel for my lamp.

Here's my fat.

Pour it out

and the moss should absorb the fat

like a wick.

The fat's highly flammable.

This is gonna take a little time.

Just have to be patient.

What I like about this is just the atmosphere, it's very meditative.

I like running the little lamp,

running my little woodstove.

The scent of the spruce boughs.

This is what life's really about,

it's being able to take time to enjoy it.

Just to be able to walk out at night,

look up at the auroras overhead.

Just to be able to spend some time

adjusting the flame on your lamp

and not have to think about anything else if you don't want to.

Nothing else really matters. You got heat, you got light,

you got a comfortable place with a roof over your head.

What more do you need?

JESSIE: Every time I push through that barrier,

I know I can go further and further.

When you want something bad enough you can push through anything.

Come on.

Straight ahead.

The dogs are looking strong,

coming out of the checkpoint like they rested well.

They were eating well,

they're all booted up and their feet are doing good and we're making good time

on our way back to the truck here.

Ho. Ho.

-A couple booties come off and fix my lines up. -(SQUEALS)

Give the dogs just a real quick rest here.

Gotta keep the booties on in these kind of conditions.

This abrasive snow, that's what's gonna

tear their pads up.

Good boys, good boys.

Yeah, these two are just real young dogs,

and they're becoming my main leaders with their dad up here,

so that's a huge deal.

(TONGUE CLICKING) Good boy.

Tate, he hasn't been acting like his normal self.

He's getting kind of old maybe.

Rather than burn him out, just give him a good break.

All right.

Straight, straight ahead.

The key thing is just to be patient and attentive.

Attentive to the dogs' needs

and if you take care of them they'll take care of you and perform.

I've learned a lot of things from these dogs.

Watching how they're as a pack and how they treat each other,

it transfers over to the way I treat everybody around me.

Every mile you learn something about your dogs.

Good dogs. Straight ahead.

I'm gonna be finishing right in the dark,

so we nailed this run, pretty much

in our window of opportunity of daylight in Alaska.

All right, we made it to the finish line.

(DOGS BARKING)

Dogs made it, finishing strong.

I'm one proud dad right now.

Straight ahead.

Straight ahead.

That was awesome run.

Fifty-one-mile run under these dogs' belts.

Look at you, boys. You sure are learning, huh?

Yeah. Thanks, Flash.

You did a great job, buddy. Yeah, you're a good boy.

I've been on the trail all day, all night,

getting ready to come here.

You know, taking care of my dogs first over myself, like,

it takes a lot of energy, so, I'm beat.

I didn't get to run hard in the race

'cause I had to set my team up for success and

I can see the product of my work here now

and the dogs look great.

I really didn't even know what I wanted out of life until I found these dogs.

It's humbled me.

It's really changed me and changed who I am.

I've had many errors and many trials and tribulations through this,

but I persevere every time.

I refuse to quit and give up

and that's what

builds in that dog team from them being around me

when we work together. We share that attitude.

I love dog mushing, I love racing,

I want to succeed in the future.

It's very important that I just keep them healthy

and happy, loving what they do

and if we love what we do,

then we're gonna reach our full capability.