All language subtitles for Life.Below.Zero.S10E04.720p.WEB-DL.x264-KangMus_track3_[eng]

ANDY: This net is in rough
shape, but it's gonna, it's
gonna have to do for now.

I've got to get moving because
those salmon are going by

and I'm sitting
here playing with the net.

I've only got about two weeks
or so to get the king salmon.

They come and they're gone.

And they're going by
right now, so I got to
get my butt out there.

But I'm up against a, a
whole new challenge this summer.

Last winter, there was a
major landslide on the Yukon.

An entire mountainside
just came down, slid out
into the Yukon River.

Created a huge
eddy out there.

One of the biggest
ones I've ever seen in
this part of the Yukon.

It's really important when
you're fishing with a net
to set it in a good eddy.

And so I wanna get
out and start trying to
catch some king salmon.

However,
it's full of debris.

I'm sure there's all kinds
of trees and stumps and roots.

And sometimes
they're really dangerous.

People die every
year drowning in the Yukon,

messing around either
on the ice or setting nets.

It's going to be really
critical for me to make
sure that this net is set

in a safe
place in this eddy.

This net gets tangled up
in just about everything,
including you.

It could easily drag
me into the water.

For me, there's nobody to
come help me if I screw up.

I don't care if I make a
mistake, as long as it's not
the last mistake I ever make.

(theme music plays).

♪ ♪

It's not often you see
a whole mountainside just
slide into a major river.

Seeing a force of nature
like this, kind of, gets the
butterflies going in your gut.

You can see all the
debris from the eddy is, uh,

concentrating
right along this line.

I definitely don't
want my net there.

Ideally, what I'd love to do
is have this net running right
off this point right here,

close to this strong current
line right here, and that
would intercept any fish

trying to leave the eddy here.

It's just a matter of if I
can set it in a place where
there isn't any debris.

Ah, let's see
how deep it is here.

It's about eight or
nine feet deep right there.

I think I'll turn
my depth finder on.

See if I can see some stumps
or see what this bottom looks
like with the depth finder.

A couple years ago, I
would have had to just
take a chance on it,

but because I have
technology now to, to kind
of help me out a little bit,

I could take a chance on
setting my net here because

that's well below
the depth of my net.

I've done the best I can to
sound it with a pole and I've
done the best I can do looking

with a little bit of
technology to see if there's
any big obstacles under there.

This is kind of
an old beat-up net, but,

it's the only one
I have for getting the
king salmon right now.

So, if I lost this net,
I wouldn't have
anything else really to

catch king salmon
with this year.

If this fishing spot works
great, I'm going to catch
a lot of fish right here.

If I get snagged
then I'm screwed.

Okay. Let's
see what happens.

There's a lot to look out for
when your dropping nets in the
river because it can kill you

if you fall in this river
and get tangled up in the net.

They catch everything, a
buckle on your lifejacket.

I don't fear this river,
but at the same time,
every time I go out on it,

I have a lot of respect for
what it can do for me and
what it can do against me.

All right. I've got
my net stretched out.

So far, this
went really well.

Now it's just
a waiting game.

I'm going to have to just
come back tonight or tomorrow,
see if there's any fish.

Hopefully, everything's
going to pay out pretty nicely.

CHIP: Preparedness
meets opportunity
gives you good luck.

That's really how it works.

All the possibilities
out here are open to us.

Once we get the boat out
and we get everything all
packed inside the boat good

and proper, it's
off to Kookoochiaq.

We're going down to
Kookoochiaq to go stay,

but we're going to be at
a lower camp they call Nuluk.

While we're down there,
we're gonna go fishing
and gather some firewood and

do all the other things that
you do while you're camping,
so it should be a lot of fun.

AGNES: We got stove
pipes to fix the stove
when we get there.

CHIP: There's that
little cabin there.

My wife built
it when she was 17.

She has a lot of pride
in that little cabin.

This last winter, there
was a tree that fell on
it and then in the wind,

it sit there and
swiped back and forth.

It damaged the stove pipe.

It needs to be fixed.

That's all there is to it.

Part of living this
life is once you've got
a cabin or something,

you take care of it.

We've got all of our food.

We've got gas.

We've got everything in order.

-We pretty much
have everything.

CHIP: Now, let's get in
and go to Kookoochiaq.

Let's go see what's happening.

-One, two, three, go.
-Okay.

NARRATOR: The Hailstone's
live nomadically, traveling
between their various camps

in pursuit of resources to
survive in northwest Alaska.

Today they will travel to
Kookoochiaq to harvest fish
from the area's waterways.

But before they can
reap the camp's benefits,

they'll need to make
repairs to the family cabin.

CHIP: My wife's dad
and his family before him,

they had that place
where they would rest and
they would keep a cache.

People that cross the lake,
live along the sides,

that'd be the place
where you'd stop and sleep.

A lot of people up here used
to measure things in sleeps.

How far they travel, how
many sleeps it would take.

Today we can
get there quicker.

-There it is!
Oh, it's still there.

We're here at
Kookoochiaq finally.

Fun. Okay, girls.

CHIP: Well, girls,
we're going to make ourselves
comfortable here before we go,

so we can come back
to something warm.

So I'll fix the stove
pipes the best I can.

We'll get some firewood up
and we'll make sure that the
place is ready to receive us.

-Hey, it's like going
from one home to another.

GLENN: Any way I want to go,
whatever I want to see, if
something catches my interest,

that's where I'm headed.

I'm just having a great time
this summer out exploring.

Checking out areas
I've never been to.

NARRATOR: 200 miles
from civilization,

Glenn Villeneuve's
survival depends on his
knowledge of the

landscape in the Brooks Range.

To broaden his horizons,
Glenn has traveled 15 miles
from his camp to Thru Creek,

a region he's never
explored before.

Today, Glenn has set
out on a quest to find the
remnants of abandoned camps,

in hopes of gaining
a deeper understanding
of the area's past.

GLENN: The history of
this area fascinates me.

I was talking to
my friend, Jack, and his
dad was a hunting guide.

And almost 50 years ago, they
started hunting in this area.

And they had a camp, and if
I can find that, he gave me
directions to get from there

to the spot where primitive
hunters used to camp, where
there were stumps that had

been cut by stone axes.

When you think about that,
it's pretty amazing
because the Stone Ages up

here was only 150 years ago.

I've never found any artifacts
out here of primitive people

and that's what I
wanna try and find today.

While I'm out looking around
this area today, I'd like to
also find some food to eat.

And right here in this
lake there should be fish.

I've got a little net with me.

If I have my net
out here all day,

I can go out exploring while
my net's doing the fishing.

To set this net, I'm
going to definitely need a
stake made out of a big pole

that I can go out and
stick right in the bottom.

I need to find some
materials to help me out here.

This looks like a
good pole right here.

I'll cut it with my saw.

I got a chainsaw with me,
but it doesn't have a motor.

I'm the motor.

I don't care if
I'm using a chainsaw.

I like to stay in shape.

I like to get my exercise.

I like the peace and quiet.

Yeah. I mean, a little
bit of muscle power and you
don't even need a chainsaw.

I don't know how this is going
to go, but with a net out,
even if only one fish comes

along all day, I got a
chance of catching it.

Okay. I got to walk out,
stick this pole down into the
mud on the bottom, tie the rope,

and then pull the net out.

The water's cold. Okay.

I'm wanna see if I can reach
the bottom here with the pole.

Oh, it's deep.

If I'd known it was gonna be
this deep, I would have cut
the pole a little longer.

I think it's gonna work.

Whoo, I got it.

I'm gonna tie my rope on it.

There. I got it.

Whoo, that water's cold.

If any fish come along
this shoreline now, boom,

they're going to go
right into that net.

This could work.

I got my net in the water,
now I can go explore.

I wanna have a look around.

I'm really curious
what I can find here.

Who knows, I might even
find that campsite where those
Stone Age people used to hunt.

JESSIE: Opportunity
is something you got
to seize up here.

You wait one second,
it's one second too late.

You ready to go
up river, Tobias?

I'm loading up my boat here
with all the tools that I'm
going to need to go up the

river about 20 miles
and start locating some
pretty good-sized logs

to build a raft with.

I need a large amount of
firewood to be able to sustain
myself through the winter.

Wood heat is my sole means of
heat up here and I'm trying
to speed up my wood gathering

process and be more efficient.

So, goal is to build a
raft, so I can load a lot
of firewood on top of it.

It's bound to be a
brutally cold winter.

And, uh, if I don't
have wood, I'm not going to
survive and neither are my dogs,

so the trick is get all the
wood ahead of time in the summer
so you're ready for winter.

So today I'm going
to go up river.

I'm going to
locate a few big logs.

I'm going to attach them
together just as I would
for a fish wheel raft.

And I'm gonna load on
top of that all my dry wood.

I'm just coming back
here to look and see if
there's any of these logs

I can snag out of
here safely enough to
start my raft with.

Uh, I could get pinned
by that current,
pressing against that.

Ain't worth it.

It's pretty dangerous, a lot
of these spots where there'll
be really good wood at.

You don't want to get up on
a drift pile in the current.

It could flip even this boat.

There's a nice
long log up here.

I might be able to
tie off to it and pull
it in with the boat.

Just depends on if I
can get to it safely.

Hope this will work.

It's a really
nice-looking log.

This is the kind of
log I'm looking for.

It's already
floating real good.

But I got to hurry
up, before I get down
to these cut banks.

If I'm attached to this
and I run into that bank
tied onto it, not good.

(bleep) we're getting
pulled in there pretty quick.

Just trying to get this
big ass end off of here.

With all that cut
off, that should go.

I'm just getting
us out of here.

Looks like I got
good control of it now.

Now, I just need to find
a good spot to work out of,

so I can start bringing
some more logs into it.

This looks like a good
spot to build the raft to me.

Good and calm for me to be
able to put my raft together.

I'm just gonna hook
this log off real good
here to this tree.

And then get out there
and find my next log.

Tobias, load up.

Load up. Load up.
Come on. Come on. Come
on. Load up. Load up.

I need at least four
logs to put down the
base of this raft.

Hopefully, with what
I learned here on this log,
the next one won't be as bad.

There's one that could be.

I think I can get this one.

Looks like a lot safer
bet than all the other
ones I've been looking at.

♪ ♪

(crash)

That was good.
That was nice and safe.

Get this log out and shoot
straight back through that
channel where I came from.

That's a really nice
big log there for the
outside of the raft.

This big log right here,
it's definitely gonna take
some elbow grease to get that

log down there
and ready to go.

I got to cut some stuff down
here, and throw these branches
out of the way, cut that end,

and then I'm gonna start
rolling it into the river.

(sawing)

(sawing)

(bleep) I hope I
don't lose my log. (bleep).

JESSIE: (bleep) I hope
I don't lose my log.

(bleep). I got to grab a
line, get a rope tied to it.

This little bit of
shallow is what saved my
log from going down river

and having to chase it.

That's a big ol'
log right there. Score.

I got a feeling that this
is going got be a really
good way for me to get

a lot of firewood quick.

And I could load it in
my boat and get maybe, you
know, half a cord a trip

or I could go up river and
build a raft and get three
cords of wood in one go.

That's log number three.

Gonna head out, and
keep getting some logs,
get a couple cross pieces,

start making this
together to where it's like
a pontoon that's going to

carry a bunch more logs in.

This is going real good.

CHIP: Don't be shy about,
uh, improving your life
by getting a little dirty.

That's important.

AGNES: Whoo, camping.

Just leave that around here.

-Doesn't look like any
grizzly bears have been here.
-Nope.

Look like the camp
survived the winter.
Let's put that.

-Yeah. I think the stove
pipe's the first thing that's
got to be fixed though.

Oh, my, it took quite
a beating, didn't it?

-Yup.
-Well, let's, let's
break it up like this.

I'll work on the stove,
maybe Carol can help me.

Agnes can help me.

You girls will go get
some firewood kindling
and some, uh, freshwater.

And we'll, uh, we'll
get this place nice and warm

and make ourselves
something to eat, okay?

-Yeah.
-Let me go grab those pipes.

Last winter, my wife came
down here and she saw that the
stove pipe had been damaged.

And I brought pipe
here to replace this with.

I'm gonna get Carol up on
top of the roof and let her
take it apart from up there.

I'm going to try and send
her up another piece of pipe.

-Oh, my leg couldn't reach.
-Careful.

-Let's try and see
if this will fit.

Okay. That's, that's good.

This is an important piece
for the, keeping the water
out of the roof there.

So we're going to reuse
it since it's not broken and
there's nothing wrong with it.

And, uh, it's probably
been here with the cabin
since the cabin was made.

We put a lot of effort into
heat here in the arctic.

It's something
you're constantly thinking
about, being dry and warm.

-If I could reach it.
-Now, this is made
to go straight, okay?

-Okay.
[inaudible]
-Okay.

-You got it?
-Yeah.

-You think you got it, Carol?

-Carol.
-What?
-Help me. Okay.

Your feet now, Chip. One,
two, three, go. You ready?

-Watch your,
watch those nails.

-Here, put your feet up.
One, two, three, go.

Oh, my God, how am I
gonna get back down?

Oh. Now, what were
we doing, Chip?

-Attaching the pipe.

-Oh, my God. Yeah.
-Okay. Now, it's good.

-Yup. There you go.
Thank you, Carol.

Now, we just got to try to
figure out how to go down.

-Your fine, you're just a foot
away from the, there you go.

See you're so short,
that's why it seems
like it's so far away.

-Yeah.
-Whoa. I'm good.
-It's all right. We're good.

♪ ♪

-Hear that? We got a lot
of stuff to do tomorrow.

We got to try to rest
now that we got heat.

We get up tomorrow
and go fishing.

-Yup.
-We'll all relax and, uh,
start again tomorrow, okay?

GLENN: There are a
lot of stories out here
being told all the time,

you just have to slow down,
take a look, pay attention.

Years ago, when I first
came up to Alaska, a friend
of mine gave me a lot

of information to help
me get started out here.

Jack said if I just went
up this creek, I'd come
up to a canyon up here,

and their family's
camp was up on the side.

If I can find this camp, then
it should only be another
half mile or so to where the

primitive people used to camp.

NARRATOR: At Thru Creek,
Glenn is in search of
a decades-old campsite

he's heard
about from a friend.

From there, he hopes to
locate the site of ancient
stumps that were left

by primitive people
over a century ago.

But without a map or compass,
Glenn must rely solely on his
memory to locate the sites.

GLENN: Hey, here's a pole.

Someone put a pole
up between two trees.

When you wanna protect food,
you'd put a pole up and hang
your food from the pole.

Makes it harder for
animals to get to.

Oh, wow,
there's more up here.

Look. This is
an old wood stove.

Once upon a time,
that kept somebody warm.

There's something
else over here.

Looks like a tent frame.

This was the ridge pole,
went right across here.

And these poles
crossed the side, they
had a tent right here.

Probably a canvas wall
tent was set up over this.

You know, Jack, when he was
a little kid, he might have
been sleeping right here.

And now that I've found
this place, I should be
able to find the primitive

campsite that he
was telling me about.

Jack said walk towards
this mountain and I should
find a game trail up here.

He said that game trail
would lead me to the area
where the primitive site was.

This must be the one.

This is right where the
mountain comes down and the
land becomes flat right

here at the base
of the mountain.

This is it.
Something happened here.

There are a lot of old,
old stumps right here.

But there's no way all
these trees just fell
over on their own.

There's stumps all around.

Something cut these down.

Now, I can tell just by
looking at that, that's
more than 50 years old.

I can just pull these
stumps right out of the
ground with my hands.

I don't want to because this
is like an ancient artifact.

In a couple more
decades, they're not
even going to be here.

They will have
fallen over on their own.

And here you can see one, two,
three, four, five, six, seven.

A lot of different stumps that
were obviously cut by people.

I have read that they
used adzes where instead
of standing like this and

having them, having
the blade of the axe hit it
the way a modern axe does,

that they actually would stand
here and the blade would come
down like this and dig in.

And maybe they got these
longer splinters to come off.

Because that's
how it looks to me.

I can only imagine the
scene when this tree
was cut right here.

It might have been a hunter
using primitive technology,
living in a skin tent right

here for the whole winter.

People having to get every
bit of the food they ate,

every bit of the
clothing they wore right here.

It's one thing to read
about history in a book
or to hear a story,

but it's another thing
to come out and to see that
what looks like a wilderness

at first sight,
actually was a home to
people for a very long time.

You just have to
look for the signs, the
evidence on the ground.

I'm gonna go back to
my net now and see
if I caught dinner.

Hopefully, I caught a fish.

ANDY: If you wanna
be independent, you
got to be independent

in all aspects of life.

You got to suck it up and
do what you got to do.

So it's time to go
check my, uh, fish net.

Made a set yesterday
in a brand-new eddy.

I have no idea whether I'm
gonna catch any fish or not,
but what I'm really excited

about is whether my
experiment's gonna work,

whether this
eddy's gonna produce.

King salmon is absolutely
delicious to eat.

It's super healthy for you,
and it has a really high oil
content in it which is really

important for keeping you
warm in the winter time.

My taste buds are watering
right now just thinking about
getting out there and trying

to catch some king
salmon to put on the fire.

Well, I don't see any floats
down, so it doesn't look
like we got fish in there,

but we'll see what happens.

Doesn't feel like there's
any fish in it to me.

Think I got skunked.
Lot of stick fish. Dang it.

I'm feeling pretty anxious
about catching a fish and
I'm going home empty-handed

and I don't like
going home empty-handed.

It looks like a great spot,
but it's just gonna be a
lot of trial and error here.

And I don't have a
lot of time for error.

If I come back and I'm
skunked tonight and I'm
skunked tomorrow morning,

then I got to
rethink this whole eddy.

I'm not ready to abandon ship
yet, but the life jacket's on.

It's really getting late in
the evening but I really wanna
check the net one more time

tonight before I go to bed.

The sun's still pretty high
up off the horizon, but it's,
you know, 10:00 at night.

The sun never really
sets this time of the year.

I tell myself I can go
to bed when the sun sets.

So, let's see, I probably have
about another four and a half
weeks before I can go to bed.

I'm not seeing
any floats bobbing.

It's not looking promising.

It looks like a big goose egg.

A big zero.
Nothing. Nada.

I'll go home and give it
another shot in the morning,

but that's kind of
disappointing.

All right. Go home empty-handed.
Oh. (bleep) what was it?

I thought I
had it in neutral.

Damn it.
I just destroyed a net.

ANDY: Oh.
(bleep) what was it?

I thought I had it in neutral.

Damn it.
I just destroyed a net.

That'll be a mess.
Backed into it.

I thought I had
it in neutral there to
float over it. I didn't.

I have to be pretty careful
about not losing this net,
because it's the only one

I have right now
for king salmon.

Ah, that sucks.

Oh, I didn't do
too much damage.

Ah, I just cut a little
bit of the net at the top.

I'm all right.
That could've been real ugly.

See if I can get
off with this thing.

I'm not giving up, but, uh,
it's a little disappointing.

I thought I'd catch
something by now right here.

I'm traveling a lot of time
and a lot of distance and a
lot of gas on the river for

a whole lot of
nothing right now.

And I don't like that.

CHIP: Our kids
work with us. Not
for us, but with us.

And it's absolutely the
best way to ever teach them.

Grab the bucket.

You sweetie pies
got your stuff?

-Uh-hmm.

CHIP: I wanna bring
those fishing rods and
those lures over there.

I think we could
have a pretty good time.

I'm going to, uh, show my
girls how to use fishing
poles, or fishing rods.

We don't really
use casting rods much.

But, um, hopefully the
girls will, uh, get a chance
to sucker some pike in.

AGNES: Right on, we
got fishing poles.

-Jump in.
-Um, should I move to the back?

-Hey, haven't gone
to the lower camp yet,
I hope it's still there.

-We'll we're going
down to the mouth camp
right now, down by the,

where the
river meets the sea.

Do some casting
for some pike.

We call this the lower camp.

There's a really old
building here my wife
grew up in as a kid.

They call it
Nuluk which is sleep.

So, I guess they
used to sleep before
they crossed the lake.

-We haven't gotten down this
way for quite some time but,
uh, it's a good change up.

It's a good place to
fish and it's a beautiful
day for fishing.

I think we're gonna
have a nice time here.

-There's a pole here for
you girls to try out if
you wanna try your poles.

Everybody's got a pole.

I wanted to try out
a, um, fishing rod.

I haven't used a fishing
rod since I was a kid.

So, I figured it would be
fun for my kids to try, too.

-Oh, no.
-Well, now you got to
stop and untangle it.

You got it?
Okay, now tighten it up.

I don't know if it's
dinnertime for pike or not.

All right.
I like that.

I've not got him on yet
but yup, I landed him.

Now, it's time to be happy.

I just got this, can
you believe that?

This just took a couple
minutes and I got a pike now.

I'm pretty happy.

Folks around here called
these, um, siilik.

So now I am one siilik rich.

There's gonna, bound
to be quite a few more.

So, just keep casting
and messing with them.

-Qutan. Oh yeah,
you got it. Yup.

And you put it back. Yup.
There you go. Fisher girl.

You got yours, Mary? Oh.

-I got one.
-Oh, you got one!
-Oh, look at this. Yeah!

-Pull it up, Qutan!
-Oh, I'm gonna go check
out what the ladies caught.

-Hold on. Whoa.
-Whoa, much bigger
than the one I caught.

-Qutan! We just got
here to the lower camp and
we've been here five minutes

and we've already
got a couple fish, so
it's a good day for fishing.

-Once you get a fish on and
you land it, it's pretty hard
to give up this kind of sport.

It's a lot of fun.
Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

-Oh, your dads got one.
-There we go.
We got another one.

Catching pike
and catching any kind of
fish is just food for us.

It's food we don't have
to pay for at the store.

It's also really good food.

It's, it's wholesome. It's
delicious. It's from the land.

You know, it's all part of
making a good living with
the resources around you.

And these are the resources
that are around us.

-It won't open its mouth.

-It's time to head off down
towards other fishing spots
to see if we can collect upon

some pikes somewhere else.

-Probably if we go
for a little ride,

we might catch sheefish
or something different.

-You guys ready?
-Yeah, we sure are.

JESSIE: I'm a determined
person who's self-sufficient
and gets the job done.

No matter what it takes.

All right, I got all
my logs together.

Got my cross pieces.

Now, I just got to get the
raft built and load it up with
firewood and take it back home.

NARRATOR: Jessie has spent
the day collecting logs
to build a pontoon raft,

a tool that will increase his
ability to stockpile firewood
for the winter ahead.

But the waters of the Tanana
River are swift and the raft
must be durable enough to

withstand the
powerful current.

JESSIE: The raft's gonna have
to be really strong because
I'm gonna be putting a lot of

pressure on it with the motor.

And I'm dealing with
the fast current and really
dangerous wild water up here.

Tanana River's no joke.

This ain't the kind of thing
that requires a blueprint.

Just kind of get a little
idea in my mind of something I
wanna do and I've built enough

things that I just kind
of guess my way around it and
it's gonna work just fine for

what I want it to do.

When I'm out here working
hard, I want to get the most
for my hard work that I can.

I'm getting older, I'm 35 now.

I've spent 13 winters up here.

You learn it isn't about
toughing through it, it's
about smoothing it to where

you can endure it
for a long time.

That was the whole objective
of this project, is
to optimize my efficiency.

(drilling)

Last log here, then I can
double-check everything
and launch my boat.

When you're dealing
with this much current, this
fast of waters and this many

obstacles, the trick is
to make the raft like
it's part of the boat.

All right. So, I'm gonna
push out and see how it goes.

It's time to launch.
We got this.

All right, we
made it off shore.

I'm pulling it back
towards the shallows.

I don't wanna be too
close to the bank up here.

Seems like I got a
fair amount of control.

Just got to take
it nice and slow.

The goal is not to use
the motor to go fast.

Just to steer the raft safely.

It feels like I,
I can handle it.

It's got a good
amount of control.

So, the mystery of whether the
raft would work efficiently
or not has been solved.

Now, the mystery will
be how much weight can
we put on the raft

and still have it function.

Whoa, (bleep).

JESSIE: Whoa, (bleep). (bleep).

Pretty (bleep)
shallow through here.

God damn, that looks pretty
shallow through all that.

Sure hope I didn't
(bleep) up here.

Looks like I might be able to
get back out of here that way.

I was trying to take a big
shortcut across the river.

Thought I was gonna be
able to make it through
but doesn't look like

it's worth taking the risk.

I'm coming out of it backwards
and just kind of following
the flow of the water.

I'm glad this thing
is handling really good.

I don't foresee
any problems now.

Just gonna see how
much wood I can get on it.

I just got to make
sure I pick the right
channel to get home

and not get hung up
and stuck anywhere.

Because I'm stubborn as
a son of a gun and I won't
just give up on my raft.

The heavier the raft gets, the
more trouble you're gonna be
in when you get stuck with it.

GLENN: How many people get
to spend time surrounded
by this kind of beauty?

It's the simple
pleasures in life.

That's what makes
it all worthwhile.

It's been such a good
day just out exploring
the history of this place.

Now I wanna go up
here and see if I caught
anything in my net today.

Who knows? Maybe
I'll have a fish for dinner.

NARRATOR: Glenn has
spent the day at Thru Creek,
discovering time-worn camps

from the regions'
mysterious past.

But before he can rest for
the evening, Glenn must pull
the net he set in the morning

in hopes of harvesting fish
to supplement the night's meal.

GLENN: Here's my net.
Right where I left it.

It doesn't look
like I caught anything.

That's the way it goes.

Sometimes it takes longer
to catch a fish than others.

Fish don't come easy out here.

Especially this time of year,
it gets harder to catch them.

In the spring, there are a
lot more fish in the shallows.

This time of year, they seem
to move into deeper water.

When you think about trying
to make a living out here,

like hunters were
100 to 150 years ago when
they were still using

a stone tool
to cut down a tree,

imagine them trying
to catch fish here.

And coming up empty-handed.

So it was a pretty
rough life out here for
people at that time.

Luckily, things are a
little easier today.

I got some food with me.

I got a bag of
rice in my pack.

I got to look around for
some wood, build a fire here.

Anywhere you go on this
Earth, there are stories
waiting to be discovered.

And today, I actually
found the physical remains
that were left behind by

the people who
lived those stories.

It's a nice way to spend
the summer, out exploring.

Seeing things.

Anywhere you go, you can
count that probably someone
else was there before you.

Maybe it was
thousands of years ago.

But there have been people
who lived their whole
lives right in this area.

And it's interesting to
see what little things
they left behind.

Even if it's only
a tree stump.

It's got a story to tell.

It's been a good day.

CHIP: It's not shopping in a
store, but we call it shopping
because we're trying to go

home with the goods, the food.

It's always the river first.

NARRATOR: The Hailstones
are surveying the waters in
Kookoochiaq for fish that can

be harvested
this time of year.

After teaching their
daughters to fish for
pike with a rod and reel.

Chip and Agnes have now
brought them to a different
area to catch another equally

important food source.

-Pass one to, um, Carol.

-You know, we've already
got a nice, nice amount of
pike back there at the camp.

And, uh, we come down
to where the river meets the
sea and this brackish water

is where the sheefish are.

Oh, man. One jumped
right behind my lure.

It's a little bit
of everything here.

-You got one?
-She's got one. She got one!

-Oh, she's got one!
-Oh!
-Get a hook, get a hook on.

-It's a big one!
Holy cow, dad!

-Whoa!
-Hook it!
-Whoa!

-Hook it in the face.

CAROL: Holy cow, dad!

-Whoa!
-Hook it!
-Whoa!

-Hook it in the face.
-It's a fighter.
Whoa, it's gone.

-Oh, it's gone?
-Holy.
-Well, let's get another one.

-Holy cow.
-It's a lot of fun, huh?
-Yup.

-You never know
what you'll get.
-Ah! Again.

CHIP: Yeah, you got to be
mindful of other people's
eyes and faces and stuff.

If you hook someone's
eye, they ain't gonna
get no help out here.

We're all learning, you know.

This is, uh, something
I haven't done
since I was a kid.

And I want my
daughters to learn how.

This is a lot of fun.

Oh, yeah.
This is a big one.

Oh, that's a big pike.

-I got one!

AGNES: Oh, Qutan's got
one. Oh, I need that!

It's a sheefish!
Give me the hook!

-Just a second.
Okay here you go.

Whoa, yeah!
A sheefish and a pike!

-We got it! Look, Qutan,
you got a perfect one.

It's a sheefish.

This is what we're having
for dinner when we get back.

-We came down here to
the mouth to catch pike
and to catch sheefish

and we're catching them both.

Oh, I got another one on!

It's just a fishing day,
this is what we're here to do.

And you know what they say
about showing someone to fish
versus giving someone a fish.

-Wow, that's a big one.
-That's a good-sized one.

-So, we've done real good.

We caught a lot of
sheefish and pike. I'm happy.

Time to go warm up and make
a fire and eat some fish.

-Well, the fire's going
really good, so I'm gonna
let this burn down to coals

and I'll start cooking dinner.

If you wanna cut up that
last sheefish that we caught,
it'll be the freshest.

-Yup. Carol's got
that right here actually.

-Yup.
-She's scaling it, too.

It's nice to be
out here with my girls.

I don't even have to ask
them to start cutting the fish.

I used to have to
sit there and help them
and show them, but now,

they can just pretty much
cut them on their own.

Good to come to where I used
to grow up and fish and stuff
like that and let the girls

come here and have an
idea at least of where
my camps are, you know.

They might just get
right into these places.

-Are you so hungry
you need one first?

It's always been the advantage
of being the baby, isn't it?

Well, this meal's done.

-Oh?
-Grab a fork.

Oh my God, it's sweet.

-Thank you, girls, this
is a real good dinner.

I enjoyed the dinner, I
enjoyed the way we caught
these fish because I don't

usually catch fish this way.

You girls did a pretty
good job using your
rods catching fish.

-That was a lot of fun.

-You girls are learning
this country, now you're
learning these waters.

And if you choose to live
this way and wanna fish
and hunt for a living,

this is one of the
places you can do it and
do it quite, quite well.

JESSIE: Up here, you
get what you put in.

You put in a good hard
day's work every day and
you'll get somewhere.

Time to get some dead
trees and start stacking
them on this raft.

There's some good wood.

I can get a lot of
wood safely right here.

There's one thing there's
no lack of up here
is logs and firewood, so,

a few more trips like this and
I'll be set for the winter.

Plan on getting a lot of
firewood before snow ever
even touches the ground.

That's the sound dry
wood makes when it lands.

Bong. That's when you
know you got some good wood.

It'd take me a long time
to get this by dog team.

It'd take me a week.

Then that's a week
of winter wasted.

You got a certain amount of
time to get a lot of things
done and you got to manage

your time correctly and
this could be a really
good tool in my arsenal.

♪ ♪

(thunder)

All right.
That rain's my cue.

Anxious to see how
this is gonna go.

I definitely feel
the nerves going.

This is, uh, deciding
moment of this whole operation.

No room for error now.

Getting myself out away
from shore, away from these
sweepers and then got to get

it swung around straight
into the current here.

Looks like I got good control
over all this wood and this
raft, so, we're doing good.

Now, we're heading home.

It's nice to be out here doing
new things, especially things
that can provide me with a

much-needed resource.

I like being out here on the
river working really hard.

It's the best therapy and the
best medicine a guy can get.

Go out in the woods and work
hard for something you love.

I'm keeping challenging myself
in higher levels every day.

And that's how you get better.

ANDY: At the end of the
day, I wanna feel like I
accomplished something.

That's really important to me.

I think I'm still a little
bit early on the fishing.

I don't think there's a lot of
fish in the river right now,

but I sure am
getting hungry for one.

NARRATOR: Andy Bassich
has spent the past two days
fishing the Yukon River for

king salmon in a new
eddy formed by a landslide.

King salmon are a key food
source that will feed him
through the coming months.

But the season is closing soon
and time is of the essence.

ANDY: I know the salmon
are on their way up.

It's just a matter
of time but I'm starting to
feel a little bit impatient

about what's going on with
trying out this new eddy.

Last two corks are
bobbing a little bit.

We might actually have a
fish in this one this time.

I'll keep my fingers crossed.

That's a snag down there.

That's what causing it to bob.

I feel like the only thing I'm
catching is a bunch of trash.

Whoa, we got one.
Nice one.

First salmon of the year!

Caught in the slide eddy.

All right, finally
got myself a fish.

It's been a while
waiting to get this guy.

Lot of days, a lot of gas.

The slide set paid off.

This is just the beginning.

I'm, I'm not worried
about catching more now.

Just goes to show you got to
be patient and trust your gut
instincts putting the nets

where you think
they need to be.

It's hard to do sometimes.

But it always pays
off in the end.

Doesn't get much
better than this.

My first king
salmon of the year.

Oh, yeah. Mmm-hmm.

Wow, that literally
just melts in my mouth.

There's not a five-star
restaurant anywhere in the
world that'll produce that.

This big beautiful fish
swam 1250 miles to give me
sustenance and allow me to

continue on in the Yukon
even though he can't.

And I don't think there's a
person on the Yukon River that
doesn't have a lot of respect

and, and owe a lot of their
life and their sustenance
to these big beautiful

kings of the river.

Captioned by Cotter
Captioning Services.