Original subtitles

[soft dramatic music]

[ominous music]

[Sue] You got a lot of heavy duty changes going on here.

The bank,

that I used to

just walk right up to,

that's all gone.

Two years ago, the flooding was so bad,

it ate all of that away,

eroded it, knocked half that hill.

The power and erosion capabilities of water are tremendous.

For me,

if it continues,

it is sweeping the arc off,

it's either gonna take the camp out,

or it's gonna move the water so far away,

I can't sustain life at camp.

The river, it's changed.

It's jumped course.

It's eaten since I've been here,

almost three quarters of a mile off the end of my runway.

That's affecting me.

It's affecting my business,

and it potentially could shut it down.

[dramatic music]

This is a major shift in an ecosystem.

When my clients are going out and away from camp,

and I have to man, where these people are going.

I need to make an accurate map,

accurate to show how much change has happened.

When you move a river by a quarter of a mile, that's huge.

-[door bangs] -All right.

So when I get to the areas here,

and I'm gonna write down,

the anomalies on the maps that I have,

it shows this road as being intact.

When in fact,

the road is wiped out and gone.

The river has definitely jumped course,

and removed this section of the road.

That's gonna continue to erode here.

The river used to be on that side.

Now that it's on this side,

all that willow has grown up.

It's gonna create a different type of land

for animals, birds, plants, to live in.

Why is that important?

My backyard is millions of acres.

When the clients come in,

I've gotta keep track of where the safe zones are.

It's a big responsibility for me to keep the clients safe.

Death and mayhem is nobody's idea of a nice vacation.

I'll write all this stuff down, make my little notes,

go to the next area.

[dramatic music]

[Ricko] I always prepare for the worst.

You never know what can happen out there.

We pay today. We don't pay in the afterlife.

[soft dramatic music]

Man, I was young as hell in this pictures.

You don't realise how old you're getting

until when you look at old pictures.

A picture of my late brother Alan there.

He was an awesome brother.

He's the one that taught me how to shoot a rifle.

He passed away up here at Victor's cabin.

I was 13 when me and my late dad went out there to get him

'cause it was about to be Christmas and,

turned out to be, you know, the worst Christmas I ever had

and that was because we lost him.

[soft music]

We get to the cabin

and I seen a lot of blood in front of the cabin,

but in my head I was thinking

he had killed a moose or something

and he was like moving the meat around while it was fresh.

I was not willing to accept that it was his blood.

The door was open,

and

his gun was laying in the door,

his snowshoes is off,

his pack frame was on the ground in front of the cabin

and when we went inside,

he must've just walked in and he laid on that bed

and he covered himself with a blanket,

but I remember exactly how he was laying and his eyes,

how he looked, and I knew he was dead.

There was no question.

I instantly started crying,

and I just remember

my late dad saying, "hey, Alan!"

[Ricko sighs]

[soft dramatic music]

Shot himself with a gun accidentally

and blasted his pinky off

and just slowly bled out.

He tried to make it home, but he couldn't make it home.

That was my last time at that cabin.

[Ricko sighs]

[soft dramatic music]

After he passed my mom said,

"burn that cabin down."

Traditionally, that's what you do

when someone suffers like that in a cabin for a long time,

or went out in a bad way,

you would burn that cabin down.

So I think it's important that I get out there

and I kinda,

bury the hatchet in a way, you know, like,

just do it the way late mom wanted.

[soft music]

[dramatic music]

[engine revving]

Where Victor's cabin is, is a long ways up river.

We gotta get over some mountains and,

to me it's kind of spooky country out there.

There's basically real old war grounds.

Traditionally, we're not supposed to really be in the area,

living in the area out there.

After we lost our brother,

we didn't really ever go out there.

A little afraid to go out there.

But I think it's important that I go ahead

and just do something right.

Just do it and get out.

[engine revving]

[dramatic music]

[Andy] Living out in the bush, It's not for everyone.

But it's probably one of the most rewarding things

you can do in your life.

[dramatic music]

[ladder rattling]

[dramatic music continues]

So this is your escape?

Yeah, I think we better have something up there

in case the hole gets shammed up,

and I can't come back down through the hole.

Why don't you go upstairs and open up the window,

and I'll make sure this ladder is good and safe,

and then we can get started trying to,

figure out how to build this thing.

-Okay? -Okay.

Take me a second.

Up we go.

[Narrator] Andy Bassich just worked tirelessly

to improve his life along the Yukon River.

He spent several years constructing his dream home,

a secure, efficient cabin,

that will become his permanent residence in camp.

Today, he and Denise Becker,

will begin the final stages of the project

amid the shortening days and biting cold of winter's dawn.

One of the important things about this house

is I designed it so we could be pretty much floodproof

with all our valuables

from Yukon River breakups.

I'm always nervous.

After the flood in 2009,

you never know what this river's gonna do.

It can be your best friend or it can kick your ass.

The upper floor, the third story,

is gonna end up being storage for us,

but we have to be able to get up to it.

So I've decided what I'm gonna do,

is I'm gonna build an elevator.

The most efficient way for me

to utilise the space in my cabin.

So that's gonna be the ceiling,

but we gotta add four layers of that styrofoam.

And then I'm gonna drill a hole through it

and run rebar all the way up through this,

and this will be the ceiling from underneath.

And it has to be exact

so when it comes up through the hole,

it fits exactly in there without jamming.

The important thing about doing this the way I am is,

it's very difficult to keep the cold out.

So I've got a small hole,

I need to fill that tight.

With 12 inches of insulation,

I have to build very tight, specific measurements,

so that the elevator goes up and down,

fits very tightly into the hole,

so that it seals the hole so no cold air comes into

our beautiful new cabin.

So there's my plug.

This plug will keep the cold air from coming into my house.

So I'll make this cage up.

This will be my platform.

This will go up and down through the hole.

That's the game plan.

[equipment whirring]

There's a number of different challenges,

when you start building something this big.

I'm working outside, it's cold outside right now.

You know, when you're shaking and you're a little bit cold,

sometimes you don't take the time to do things

as neatly and precisely as you should.

But in this particular case, I'm gonna have to be patient.

This is really important to me

because I've put literally tens of thousands of hours

and millions of calories into building this home.

It is my dream home and I want it to be right.

My philosophy of living out here

is put in the hard work when you can, so when you're older,

you're very comfortable and it's very efficient to live,

'cause I don't want to leave here.

I've got my elevator cage built.

I can't get it in from the inside up to the top floor.

It's too long for Denise and I to carry it up the stairs.

I'm gonna have to rig, block and tackle off that,

pick point on my collar tie up there.

I should be ready to go now.

Seems like the best thing for me is keeping moving.

[dramatic music]

[Jessie] I believe in determination and drive.

It's who I am, who I've made myself, what I've become.

[dramatic music]

[dogs barking]

Okay, I got a bunch of stuff kind of back here,

my survival gear, my gun.

Most importantly, if I end up in a survival situation,

this is the number one thing I'm gonna need right here,

an extreme cold weather sleeping bag.

Well, I'm not necessarily planning on spending the night,

I want to be prepared for any kind of circumstances.

I'm in my third month of living out here.

Full-on winter,

rivers freezing up,

over two feet of snow already,

just got six inches last night.

It's been real good for the dog training.

The thing I need to do next,

is set down the safe trail.

I don't want to go out there and break out this trail

with the dogs.

Just going out and breaking trail

through 12 inches of powder and drifts,

it's not gonna make them tougher,

it's gonna break 'em down.

I need to get it packed down to where it'll set up

as it gets cooler and make a nice trail for the dogs.

Looking to head over towards Clearwater Creek.

It's about 55 miles from here,

that'll give me a nice long training run

to go camp with the dogs and run back.

[dramatic music]

I got my guns with me.

Finally get a chance to go out and do a little hunting

while I'm out doing something else.

All right, I got everything secured,

next thing to go grab is my drag down here.

[dramatic music]

This here's my drag, I've been using it around here locally.

You can see it's way down a really nice,

perfectly groomed surface, hard pack,

and it just makes a really perfect dog trail,

makes a perfect trail for getting in and out of camp.

Now I'm gonna take this drag,

put myself a good 55-mile run-in to take the dogs on.

If I don't get out there and do it now

before this big storm comes,

there'll be too much snow for me to pull this drag.

[dramatic music]

[engine revs]

This is a long way,

you never know what to expect,

so I have everything I might need while I'm out there.

It could take a lot longer or it could go pretty smooth.

[drums beating]

This is kind of my first real big adventure

on the snow machine,

but out here,

you want a good trail you gotta put it in yourself.

[soft upbeat music]

[dramatic music]

Whoa!

Oh, shit.

You got a cow and calf here on the trail.

I'm gonna stop and let them move their way,

I don't wanna disturb 'em.

There's about two, three feet of snow out there,

they don't want to get off of this hard trail

that I'm putting in, so,

with a dog team it could be a big issue,

but out here dragging the trail,

it's just something to stop and watch out in the wilderness.

[soft music]

Go on, old lady.

Get your calf out of here. Go protect your calf.

Oh, that's amazing. Life right there.

What a tough life, that little calf just wading out in the,

three foot deep snow.

I don't like to spook animals,

so I just wanted to stop and let them,

move at their own pace, not get their adrenaline all going.

This is their country.

I'm just here for a time just like they are, so.

[soft music]

We're out here with the dog team,

that's a pretty scary experience because,

just like that, she don't want to get off the trail.

And she can get pretty mad

when she's got her calf with them and,

that's why it's good to sometimes get away from the dogs

and get out in nature

and watch it just off the snow machine, I can see a lot.

It's nice and quiet.

Putting in a great trail but also getting to see a lot of,

what this landscape has to offer out here.

All right.

Give a check on how the drag's going.

See what kind of trail it's putting in, up here you can see,

I have a deep, punchy trail.

It's got a little bit of base under it.

I don't want my dogs pushing through deep snow

up to their chest,

so, this drag should be putting down a really nice,

wide pack trail.

That way, the next time snow falls,

there's a bottom under it.

I'll have a nice firm base.

Already starting to harden up,

but once it cools down tonight,

this'll turn into a highway for my dogs.

Looks like the drag's doing its job,

gotta keep moving forward towards Clearwater.

The snow is moving in,

the clouds [mumbles] in the mountains.

Definitely expecting there to be some more snow

on the way home.

By the time I come back through here,

it'll be a highway for my dogs.

[engine revs]

[dramatic music]

[Woman] You learn from your mistakes,

but big lessons come with big consequences sometimes.

[soft music]

[Andy] The elevator's gone together really well.

Everything's nice and square.

Next step is to try and get this thing up and to the hole

in the third story.

Because of the way the stairways are made,

they are a 90 degree turn

and there just isn't the room and the clearance

to get the elevator up through that hole from the inside.

[Denise] Okay.

Got a foot to go.

[Andy] There are a lot of moving parts and pieces

to this operation

and there's a lot of potential for catastrophe.

It weighs probably 100, 120 pounds,

and it's really awkward.

Okay, hang on.

'Cause it's gonna catch on that pulley.

[Andy] That's as high as it goes?

[Denise] You're at the knot.

[Andy] Okay.

It's tied off right now.

Okay.

We've got this knot right here.

That's as high as it can go.

And we don't have enough room,

there's not enough leverage to tip it

and bring it straight through.

We may have to just put it down

and put that pulley inside the window,

so it goes and pulls inside the window.

We just don't have enough height above us right now.

[Denise] Right.

That's the whole problem.

I'm gonna bring it back down, okay?

Okay.

The idea of lifting it with the pulleys is good,

but the position of the pulleys is completely wrong

for what I'm trying to do.

I think the next step right now,

is to try and move those pulleys inside the house

and see if we can't pull more towards the inside

and hopefully be able to pull the elevator

through the window.

So I'm gonna rig everything up to do that,

and then we'll just see what happens.

[dog barks]

What up, buddy?

We need to put you in harness

and let you pull this thing up here.

I think I'm gonna have Denise operate a come-along.

We'll use the come-along

to give us some mechanical advantage there

and we'll see if we can't get this cage up

through the window

before it gets too dark and too cold.

That is cool.

I hate the view of the elevator.

It's definitely stressful.

Just looks like if that elevator dropped,

it'd go right through the second window.

Next time we do this, remind me not to do this.

I just don't even know if I can look.

Okay, go ahead and crank.

Okay.

[dramatic music]

Keep going.

Okay, hold on.

I gotta see if I can clear the window, I may not clear.

Ready to go?

[Denise] Yeah.

Go, go, go!

[groans] You gotta be quick.

Yeah, keep going.

Keep going!

[dramatic music]

Okay, we're in.

[Denise] You good?

Yeah, we're good.

Somehow,

that was fun.

-It's in. -[Andy] It's in.

Yay!

I'll take a yay when I got a cold beer in my hand,

in about half an hour.

What's wrong with now?

[Denise laughs]

[dramatic music]

[Ricko] This earth right here is a powerful planet.

If you don't respect it, it'll consume you.

[ominous music]

[soft spooky music]

[Narrator] Ricko has travelled 18 miles

into the Huslia wilderness,

to locate his family's remote trapping cabin,

which is the site of his brother Alan's tragic death.

As is custom in Athabaskan culture,

Ricko hopes to burn it down,

to finally let go of his brother's spirit.

[Ricko] As far as finding this place,

all we're going by out here when we travel,

is landmarks.

It's called Victor's Cabin.

My older brother Victor built for trapping.

Even a small trapping cabin like this

is a huge asset out here and it can save your life.

It's such a lot of work to build it.

I could see why my older brothers,

they didn't want to burn it down,

but rightfully we should have.

That's what I'll do today,

is I'll burn it through the outside

because it's our way of giving back to the people

that went before us.

And, I want to make sure there's no bear in there though,

because bears and stuff, they go in these cabins

while you're not around.

And you know, it's a dry spot, so you never know.

So I'm gonna keep my rifle out here

and I'm gonna make sure it's safe before I even do anything.

[bell dings]

It's amazing this cabin is still standing as much as it is.

[bell dings]

Doesn't look like anything is in there,

but you can tell something's been in there

and like ripped the place.

Oh, I haven't seen this place in years.

Just kind of climbing there,

check it out for a second.

[ominous music]

You see bears, chewed stuff up in here.

Bear teeth marks, a lot of bears in this area.

Crazy to see stuff and after 30 years, is still here.

This is a first aid kit right here.

You know that's what he was doing before he passed away,

is he was trying to patch himself up.

There's nothing he could do though,

he was out here by himself.

And especially when you're out here by yourself,

if you make one mistake and it's game over out here.

This is my late brother Alan's pen.

This pen makes me think of my late brother's diary

and when he was writing in his diary before he passed.

He was out here by himself for a long time

and he was reflecting on his life.

And he said he wished he treated people better.

In his diary he stated how important it was to,

treat people good.

And he also said that,

he believed in God.

So I believe his heart was in a real good spot

before he passed.

And he did pass when he was laying in his bed.

And I guess if you think about life

and you're out here alone and you're hurt

and it's obviously a very lonely way to die,

but, at least he died in his bed and not,

in the snow somewhere, so.

That's the one that [sobs].

That's the one that hit me.

That's the one that hurt.

[Ricko sobs]

I think his death really...

It really affected me and all my siblings

and my mom and my dad.

You don't realise when you have someone

that kind of holds everybody together.

And I think when we lost him,

my family was never really

same after that.

After that in my life,

I think I feel like I went through years of substance abuse

and I cried loud when I drink.

And I think I took a lot of bad choices in life

because I held it in so much.

I don't want to blame it on him.

Like I don't want him looking at me now,

and I know he probably somewhere and he can see me,

but I just want him to know I love him

and we all loved him so much.

[Ricko sighs]

Visiting this place is opening up old wounds,

but I think it also,

gets rid of all the bad stuff in that wound,

starts to heal again

and it's important that I put it behind me and honour him

and honour my late mom's wishes and burn the cabin down

and just let it all go.

Let it all go up in smoke.

[ominous music]

[soft music]

[Jessie] I'm a product of all environments

that I've been in,

and now I'm the product of this environment.

This is the place for me to really maximise my potential.

[soft music]

[engine revving]

The weather is deteriorating real fast.

The storm I thought it was coming,

it's definitely coming on now.

This is the kind of snow that adds up quick.

The wind's starting to blow,

that's gonna cause some drifts.

I'm heading into some high country,

I'm about 40 miles away from camp now.

Means I got 15 more miles of trail

to put my 55 mile trail into Clearwater.

15 miles can be a long way in these kinds of conditions.

With snow like this,

it could snow two foot in a day out here.

Putting my own 55-mile trail out in the wilderness,

through a storm like this,

that's a challenge and I'm up for it.

[dramatic music]

For me, this is a new area.

All right, this is the bush.

You wait around for somebody else to do things out here,

you might be waiting a long time.

And this is something

I take great satisfaction and pride on,

mostly because it's for my dogs.

I've learned the hard way with dogs for nine years.

I ain't gonna come out here and trash a team breaking trail.

I'm gonna set a really good trail.

Come out here and train to win a world-class race

with a world-class dog team.

[dramatic music]

Boy, the trees [mumbles].

[wings flapping]

[gun bangs]

[mumbles] and I didn't get it.

I just saw some ptarmigan come over here

and it's a way steep snow.

I just shot at one and they flew off,

I don't think I hit it.

Well, they're around that tree.

[Jessie sighs]

Oh boy, get it out, out here.

[gun bangs]

Got it.

There's a bunch of ptarmigan out here,

I've already got one down.

[Jessie mumbles]

Whenever I'm hunting,

my winning focus is that I'm gonna power through this.

[gun bangs]

An opportunity missed, is one you might not ever get again.

So, you gotta act quick.

[gun clicks]

[gun bangs]

Oh, there's another one.

[gun bangs]

I got another one. Two of 'em.

I've got five down. Been a pretty exciting hunt.

I faltered on my first shot

'cause I was so excited.

This time I came in with some patience,

realised they were gonna kinda,

stay here a little still and let me stock up.

Now I gotta get out here in the field,

find the rest of my birds.

Everything happens so fast

when you hit a flock of ptarmigan like that.

Kind of try to keep track

of where you knocked these birds down at.

Getting these ptarmigan, that's providing myself with food,

that's true subsistence living.

Every time you go somewhere,

you're keeping your eye out for something to eat.

Small game is a staple food for me.

So, seeing this abundance of ptarmigan out here

is very important.

I know that as I come out here and groom my trail,

I can put up food for myself.

Whew!

Five beautiful birds, take home for dinner.

Already got 45 miles of trail in.

The storm is getting worse and it's still a big issue.

And then I gotta finish getting this trail

and I don't wanna get stuck out here tonight.

If I get my trail into Clearwater,

55-mile trail in,

and I come away with these five birds,

that's one of the best days I've had in a long time.

[Sue] Flexibility saves you.

Predictability gets you killed.

[dramatic music]

[wind howling]

Man, this wind is something else.

Every single day is like

a whole new landscape,

full of new treachery and,

you never quite know what you're gonna get.

[Narrator] Sue Aikens is creating a current map

of the landscape in Kavik.

The map will help Sue and her clients keep a keen eye

on the dangers and resources of the ever-changing tundra,

but she must be wary of the perils that lie on the path

of this vital expedition.

[Sue] Wow.

Look at that.

This is a large animal.

That's not a fox.

Is it today's?

No.

But I just got all this snow,

so it could've been yesterday.

Down inside of here,

it's kind of an ambush area for the predators.

Kind of a spooky section for me.

I have a main pack of wolves,

22 wolves is usually what I have been able to count,

and they dug a den and they keep reusing it.

From where camp is,

you got three quarters of a mile to here so,

I will make a notation,

that there are close predators in large numbers.

We're sharing the Arctic together,

but this is my fricking line in the sand.

You stay on your half, I stay on mine.

[soft ominous music]

This is the area getting to where

there's some inactive riverbed systems.

There's a lot more water on it.

This was not quite like this when I was here last.

I will have to kinda be careful

because I do not know how deep it is.

[ominous music]

[ice rattling]

Seems incongruous to have,

20, 30 below zero windchill,

maybe even up to...

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

There's some flowing water right there, Mister.

There's water everywhere.

And that's a whole lot of [speaks in foreign language]

to be driving on.

I don't want to go in the drink, that's for sure.

That wind is blowing pretty good.

That's making it closer to,

probably 20 something, 30 something

below zero on your beak.

For this amount of water,

you gotta have spring water for it.

[dramatic music]

Liquid water is like gold anytime of the year here.

I'm gonna fill up my little tote, get a little extra water,

that's a bonus for me.

If it's still running after this weather,

it's definitely spring water.

I've got a series of spring activity.

So on my map,

I'm gonna note that there's a spring field here,

'cause that's what I think I'm looking at.

If I had not have chosen to do the map,

I would never have seen this resource.

And for me, that's everything.

There's so much information I've catalogued.

Now I need to take that wealth of information

and translate it into a map

and keep the clients and the people that come through safe.

[dramatic music]

[Jessie] This is my passion. This is my motivation.

I made my own destiny.

[dramatic music]

[engine revving]

Fuck!

As I'm climbing up into this higher elevation,

it's getting pretty difficult going.

And this is six feet of snow.

It's very hard to control the machine in,

and it's very easy to get stuck in.

When you get stuck, you're gonna be digging for hours

to get out.

The drag's giving me a lot of problems going forward

and getting stuck.

It's gotta go.

[ominous music]

I'm gonna head up, pick up the drag on the way home.

I'm not gonna let anything stop me

from getting to Clearwater.

Time to get the job done.

[dramatic music]

[upbeat music]

Moving out.

All right.

It's a damn good thing I dropped those tyres off

because it's difficult to not get in through here

just with the machine.

[dramatic music]

[Jessie groans]

It's getting real.

Whew!

All right.

It's a lot of work trying to steer this machine.

Fuck!

Once I start going off to the right,

and there's nothing but really deep snow there,

there's a lot of cliffs off the side there.

I gotta stop a couple times, but I was able to back out.

If I can punch through there with the snow machine,

any trail's better than no trail.

That's the beginning of a long winter worth of work,

trying to maintain this trail system.

[soft music]

I'm here at Clearwater Creek.

I'm really happy to make it here.

Getting this trail,

it gives me a whole 55 miles to travel with the dogs.

[soft music]

It's not always the destination, it's the journey.

But man, this is one heck of a destination to be at.

Pulled up here,

took a little stop to take a look at the countryside,

started seeing moose everywhere.

This is quite some country right here.

Every time I get out my doorstep here,

I get to know this country more and more

and this is gonna be a great place

to be coming with the dogs training.

I'm really looking forward to having this nice trail

and being able to start bumping up the miles

and doing some longer runs.

Well, it's getting dark.

I'm gonna pick up the drag,

get home,

have myself a nice ptarmigan dinner.

[Andy] Your life can always be improved upon.

How much work do you want to put into it?

And is it worth it?

[welding machine whirring]

[dramatic music]

[Narrator] Andy and Denise

are finishing the installation of an elevator

in their three story cabin.

After getting the heavy device up to the third floor,

Andy must refocus and look past the day's obstacles,

if he's to complete the final phase of the project

and finish the home of his dreams along the Yukon River.

[Andy] I tend to be my own hardest critic.

And when I get down on myself for not doing things well,

it kind of frustrates me.

The vision of what I want to do is there,

but some of the execution wasn't quite

what I had hoped it would be.

Today I'm gonna try and redeem myself.

Let's see if this beam goes down,

Okay.

[machine whirs]

Sounds like the,

foam board is binding on it.

I might be able to just take a handsaw,

stick it up there

and just kind of work the curve a little bit

and see if we can do it that way.

The elevator is a really tight fit right now.

Sometimes you draw things out, you weld them,

you put 'em together,

you think you got it right,

but sometimes when you go to put it into place,

you forget one aspect.

And our tolerances, getting it through this frame,

are extremely tight.

Way tighter than I thought it was gonna be.

Can you even hear me, Denise?

[Denise] Yes.

[Andy] Let's go ahead and lower it down just a little bit,

let me see what happens here.

[Denise] Okay, here it goes.

It's not going down.You want me to push?

[Andy] Just hold it down then.

[Denise] [laughs] Just this blade.

Something that you would see in a horror movie [laughs].

Yeah, it's a piece of plywood

is not lining up or something.

I'm starting to see light through there

so we're making progress.

[Andy] Just lower it a half an inch

and then kind of jump up and down on it.

We gotta get it all the way down here so I can trim it.

Okay.

Hopefully there's not too much slack up there that I,

all of a sudden go for a fast ride down.

All right, try it now.

[elevator creaking]

Keep going.

[ominous music]

-[elevator creaks] -Whoa!

Hold on.

Andy, you know I've got quite a bit of slack

if this drops.

Don't stand on it for a minute, okay?

[Denise] Yeah.

Are you coming up?

[Andy] Yep.

[soft music]

[machine whirring]

[Denise] It's going. It's going! It's going!

Needs a little tweaking, but it's working.

It works.

It just needs some fine tuning.

Sometimes you really get frustrated,

you get kicked in the butt and you feel like quitting,

but both Denise and I aren't quitters.

I'm not a person who lives in the past so,

when bad things happen,

I learn from 'em, I move on,

and hopefully I can do it better the next time.

[equipment whirring]

That is pretty slick.

Look at that.

Be right here about where it would be level.

Should we do a two-person try?

It's working!

Smile.

It's working, look.

[Andy] Good job.

[Denise] Yay!

[dramatic music]

[Jessie] I'm not the top of the food chain here,

I'm part of the food chain.

And how I live my life dictates whether that's the bottom

or the top.

[dramatic music]

[wind howling]

[soft music]

[Sue] I pretty well have all my imagery set on my map.

My coal, my resources,

the things that I can keep my clients safe with.

I don't think anybody's gonna call me Suenardo da Vinci

anytime soon.

But,

I like it.

I could keep making changes all day long.

But at some point you gotta put the tools away.

I do think that this map is a ballad if you will.

I've added in,

a lot of my personal history here.

[Man] There it is. Home sweet home.

[Sue] I've been here, 19 going into 20 years now.

Survived storms that'll tear the skin right off your hide.

[soft music]

I travel the land.

I use resources from the land.

There are those of us that are natural born explorers.

I was here when this hill,

got wiped out by the flooding,

and that I was the one trying to get across there,

in the really heavy currents.

I'm the one that's been here to see the wolf den

and see the wolves,

the bears,

caribou crossing.

I've gotten ptarmigan and berries here.

I didn't just draw a fox, it's a happy playful friend.

It's not to scale because it's part of my heart

and very important to me.

Today,

by simply

being curious

and wanting to do a map,

I discovered a spring.

That's new, that wasn't there.

This is all new territory.

As I discover more,

I can add more because in the almost 20 years

that I've been here,

there's not been one year go by,

that I haven't been amazed by something new,

different,

that I've never seen or done before.

A little bit of hard work, a little bit of freezing,

a little bit of fun.

Come on!

A couple of decades of living.

Welcome to the Kavik resource map.

It's imperfectly perfect. Just like me.

[wind howling]

[Jessie] Out here you can be wrong once. That's it.

You don't get another chance.

You can't gamble with your life.

[ominous music]

To burn this cabin out, I gotta get the snow off the top

so, take a little work,

but it's not the biggest cabin in the world

so shouldn't take too long.

And I'll make sure I don't fall through [mumbles]

very old cabin.

Having my brother Victor's cabin still up like this

is almost like we're holding the spirit back

of our late brother.

For me to go out here and burn it down

it's kind of like fulfilling the wishes of my late mom.

There's a reason behind everything in Athabaskan culture

and she wanted us to burn this cabin down

just as a way to let go.

Having this cabin up all these years,

it's been hard for me to let go of that experience

that happened way, way back 30 years ago.

[soft ominous music]

[speaks in foreign language]

[chants in foreign language]

[soft music]

What did I say is just [speaks in foreign language]

and thank you to my older brother.

[speaks in foreign language]

I always bring food.

It's like giving back to our ancestors and,

people who have gone before us,

to honour and burn food for my brother Alan.

[soft sombre music]

[fire crackling]

Here they're probably starting to catch fire, so.

[sombre music]

Last thing I gonna do here and,

last time I'll see this place ever again.

[soft sombre music]

Feel like, I let go a lot of hard feelings.

And also, I think it's a very healing moment

because it was hard for me to get out here,

to find the place and not only that,

just bringing myself emotionally to do this.

Now that the cabin is burning,

I feel like on the other side, there's some place.

My late mom, my late dad, my late siblings,

including my late brother, Alan,

wherever they're at right now,

I believe they're smiling down on me

and they're happy for what I did.

I think that was a final chapter

and letting go of my late brother

was by burning this cabin down

and letting his spirit move on

and also letting my spirit heal and let me feel better

and the rest of my family and move on in life and enjoy life

because in the end,

we'll all be on the other side.

[soft music]