Original subtitles

[dramatic music]

♪

- This move is a complete game changer

so long as I can find food from the ocean,

but if I don't catch a fish on those lines,

I don't know what's gonna happen.

- We've got a 600-pound log

that floated in over my gill net.

I have to get this cove figured out.

I need to finish the boat.

I'm so pressed for time

wondering if those salmon are running yet.

- I've thought, "Maybe after I get down climbing a mountain,

then I'll just hang it up."

Yeah!

And right now, that's the last thing on my mind.

I feel recharged,

and I feel like I can take on the world.

- Who are you when everything's been stripped away?

[bleep].

[yelping]

- It's scary out here in these woods.

- I have not had a serious meal in a week.

- If I can't get a fire, then I can't stay here.

- It's always in the back of your mind,

"Well, I could tap out."

- Putting up with this filming [bleep]?

- Running into a predator, it's not an if.

It's a when.

Get the hell out of here.

I see you. Get out of here!

- I'm living a hand-to-mouth existence.

Yes! Ah!

- $500,000 is a lot of money.

- It's just gonna keep getting harder.

- It's not the world that needs to change.

It's me that needs to change.

[moans]

♪

[water rushing]

Ha, ha!

Go on, drop it.

[growls]

Oh, my goodness.

Okay, I'm sitting here fooling with the camera, right?

Just dicking around with this camera,

and a ferret runs past

with this gigantic eel in its mouth.

And I thought, if I scare him bad enough

maybe he'll drop the little eel.

Oh, my goodness.

The nerve to come running past a starving man

with an eel in your mouth, you know?

Very impolite. Very impolite thing to do.

[mink squeaking]

Hey, I am hungry.

[soft music]

No bout adoubt it. I am hungry.

I'm coming to the conclusion that I have to exploit

every last resource of food that I can in my cove,

and bull kelp, it's everywhere.

I'm gonna cook this and see if it works

as a cooked vegetable

because I need some bulk.

Okay?

Nothing good is happening in the GI tract here.

You know what I'm saying? Nothing, uh...

[sniffs]

Very little movement. Let's just say that.

Very little movement.

Nothing going in. Nothing going out.

And I'm getting worried.

Anyway, I'm gonna get to work cutting this stuff up

and putting it in my little pot of water.

Letting it soak.

[dramatic music]

♪

- Nothing like doing yard work when you're on vacation, huh?

♪

Vacation with no food.

[seagulls cawing]

Eff you, seagull.

♪

You're on the menu next.

♪

I got to be honest, my moods have been,

like, up and down, and all around.

I mean, my head's still in the game.

It's just, it's depressing to know

by what a slim margin you hold on by.

That's, I think, what's getting me

because I want to stay out here for a really long time,

but the calories scare me.

If I can't get protein,

I'm not gonna be out here for that long.

I got to start catching some fish, man.

If I can't catch any fish, some mice would be good.

There's a little bit of protein there.

Over where I kind of prepare some of my stuff,

I see some m droppings,

so I know there's a mouse around.

At least one.

So I think I'm gonna use my time today

and set up some mouse traps.

♪

God, I hate mice.

Whenever you find one there's at least one more.

So I need to take care of 'em.

Uh, at least it's a mouse outside my shelter.

Thank God for that.

♪

Just stay out of my camp.

That is so worrying to me.

♪

You know, these are-- these are country mice.

These guys are smarter than the average mouse.

♪

I think that determination

and will to survive

will get you a lot further sometimes than skill will.

♪

I do have some skill,

but I think that determination is kind of what sets me apart.

This rock keeps on wanting to move too.

♪

So this is my first successful setting

of a Paiute deadfall.

The rock is putting pressure,

which is trying to make this back end go up.

This back end is being held in place

by this cordage and this little toggle here.

This little toggle is trying to go that direction,

but it can't got that direction

because of this stick

that's being held in the back.

Now that's my bait stick,

and this is just a real rough setting of this.

This is my first time ever,

and I'm excited about this.

I hope this works. Ha!

That's how light it was, is it didn't stay.

[soft music]

♪

I'm really interested to see if this will work.

I've practiced a lot of these trapping techniques.

♪

It would be good to say that I trapped a mouse

while I was out here-- trapped something

for crying out loud.

[dramatic music]

♪

- The kayak is--is finished.

It's exciting to me.

[laughs]

Uh...

"The Delicate One" in Spanish--

"La Delicada"-- because it has thin skin.

This skin can be punctured.

One barnacle.

♪

I'm gonna carry "The Delicate One"

to the cove out there.

♪

This boat was a lot of work.

Right now I could have ten sets with fish hooks out,

and instead I'm making a huge investment

in time and energy, taking a huge gamble,

to fish offshore.

Which in the long run will be, I hope,

more productive.

♪

Ready to try it out.

Which is a moment I expect with some trepidation.

I don't want to take a swim--

involuntary swim.

That kind of exposure to possible hypothermia

worries me a lot.

♪

In the end, the ocean will decide and tell

if she's seaworthy or not.

I got it out on the cove here

where I want to try it out.

♪

Getting in and out is gonna be a--

it's gonna be quite a challenge.

♪

She is tippy. That's for sure.

♪

She's tippy like hell.

♪

It's very unstable. [grunts]

[grunting]

[dramatic music]

♪

She's tippy like hell.

♪

It's very unstable. [grunts]

♪

[grunting]

[sighs] Oh, she is tippy.

She is tippy.

Boy, I nearly--I nearly got in.

Well, it's amazing to be out on the water,

I have to say, but, uh...

this boat makes me pretty nervous.

[soft music]

In she goes.

Now... here we go.

Well, that was the, uh, maiden voyage,

so to speak.

♪

Not a tragedy, but a setback.

♪

She actually goes pretty well.

She wants to go places.

It's me.

I'm not sure if I want to go places with her...

[chuckles] Quite yet.

She is very unstable. [laughs]

I should have built her wider.

Either I get used to her

or I can help myself out with an outrigger.

♪

[sighs] I hope I can,

uh, figure something out

and--and go and tr find the salmon

'cause my days here are counted

unless I found some decent amount of grub.

[dramatic music]

♪

- Me and that mouse are going round and round.

My Paiute deadfall has sprung.

The periwinkle that I tied onto the bait spit stick is gone.

The rock fell a certain way

to where I think the mouse got away.

Or the thing sprung,

and then the mouse just came and took the bait.

♪

It's, like, me against him now,

and it's--now it's personal.

Damn it.

Little bastard.

I'm gonna keep working at it.

If I have this rock about like this...

All right, I'm semi-happy with that.

And there we have it.

I hope I crush this little suckers head tonight.

[soft music]

♪

Well, that's about it.

Good night.

♪

♪ I'm going to sleep good tonight ♪

[soft music]

[wolf howls]

♪

[rock clatters]

- What the--

[chuckling softly]

Oh, my God.

♪

I'm so freaking pumped right now I'm shaking.

I finally, finally, finally caught that effing mouse

in my Paiute deadfall.

I been screwing with this

and screwing with this and screwing with it.

Just about ready to go in bed,

put everything in be-- in there and I heard ka-thunk.

And I'm like, "What the hell?" You know?

'Cause I set it really light this time.

I came out, fricking mouse is under the rock.

I'm like, "Oh, hell yeah,"

and I squished him hard in the--in the rock,

boom, he fricking takes off.

Oh, I was just bummed.

Just piss-ass bummed.

So then I had my headlamp out, and I looked

and I--and I see him looking at me in a hole,

so I grab my freaking spear,

and I jabbed him in the ho-- in the hole,

and then I stabbed him, and then he took off running,

and I stomped on him.

So I finally-- and then I took my knife

and cut his little fricking throat.

♪

And he's right there.

♪

He went into this hole,

and I took my fricking spear

anand he took off running,e,

and I just barely got him again with this,

and I just barely got his tail.

Oh, my God, I caught a fricking mouse.

I am so stoked.

♪

My first freaking primitive trap kill, man.

Oh, I finally got the little bastard.

Right on, man.

[dramatic music]

♪

- I wanted to show y'all something.

Okay.

This gigantic cedar log was not here this morning.

And this area right here is where I was planning

on putting up my gill net, the new gill net.

Now I used to have it mounted over on this side.

It used to be over here,

and I'm thinking now, I'm gonna put it there.

If I had put it there,

look what would have taken out my net.

There's just no way for me to--to set that gill net

anywhere in here

that these gigantic cedar torpedoes

won't take it out.

The only thing that's worked for me

so far to get food out of the cove,

other than foraging for shellfish,

is a hook and a line.

Getting a nice roll of cord here.

It's starting to look like a crab line.

And that way I can throw the bait out there

and drag 'em in, you know.

Or throw it down and pull 'em up.

As a kid, we would fish for crabs in New Jersey.

I would take a big heavy line, tie a dead fish to it,

and lower it down in the water,

and crabs, who are attracted to that,

will bite on and latch onto that

and I could just pull them back out.

Got him.

See that?

Here you go.

Dungeness crabs. I love them.

They're greedy little creatures that hang out

in the top of the kelps waiting to drop a limpet,

and then when you drop a limpet on 'em they grab it,

and if you don't get 'em again-- you don't get 'em

the first time, they'll grab it again

and again and again until you hook 'em in the body

or they just get so obstinate.

You pull 'em free of the kelp and they just hang on

until you lift 'em up here on the rocks.

[soft music]

See a crab down here. I'm gonna try and get him.

♪

I have a second Dungeness crab.

♪

Number three!

[sniffs]

He lost a claw in the figh

♪

But the mammals won!

I have caught four of these guys.

Oh, my goodness. I'm just gonna keep--

[stammers] I'm flabbergasted.

[laughs]

Number five!

♪ Oh, yeah, oh, yeah ♪

Look at this. Look at this.

There's one, two, three,

four, and five.

♪

You ever have one of those days...

where...

everything's going right!

Yes, that's number six, folks!

Whoo!

Ow!

[voice echoes]

Oh, this place has an awesome echo.

That's the Dungeness crab cry of victory.

Yes, this is number six.

There could not have been a better day out here.

As hungry as I am,

and as dejected as I have been,

the only thing that could make this better, seriously...

[sniffs] Oh, my goodness,

for a Baptist to say this,

would be beer and friends.

That's it, man.

♪

Look at that.

This is the most fun I've had in--in a long time.

♪

♪

[fire crackling]

- Never have I been more happy or excited about a meal

in a survival situation...

I tell you, folks,

there's painful days out there in life.

There really is, but there's good ones too, you know?

And you can't lose sight of that.

Have you ever had a perfect day?

Or a perfect moment?

You remember 'em the rest of your life.

A perfect moment is so-- is a moment you just remember

the rest of your life. [sniffs]

I've had a few of them in my lifetime.

Just moments that are just perfect.

Where everything is just-- the timing, everything is

just perfect,

and this is one of 'em.

I'm telling you.

To be this hungry and to sit down

to a meal like this.

♪

The anticipation

that I get to eat these things right now.

Suffice to say,

this is the feast of a lifetime.

♪

You see, the thing is about catching the crabs,

that felt like a beginning.

That felt like the start of something,

and that's the kind of thing you need out here

to keep yourself interested,

to keep yourself enthusiastic.

♪

That's the stuff that makes me happy to be here

and gives me hope for tomorrow.

♪

- You know, it's one thing to talk about finding

a food source,

um...

plants, animals, whatever it is.

It's quite another thing

to find

a sustainable food source.

Something that doesn't really run out

or takes a really long time to run out,

and something like these snails,

that's huge.

There's enough of these things

to where

I'm not gonna go hungry.

You know, as long as I can get out here

when the tide's low,

you know, you can--

can in essence live indefinitely.

This thing's almost full.

♪

I don't know if I'll be able to eat all this or not.

♪

I think that's the hallmark

of a good survival situation.

♪

Sustainable food.

And fortunately, I have these snails.

♪

You get deep-fried calamari.

It tastes almost like that.

All right, go and wash my hands.

[grunts]

Other than that, pretty much normal day

of a whole lot of nothing.

[dramatic music]

♪

Just kind of chilling here,

waiting for the tide to go out.

[soft music]

I got to check these lines I put in the surf.

♪

What to do now for two hours.

♪

Ah, let's read a book.

Oh, wait.

Let's watch some TV.

Oh, wait.

Watch a movie.

Oh, that's right.

Yeah, it's sprinkling just enough

to where I don't want my hood to get wet.

[soft music]

♪

I was out checking all my lines.

My surf lines caught me this today.

Now, it's mostly head,

there's not a lot of meat there,

but there's a heck of a lot more meat here

than a limpet or--or a periwinkle.

As I was out there,

I saw something attached to the bull kelp.

♪

Those are huge freaking crabs, man.

They're ginormous.

Oh, my gosh, these things are huge.

Look at that claw.

Oh, my God. Ah.

Crabs and fish, baby.

Crabs and fish.

Whoo!

Sometimes you're lucky, and sometimes you're good.

Sometimes it's better to be lucky.

[laughs]

♪

I walked by this Paiute deadfall

that I made today,

and it's down,

so now I got to reset it.

My work tonight never seems to end.

♪

Oh! Look at that.

Squished mouse, my favorite.

Just fricking squished

like a damn pancake, baby.

Yeah!

Fish and mouse

and crabs tomorrow!

Whoo!

Hell, yeah.

You didn't even get the bait, you little bastard.

Ha!

Nice.

Shall we reset you?

Yes, we should.

Ha, ha.

Whoo!

Wow. Hell, yeah, man.

♪

I just went

to go clean the mouse, man.

I just cleaned him and gutted him.

I got my fish right here,

and now my Paiute deadfall is down again.

Same one. Down.

♪

Bazinga!

[chuckles] This thing is,

like, the freaking mouse

fricking slayer, man.

This thing is--

holy schnikes.

♪

Yeah, baby.

Ooh, and the bait's still there.

Yeah.

I got to go clean another mouse.

♪

Holy crap, man.

♪

Holy crap.

♪

Better start thinking about mouse recipes.

♪

[dramatic music]

♪

- Thought I had built a good boat,

and it is a good boat,

but, uh, for what I want to do out here,

I want to be really stable

sitting in the water like a duck.

Just sit there and fish.

♪

I want to build an outrigger.

♪

An outrigger is basically a stick,

and at the end of the stick some floats.

Like, something that is very buoyant.

The problem with that is that,

um, I only have one thing.

Treasure.

My freshwater can.

♪

I need another pretty buoyant thing

for the other side.

♪

And I was praying for,

uh, for some help.

And, uh...

I prayed hard.

♪

So I went beach combing today...

♪

And I just found this.

I hope you can see it well.

♪

[sighs] I mean...

♪

I'm--I'm beyond words

with gratitude.

♪

This one really got me.

[chuckles]

This one,

um, just blowing off my socks right now.

And there's

a big length of rope that comes with it.

[exhales] Whew.

♪

Pretty special moment for me right now

because if the boat floats well...

♪

I could be out here for a long time.

♪

[leaves rustling]

[exhales]

Well, it's, uh...

[sniffs]

About 11:00.

I've done, uh, pretty much everything

I've set out to do today.

I ate.

I got water.

I worked out a little bit.

[exhales]

It's really all I had to do.

[grunts]

And it's only 11:00.

[exhales]

So now what?

I don't know.

There's a huge difference between someone that

would go out into the middle of the woods

and just live for the rest of their life

and the--the type of survival training

that I'm used to.

Most of that training revolves around

a military mindset.

So it revolves around a 72-hour period

of getting yourself out of dodge,

trying not to get killed,

surviving enough to get out.

[soft dramatic music]

It's not a long-term type deal.

♪

In the military you're-- you're always forced

to go, go, go.

♪

I'm more comfortable with that.

♪

So now it just becomes a matter of waiting.

♪

Just waiting.

♪

Waiting, waiting, waiting.

♪

And this is when your brain really starts

to play tricks on you.

♪

'Cause you start to think,

"Well, why the hell am I doing this?

"I'm not accomplishing anything.

I'm not, uh..."

♪

"I'm not producing anything."

♪

"I'm just sitting here."

♪

♪ Oh, say can you see

♪ By the dawn's early light

♪ What so proudly...

Everybody can't go into the woods

for an indefinite amount of time

and, you know, come out on the other side,

but luckily,

I've been given that opportunity.

♪ Whose broad stripes and brigtars ♪

And I'm gonna take every little bit of it that I can.

Every ounce of the healing that this is allowing for me...

♪ O'er the ramparts we watched ♪

♪ Were so gallantly streaming ♪

But I feel like I've already proved myself.

You know, I've already proved that I know what I'm doing.

[grunting]

♪ The bombs bursting in air ♪

My mind is practically screaming,

"Just give up and you can go eat

"and drink coffee and have all these--

all these things that you want."

♪ That our flag was still there ♪

But you know,

like, as soon as you eat,

you're gonna be like,

"I gave up that opportunity for this meal?"

♪ Yet wave

Hopefully, I will be able to,

uh, resist my brain playing tricks on me

and convincing me to quit.

♪ And the home

♪ Of the brave

[dramatic music]

♪

- I do not like pooping in the woods.

♪

And, yes, I said it.

For a survival instructor guy.

I don't like pooping in the woods.

♪

But my strategy for eating lots of bull kelp has paid off.

♪

How can I put this nicely?

♪

The trains are running again. Okay?

One left the station this morning.

[sniffs] Totally normal.

♪

Which was surprising.

♪

Yeah, I was happy about that.

♪

[animals calling]

♪

I'm not sure what time it is.

I took a little bit of a nap,

but I got to get up and do something,

at least walk around.

♪

So I'm just bored to tears.

♪

Days like today really make you wonder

why the hell you're doing this.

This is not even survival right now.

It's just being lazy.

♪

I thought that there were two things

that I needed as a person.

And being out here, I've realized that that--

that is in fact true.

Happiness and adventure.

You know, the adventure is gone out here.

With the adventure being gone,

then the happiness starts to-- starts to dwindle.

There's a lot that I want to see.

You know, there's a lot that I want to experience.

♪

There's a lot of people I want to meet.

♪

There's a lot of laughing and crying and hugging

and all sorts of other different emotions

still to be had,

and I think when you tie yourself down,

it makes it harder to do those things.

♪

My personal mission on this island

has been accomplished.

♪

I'm ready to get home, get back to regular life,

and--and get on to, uh, the next adventure.

♪

Yep, here they come.

[boat engine rumbling]

Here they come.

Looks a little fuzzy,

but after 35 days,

that's a very welcome sight.

Why does everybody look like a cat just died?

I think I need to make some changes in my life

as far as

what I consider important.

[soft music]

And I think, uh--

I think this is helping me see that.

You know?

♪

I said something

that I've been thinking about,

probably the first couple days here.

You know, I said, "Surviving is just living."

♪

But living

to it's fullest is something way better.

♪

It's enjoying yourself.

It's waking up in the morning

and just full of,

"Yes, I'm alive."

♪

You don't have unlimited time on this earth.

You only have one life.

Just getting by day to day,

that's not enough for me.

♪

So I say enjoy yourself now.

♪

And if something's keeping you from enjoying yourself...

♪

A job, significant other,

whatever it is....

♪

Get rid of it.

♪

I think the biggest change is gonna be

the amount of stuff that I have.

♪

I'm gonna get to where I can fit everything

in the backseat of my truck...

♪

And then every chance I get,

I'm just gonna travel

from one adventure to the next.

♪

♪

Okay, I'm back at the cove.

I'm sewing on the outrigger to the stationary board

that I put on the stern part of the boat yesterday.

[soft music]

For floats, it's got a can that I found.

It was my freshwater can,

and then that magnificent buoy

that I found.

It was quite literally the answer to my prayers.

♪

And it's important for the outrigger

to stabilize my boat because I...

♪

I intend to do longer trips.

♪

Over there, that valley is obviously going to carry

a good sized river.

If there is gonna be a salmon run

anywhere nearby within sight, that's gonna be it.

♪

So basically, I need this-- this kayak to take me to places.

♪

And I need to be very sure that it's stable.

I want to be sitting out here

in the--in the coves just fishing.

And I'd like to just have my fishing gear in my hand

and not have to have the kayak paddle.

If a fish comes up, handle it in stable watercraft.

[chuckles]

I'm having a hard time adjusting this one camera.

Oh, there you go.

Hope she stays like that.

[dramatic music]

[grunts] I'm paddling, let's see.

♪

Okay, folks, this is it.

♪

This is it.

♪

This is it. It's working fine.

I'm gonna go check my fish net.

[soft music]

♪

[laughing] Hey.

♪

Whoo-hoo!

♪

Now we're talking.

♪

[dramatic music]

- After awhile, there's just not

very many redeeming qualities about this place.

How many more days, man?

How many more days of this?

Ah, man.

Seals got into my net. Ate everything.

This is all that's left.

[sighs]

She leaks.

There's water in here.

♪

- Oh, I just went in up to my waist.

If I get hypothermia it's over.

♪