Original subtitles

Humans first arrived in Alaska

over 20,000 years ago. (stirring orchestral music)

A-ha, look!

A house pit! You know, you have your thatched roof.

Fish hanging from the ceiling.

And some of Alaska's current residents

can trace their heritage back to these early times,

keeping ancient traditions intact.

To be able to see these different cultures,

and experience this land,

that these people have been around

for thousands and thousands of years,

really was a great experience.

Today, Alaska remains a unique

and relatively unspoiled state,

more wild than any other in America.

And it calls out to a unique person.

There are some who embrace the solitude of living alone

in this remote landscape.

You can enjoy all the fishing and hunting,

and it's just been a hoot since I've worked here.

Thrill a minute.

(laughs)

And others come here to play in the snow.

And in the air.

It's a world-class unlimited aerobatic machine.

Up, down, sideways, anything we can stand,

the airplane can do.

Whoa! Whoa!

Alaska is home to a unique community,

where neighbors near and far

can rely on each other to survive.

There's a lotta people that,

I'm the only guy they see every week for months at a time.

Thanks for the mail, you want some crab?

Thanks Jim, yeah, this is awesome.

Benefits of bein' the mailman out in Kodiak.

(reverberating drumbeat)

(wind howls)

(poignant string music)

Some call it, the last frontier.

But it is really the first.

Alaska's where the first Ice Age hunters

crossed over the temporary land bridge from Asia

to enter the continent of North America.

Pursuing the migratory herds of giant bison,

caribou, and mammoth.

There are villages in Alaska

inhabited for thousands of years.

And after the Native Americans (soaring orchestral music)

came the Russians, Spanish, English and French explorers.

And then Yankee adventurers and pioneers,

all captivated by a magnificence

to be seen nowhere else on earth.

And while past explorers came to Alaska

seeking valuable resources,

better hunting grounds in ancient times,

more recently the search for oil and gold,

Alaska's greatest resource just might be,

the Alaskans themselves.

(plane engine sputters) (swaggering country music)

(laughs) Can I chew on it?

Say bye-bye Ann!

Bye-bye!

Are you gonna get on the plane?

Yeah.

Yeah! (chuckles)

Are you guys ready to load up?

Whenever you are, yes.

For many Alaskans living off the grid,

when they need a favor from a neighbor,

whether it's big or small, they call for a float plane.

Island Air, they're definitely a lifeline,

because we have no service

that goes around the island and delivers goods.

This is how people get their mail,

their food, so they are an integral part

of our economic engine here.

(upbeat acoustic country music)

That's all I got for ya.

Everything you move in a car down south,

in your truck, in your delivery vehicle,

it all moves in an airplane or a boat in Alaska.

Cargo!

I've been on a few different

search and rescue type flights.

I've picked up people

who've had heart attacks, burn victims,

and a pretty wide variety

of medical emergencies.

It's the interaction between,

everyone out in the bush, and helpin' them,

and helpin' them help us, it goes both ways.

Your feet, thanks for the mail,

you want some crab?

Thanks Jim, yeah, this is awesome.

Benefits of bein' the mailman out in Kodiak.

Alaska is the largest state in America.

But its population of 740,000 people,

ranks 48th out of the 50 states.

Most Alaska is not accessible by road.

Even the state capital of Juneau

is only accessible by boat or aircraft.

But for some, this remoteness is the very reason

why they choose to live in Alaska.

The Uganic Cannery was shut down in 2001,

due to an international crash in the price of salmon.

And while the facility remains shut down to this day,

one lone caretaker remains

to maintain this decaying outpost.

I'm the presence on site, I just keep an eye on things.

(relaxed rock music)

I enjoy all the fishing, and hunting,

and it's just been a hoot since I've worked here.

Thrill a minute.

(laughs)

The weekly arrival of a float plane,

means this caretaker will get his mail,

groceries, and most importantly,

an interaction with another person,

connecting him to the outside world.

Hey Pete.

Island Air brings the mail here.

They bring my groceries on the mail plane.

They're kind of a lifeline.

So, how's the weather in town?

It's starting to look kinda nasty out to the northeast.

Yeah.

There's a lotta people that,

I'm the only guy they see every week

for months at a time,

so, you kinda gotta give 'em five minutes,

let 'em talk to somebody face-to-face.

Alright, alright. I'm going.

Alright, on.

Here you go Lance.

Alright thanks Pete.

Hey, I found some graffiti on the wall

you might be interested in seein'.

Yeah? Yeah.

Cool, tell me where.

Okay.

You really kinda get to develop

a relationship with these guys,

and if they don't walk down to the dock

or walk down to the beach when you pull up,

that could be scary, I haven't had that happen yet.

But you're always hopin' that they're gonna be there

waitin' for you when you pull up.

(laughs)

Alright Lance, well let's see ya next week.

See ya next week.

Watch that pail back there, Lance.

Oh yeah!

The bush pilots are my heroes.

Modern-day Alaskans rely on air transportation.

But the first native settlers

lived in a different time.

Archeologists are searching to learn more

about these early Alaskans.

To learn what tools they used.

What they ate.

And how they lived.

Morning guys!

Alright. Morning.

Looks like we got some awesome weather

to go take a look around.

These two researchers

are from the Alutiiq Museum in Kodiak, Alaska.

And they're headed out to discover

some of the island's archeological treasures.

Pretty much every survey we ever do on Kodiak

we use a float plane.

You can't get there without a plane.

They're looking for native Alutiiq villages,

that date back over five hundred years.

So this is the Alutiiq history book,

these sites.

The plan is to drop the archeologists

on the Shelikof Strait,

a difficult landing site for float planes.

(exciting drum music)

When you're on the Shelikof Strait

you have really big tides,

and you almost always have winds and currents.

(plane engine roars)

But the skies begin to darken,

and by the time they arrive to their archeological site,

the conditions are too rough for a safe landing.

Ah, this is looking a little worse out here now.

Yeah.

Oh yeah, look at the waves, is that too big?

Yeah, pretty much any time

you see white on the beach

it's pretty hard to get the float plane to it.

Yeah I don't think we're gonna get on that beach today.

It kills me we didn't get there,

that was where I really wanted to go.

While the primary site

will not be explored today,

there is another historical location

on nearby Afognak Island.

The Alutiiq people settled here

because of the protection offered by the natural bay.

And today, the same bay should provide enough protection

for a safe landing.

I think we can make it in there.

Oh, there we go guys.

(optimistic country music)

Kodiak has an incredible number of sites,

I mean there's already 1200 recorded ones.

And I found a hundred this year,

and we're gonna probably find a few more today.

See you guys. And the wind is just

Gettin' a little rough.

Little bit of wind out there but,

we'll be back to get ya. Okay.

See you guys. Yep.

(cheerful country music)

A-ha, look! (woman exclaims)

A house pit.

You know, you have your thatched roof.

Fish hanging from the ceiling.

There's probably some benches.

This is huge.

Yeah this is a pretty big one,

this is probably a winter village.

While the native settlements on Afognak

have long been abandoned,

there are other native settlements that have remained intact

for thousands of years. (acoustic tribal music)

The Tyonek tribe's traditional home on Cook Inlet,

has earned them the name of the beach people.

Their native corporation owns the Tyonek lodge,

and many other businesses far north of Anchorage.

And today, they work to preserve and protect

the natural resources, and their territory.

It's part of the fact that Alaska's known as the

wildlife resource of America.

We find ourselves today with a resource

that is severely depleted due to policies

that were initially designed to protect the resource.

But as we get along in reviewing what has happened,

we find ourselves with

the lowest moose population on record.

And to the point today,

we are struggling to rebuild that moose population.

See him? Oh yeah.

Oh yeah, he's comin' right out.

The wildlife conservation here,

in the Upper Cook Inlet, of Alaska, is what's at stake.

There is an overpopulation of bears

and an underpopulation of moose.

There's an imbalance in nature,

it's recognized by the Department of Fish and Game,

by the local natives here, in Tyonek.

Wow, we're seein' bears.

Definitely a lotta bears here.

Bears have always been important to the Tyonek,

as a source of meat and hides.

Their culture though,

is based on a variety of animals and plants.

A tipping of this balance

threatens their entire way of life.

The growing number of bears in the area,

has caused the moose population to crash,

creating a negative impact on the Tyonek people.

It's been estimated at eight bears per square mile.

Last year we estimate that we had 95% calf mortality.

That is not acceptable.

If we don't get some control over what's happening,

bears are gonna be eating bears here very shortly.

For the Tyonek people of Alaska's Cook Inlet,

the land and animals

are a part of their heritage.

The traditions and cultures of these people

have been passed down through generations,

for thousands of years.

According to our elders,

our people have been in Alaska for more than 40,000 years.

And that we can document that through our stories.

Our creation stories, our hunting stories,

our fishing stories, our stories about the universe.

Imagine this earth, imagine all the stars in the sky,

imagine the universe, imagine it were in one grain of sand.

Imagine how big that beach would be.

We not only looked at what's here and now,

but how do we, as a people effect the universe?

The Tyonek try to preserve

their traditional language, in story, and song.

The Dena'ina language here is almost extinct.

Right now we have four dialects, here in Cook Inlet.

And 58 fluent speakers.

And today, we have no younger speakers younger than 45.

It's one thing that I really try to work with Tyonek,

is to bring back the songs and the dances and the stories.

To get to meet some of the Tyonek people,

and to watch the young kids bangin' the drums

and sing native songs.

You start to understand that the balance of nature

is such an important element of nature to them.

That balance between the bears and the moose

is vital to them.

Indigenous Alaskans have a close relationship

with the land and its resources.

North of the Arctic Circle,

an Inuit Village offers guided snowmobile trips

deep into the Arctic tundra.

For the Inuit, this has been a familiar home

for thousands of years.

But for the modern tourist,

this can be a very rough journey.

We've got about a 75 mile trek

on the snowmobiles this morning to get out to camp, so.

Weather's cold, but we're bundled up,

and hopefully it'll be a good ride.

(thrilling orchestral music) He broke his foot Friday.

(dogs squealing)

On his own? Yeah.

He's crazy.

He's dumb.

No.

He's hardcore, we call that.

So it doesn't take long

for the excitement to wear off a little bit.

You get in these sleds and right away

you start getting pounded by the snow,

the cold, the bumps, and you realize,

a 40-year-old body's not gonna last

too long in this sled.

The Inuit tribe used to be called Eskimos,

but are now known by their own native name.

They were the last of native people

to cross the land bridge from Asia

to settle in North America, and the prime land to the south

was already taken by other tribes.

The Inuit settled in the Arctic, because nobody else would.

They adapted to one of the most

extreme climates in the world,

and have remained on this land for thousands of years.

We had an eleven hour ride

into camp yesterday from town,

and the best way I can describe it

is just sheer torture.

Every once in a while, you think you're feelin' good,

you warm up, and then 20 minutes later,

you're sittin' around, and your feet are freezin'

and your hands are numb, and you're startin' to think,

boy, what did I get myself into?

Ah, finally!

Home in the Arctic!

Now this land up here is obviously pretty cold and snowy

but it really is an amazing place,

I mean the best word to describe it is just vast.

You look out and you can only see snow and ice

as far as the eye can see, even on these clear days,

so it's beautiful but certainly very intimidating.

There's not many places you can truly say

you're on the top of the world,

but this is about as close as it gets.

Now I know why people go south for the winter,

that's for sure.

While these adventure seekers

see a barren landscape,

their native guides no how to harvest food

from the seemingly lifeless wasteland.

You get anything yet?

No bites yet.

First glance, this place looks incapable

of supporting human life.

But the locals know a few tricks.

I got it!

See, he got a fish.

Whoa! Yeah!

(laughs)

Very good, Alan!

Good fisherman, eh?

(both chuckle)

Did you bring any wasabi?

Okay.

Gotta have sushi.

Here fishy fishy fishy fishy.

Patience.

It's a virtue.

(exclaims) Pulled it away, damn it!

He bit it, and let go.

Ah, that must've been like a 30 pounder.

(laughs)

Hey Alan, I switched fishin' poles!

(chuckles)

But we had a blast, great time,

Alan caught a couple nice fish,

Wallace caught fish.

They're for my supper!

(chuckles)

The only problem is, Dean and I didn't stand a chance.

Better luck next time.

Ah, what a day!

But to be able to see these different cultures,

and experience this land

that these people have been around

for thousands and thousands of years

really was a great experience.

People of Alaska are no strangers

to dangerous situations. (slick acoustic music)

But with the right knowledge,

preparation and equipment,

braving the back country is worth the risk.

Alaskans Lance and Nikki Kronberger

own their own business,

taking clients on guided excursions

into the Alaskan wilderness.

They're about to leave for a seven day trip

for the Brooks Range, but this time,

they're not going for business, but strictly for fun.

Minus food, this is what a pack should weigh.

Alright.

There we go.

Now that's what I'm talkin' about.

13.7 pounds.

That's what you should be weighing.

When Nikki and I got married, I had already been guiding

and I had just started Freelance Outdoor Adventures.

And so she got thrust into the business,

like, this is gonna be our family business

and you're gonna have to be part of it.

I remember being excited about going with my dad,

and I only went once, because I had a hard time being quiet,

and he never took me again.

With their bags packed, but not too heavy,

these Alaskans fly deep into the Brooks Range.

The northernmost extension of America's Rocky Mountains.

Once they land, they will not see another human being,

until the same plane arrives to pick them up,

a week later.

Once we landed, we knew there was a mountain

we wanted to head to that traditionally had sheep on it.

We're gonna move up this valley up here

and just gonna stay nice and low and easy walk and,

I'm just gonna get ready to go.

(gentle music)

I love Alaska.

The mountains are gorgeous,

and when you get dropped off by a 206

in the middle of nowhere.

You definitely feel that you're in God's country

and I love the challenge, I'm kind of competitive.

Not with other people but with myself.

Hey Lance, what kind of hair is this?

As we were hiking in,

I found some grizzly fur on the ground.

That's the guard hair.

The Brooks Range is Bear Country.

Especially grizzlies. (electronic music)

And home to a major portion of the bears on the continent.

Hiking through the Brooks Range,

means having to know how to live with grizzly bears.

And how to climb unforgiving mountain passes.

The approach we had was really rocky.

Had a couple little steep sections and a lotta loose shale.

Help me, would ya?

There was a few spots

where she gave me that look where she was uncomfortable.

But she knew that that's what we needed to do.

You're doin' good sweetie, you're doin' good.

There were some times that I felt like we were Spiderman.

And sliding on the shale, and a little nervous.

She understands that this is what I do.

And she was ready for it.

That was scary.

You're alright.

Okay?

Anxious.

And nervous.

Little bit frightened.

That was really scary.

It helps that he's so confident.

Walking through there.

It didn't even bother him.

So that makes me feel like I can do it too.

Still scary though.

He's definitely good at his job.

Yeah.

As they continue to traverse

through the Brooks Range,

they soon meet one of the local grizzly bears.

While the bear's in the distance,

he has picked up their scent.

He's comin'.

Like he's gonna come and get somethin' to eat.

There he is, there he is!

Get outta here!

You get outta here!

If you spend an extended amount of time

in the wilderness of Alaska, it is wise to be prepared

for a dangerous encounter with wildlife.

Lance has brought a rifle as protection

from the massive predators that call this land home.

We tried to yell at him, holler and scream.

Get on outta here!

Get outta here!

Is he big?

Yeah.

There's a very large comfort zone

that I tolerate with those bears.

And when they get inside that, somethin's gotta be done,

and I'm not gonna wait, until we have a problem.

If they know I'm there and they're not afraid,

I'm gonna make 'em afraid.

So I had Nikki take a shot.

Hit that rock. Hit it?

Will it ricochet?

Yeah, but that'll scare him good.

It won't come back and kill me?

No.

Okay.

(gun fires)

Blew some rocks in his face, he ended up movin' up.

The warning shot scares away

their hungry intruder.

And when clients come,

and they start whinin',

and they start whimperin' a little bit,

it's real easy for me to look at 'em and say,

my wife was way tougher than you.

And that's a great motivation tool

to get their butt up the mountain.

Many Alaskan residents

have a taste for adventure.

And they enjoy taking risks.

But for the pilots in the Alaskan skies,

risks are usually to be avoided at all costs.

(rotor whirring)

I tell all my folks here at Tanalian,

the number one rule is, just land.

We don't have to take the risk.

We're not rescuing refugees,

we don't need to push and push and push and push and push.

We're just doin' a job.

For Tanalian Chief Pilot Mark Barker,

flying is more than a job.

It's his passion.

Hey, Pablo! Hello!

So is this all your planes?

Well, this is two of 'em!

Mark Barker, and flight instructor Pablo Neira,

are taking to the skies for a pleasure flight.

Man I love it! I got the Christen Eagle

here, and that's the Long-EZ.

This ride will be in one of Mark's home-built,

aerobatic performance planes.

I built both of 'em.

How long did it take you to build this?

Took me about three years to finish it up.

It's a world-class unlimited aerobatic machine.

Up, down, sideways, anything we can stand,

the airplane can do.

Mark Barker, is really into aviation,

is one of those aviation geeks,

and he builds his own planes, so,

I feel privileged to fly with Mark today.

On this particular one, the pilot sits in the back.

So I'll be sitting in the front?

You'll be sittin' in the front.

I don't trust you to sit in the back yet.

(laughs) That's tomorrow.

This is the first time, in one of those biplanes,

and it does loops and stuff, so,

I'm skeptical about this (laughs).

Pablo has a good reason to be nervous.

Alaska sees over 100 plane crashes a year.

And aviators here are understandably cautious.

But today's adventure won't be a typical flight.

This is how pilots in Alaska have fun.

(rhythmic rock music)

First thing we're gonna do

is we're just gonna climb up to altitude here,.

When you're doin' aerobatic maneuvers,

you wanna have a lot of altitude underneath ya.

You wanna safely recover. Yeah, I want enough

room to recover.

This is gonna be a simple aileron roll,

we're gonna get a little speed here.

And as I pull up, we're just gonna send the airplane around

in a nice gentle way just like this.

(both exclaim)

Oh man, that's cool,

look at that, we're comin' out of it, whoa!

Wow!

(Mark laughs)

We're gonna pull up!

And we'll push forward, and send it around!

(Pablo exclaims) I don't wanna make you sick.

(Mark laughs)

But you don't wanna go back to town

without doin' one more aileron roll.

(Mark laughs)

(Pablo laughs nervously)

Now I'm gettin' sick!

(laughs)

This is crazy, Pablo, what're we doin'?

(laughs)

The bush pilots in Alaska

are a different breed than the commercial pilots

in the rest of the world.

Whether for fun or for work,

they consistently fly in dangerous conditions.

(thunder claps) Especially along

the small islands.

Severe weather can make flying and landing treacherous.

Alright, well I'm gonna get my plane ready

and get this first one done. (ominous ambient music)

Cannery watchman Lance Parker,

has broken a prop on his boat.

His only transportation at this abandoned cannery.

I was just running my line,

it's the last run of the season.

I broke my propellor on a rock that I didn't see.

I just limped in on the broken one.

But, it's a miserable go.

Replacement parts are hard to come by

in this part of the world.

Trying to stay ahead of the parts game,

it's a challenge, you have to build a confidence

or knowledge of what are readily available and what aren't.

Luck is on Lance's side today,

as they found another propellor in the town of Kodiak.

Island Air, one F scale?

Pilot Erik Howard picked up the part for Lance,

and will fly to Port Bailey,

40 kilometers north of Kodiak Air to deliver it.

Around Kodiak here, everyone helps each other.

Everyone's willin' to drop what they're doin' and help,

'cause everyone's been in that situation before themselves.

Alaska may be the biggest state in the Union,

but it's also the smallest state in the Union.

We are dependent on each other.

And we did it.

A present-day necessity, delivered.

Thanks Erik, we'll see ya later!

(ominous instrumental music)

The boat prop that was delivered,

did not fit his engine.

The team back at Kodiak Air tries to find the correct part.

Which is hard to do, on these remote islands.

It's Emily at Island Air.

He's in Port Bailey.

Oh, yikes.

They find a part in the city of Anchorage

on the mainland.

But a storm has the planes grounded until tomorrow.

For tonight, Lance is stranded on a cold beach.

I worry about it all night.

(intense drum music)

After weathering a huge storm overnight.

Island Air basin, sonar per kilo.

They are flying again.

(upbeat rock music)

Port Bailey, Island Air, be landin' shortly.

Erik now has the correct boat prop

to fly it out to the stranded recluse.

Doesn't look too windy, it's pretty nice down there,

so we're gonna have any issue gettin' in then.

Should make Lance pretty happy,

so he can get back on his boat.

And I think we brought out a little bit of tobacco too,

so that'll help make him happier.

I didn't think they were gonna make it.

But son of a gun, they did make it.

(joyous instrumental folk music)

Erik showed up, just perfect, like Island Air always does.

(laughs)

That looks like the baby.

I gotta get back, we'll see you next time,

good luck. You bet man.

Alright. Thanks.

Took the prop out of the box.

And seen that it fit.

And bolted it on.

Now I'm ready to go home.

I've got some traps to check on the way home,

that I'm gonna pull out of the ground.

And then that'll be the end of my season.

In the last frontier,

Alaskans rely on each other. (pleasant country music)

Yeah, after flyin' for Bob for a number of years,

he's pretty much become like family.

He may not be a friend but he's definitely family.

It takes a special kind of person

to brave the dangers and loneliness of this remote region.

Look at that, we're comin' out of it, whoa!

Wow!

A lotta livin' goin' on around (chuckles)

this company.

That common bond

creates tight-knit communities.

Where people lend a helping hand, for comfort.

And for survival.