Life Below Zero

Yeah, we're gonna go downriver and go get some logs.

You wanna go? Yup.

Boat ride, you like boat rides.

I discovered a place downriver,

where there's a bunch of trees down from a landslide.

And I need about 18 or 20-foot poles for the elevator derrick that I'm building.

I've got a big project ahead of me,

working on building what I'm gonna call an elevator.

And the main purpose of this is to try and get a wood stove to the

second story of my artist-in-residence yurt.

I've got to get some way to get this big heavy stove up to the level of the yurt.

So, it occurred to me that I might as well make something that's permanent,

that I can use for wood, water, and other heavy items.

Getting this entire project together is gonna take some time.

A lot of physical work.

A lot of different kinds of challenges.

And, um, a lot of potential for danger.

I'm gonna go do a reconnaissance of the, uh, of all the wood on the shoreline here.

And I wanna try and get some logs that are relatively close to the shores.

I'd love to be able to get right into there, if I can.

I just don't know.

I remember there are a lot of stumps back in here.

Oh, that's perfect. Beautiful.

Lot of good trees right here. Lots and lots of good trees.

All these trees I'm going after were the trees that were up on the side of the hill.

They came down, they got uprooted.

The land provides for you out here.

You just got to go get it when you need it.

And it's the go getting it when you need it that's the hard work.

Okay, let's find some more, Tope.

This is a pretty heavy log, but if I could shoot this log out over here, I might be able

to corral it with the boat, save me a lot of work.

I think that's gonna work, though.

Come on, Tope. Come on, Naty. In the boat.

This was just such a sweet spot to come to.

The amount of time that I would have had to take to find trees out in the woods,

winch them to the shore, drag them out into the river.

I'm way ahead.

You know, I come here, and I can get this job done in a few hours,

as opposed to a full day.

All right, Tope.

Let's see if we can get this beast in the water.

A little stump or something under there.

. Son of a bitch.

This landslide basically created a tremendous eddy, there's a lot of stumps,

a lot of debris under the water.

It's a little bit of a problem.

Dammit.

Anytime I'm working along the Yukon River, in fast currents, I'm always extremely nervous.

The one thing I do not wanna do is fall in the water.

One mistake out here and it's all over.

Alright. So that's four.

That's really all I need.

All right, let's go on, Tope.

Let's see if we can tow this upriver, huh?

Woohoo! There's some force on there.

I'm trying to utilize some of these trees for a project to build an elevator.

I think the most important thing to me out here is that this place provides me with

all the raw materials I need to live pretty comfortably.

It's just a function of getting out there, recognizing the raw materials,

going and getting them.

And then, putting them to use.

And I think I'll, uh, get my tractor and see if I can't get

this thing drag out of the river.

And then get going on building the tower.

Got to build a tower.

The main goal of a subsistence hunter is to get food to eat.

It's not about a trophy, it's about food.

We're gonna have a long day.

We're gonna go all the way down to the ocean.

Maybe there's some seals at the mouth.

They should be chasing the fish up the river by now, eh?

-Yeah. There's got to be seals or ducks, or something down there.

-If there's any animals out there, we'll get them.

-I might be working around the house.

I got a lot back here to do.

You guys just make sure you're safe, okay?

-Love you, dad. -Have fun. Good luck.

-It's a perfect time to be out here in the water, ah?

-Yeah. -Nice day.

-You guys keep your eyes open, in case you see any animals.

Yup, I brought a shotgun.

I brought a Mosin, in case we see a caribou on land and all.

I also got my harpoon, in case we see seals, and we could, like, harpoon it.

Pretty much ready for anything.

Right on.

-We have many miles to travel, and this is one of those days to where we're out here,

willingly, to catch anything that comes across our path.

It's just, uh, full of life out here, once you get away from the village and there's

not much people, then everything is crossing the rivers, swimming here and there.

If you just mosey along like this, and usually, you see something.

-Carol, you ready to harpoon, since I'm driving?

And mom shooting?

-If we come across any animals or, uh, see animals, hopefully, I'll be able to

take a few shots at them.

We're almost to the ocean.

Hopefully, there'll be a seal or two over here because look at all those waves out there.

Maybe they'll come here to rest a little bit.

-I'm gonna park and keep quiet, see what pops up.

-Yeah. This is a pretty good place to be.

There's usually seals and stuff here.

Nothing really along the shoreline.

Not even birds.

I'm try and get down and go see what's up here.

We can glass around, see if there's any animals in the country back there.

-You gonna go climb on the beacon, Carol, and look around?

-Careful if you climb that, okay?

You can look all around from up there.

We were hoping to catch some seals or probably some caribou.

Probably even a couple ducks, you know.

Usually this time of the year, we get something a little fresh, you know,

some fresh meat.

You could see all over from up there?

Yup.

-Now all we got to do is sit here and wait for a little bit.

It's just a matter of the terrain in your mind.

It's not a map. A map's not the country.

I go by the actual terrain.

It's right underneath my feet.

Nice little duck pond here.

What a great summer it's been.

Just out, exploring, seeing new things every day.

Pretty soon, it's gonna be cooling off, it's starting to get dark at night.

Summer's gonna come to an end before I know it.

I think it's time to head back to my camp.

Glenn Villeneuve is in Through Creek Pass, exploring the region to gain

knowledge of its terrain and opportunities.

But with fall only weeks away, it's now time for Glenn to begin the 20-mile journey home

and prepare for the upcoming hunting season.

I don't wanna just backtrack and take the same route that got me over here.

I wanna make a loop.

Leave one way, come back another.

Explore more territory on the way home.

The next few miles here, it's all new territory.

Then I'll come to a river.

I should be able to follow that a good bit of the way home.

It's not that much further.

I just got to get down through this valley right here.

There's a sheep. Wow.

I'm not hunting sheep now.

But it'll be interesting to see how close I can get to that sheep.

They're very wary animals.

Sheep have to be careful.

There are a lot of predators out here.

So, sheep are always alert, and when they sense danger, they head for the cliffs.

That was cool.

Oh, wow. Fast-moving creek down here.

This should flow right into the river that I wanna get to.

Once I get to that river, I brought a little tiny, inflatable raft with me.

I should be able to float several miles on my way home.

What a cool creek.

It's dropping right down into a canyon.

Wow. I love exploring places like this.

Uh-oh. I got to get across.

I can't get past this cliff.

Hmm.

It's not good.

The water's going so fast, if I fell in there, I could get pulled right under.

Probably get across down here.

Whoa. That water's going fast.

I've got to get up out of the canyon because it's just too narrow

for me to keep going down the canyon.

I'll have to backtrack a little, climb up out of the canyon,

and then follow along the top edge.

So, I'm making a little detour around, then hopefully, I can get back on the creek,

where there's enough water and where it's wide enough that I can float in my raft.

My goal is to get back home.

And to get back home, the first thing I got to do is get around this canyon.

Anything that can happen, will happen.

And I'm just gonna be prepared for anything.

I'm getting ready to head out, and, uh, I'm just gonna be heading up north of here,

for overnight camping trip.

I bring my .30-06 here. That's for protection.

Bring my .22 rifle,

because there's a lot of small game that a guy can hunt right now,

and I can just have the enjoyment of living off the land while I'm out there,

and hopefully, catching something to eat.

Time to hit the trail. See you later, old man.

Beautiful day to get out here.

Got a good early start.

Should be able to make some really good time today.

I just, uh, hook into this trail and start heading upriver.

The point of going out here is to kind of just hunt what's around me,

use what's around me.

Be nice to go out there and just spend a little bit of time.

Beautiful scenery, eating something off the land.

Well, there's plenty to sustain a guy out there, if luck's on your side.

I've been hiking along up here, and I'm getting into this nice, high up area.

I'm gonna start looking for a place to set up my camp for the evening.

Starting to look like a good area.

I'm seeing some dry firewood.

Nice view up here.

Once I get this heavy pack dropped, and get my camp set up, I'm gonna continue on down

the hillside here, and along the river, and, uh, see what I can find for dinner.

Just need a couple trees to string up my, uh, sleeping bag in front of.

Oh. That's a pretty big, large-sized bear full of cranberries.

It, that looks pretty fresh.

Definitely a lot of bear around here, I've been seeing tons of bear scat.

But, uh, at least I got my .30-06 with me.

That's why I didn't just bring my, uh, hunting gun, here.