Life Below Zero

You don't know the channel,

it's best to have a marker to apply your eyes to

so you can range yourself.

The Hailstones are returning to camp

from a hunting trip,

but without a marker to guide them

along the treacherous river, their path home is uncertain.

This is it right here.

You see how hard that was?

This is just inches off the surface of the water.

You see how much trouble that was

trying to figure out where we were?

That's why I was kind of fudging along here thinking,

I'm gonna take it slow till I know exactly where I'm going.

We were having trouble out in the, um, lagoon,

trying to find the mouth to the river.

We came in really well over the sandbars.

It's these real high tides

that took away the marker that was here.

Oh, it was wood that was staked down in here,

and it had jerry jugs, red jerry jugs hanging on it,

and you could see it for miles.

It's gonna be important you know

where the mouth of this channel is.

This point has receded quite a bit.

The old marker's fallen over.

The absolute best thing we can do for ourselves

and other people would probably be put a marker here.

Me and him know how to get into this river,

in this area without any landmarks or anything,

but for the kids to learn and to be comfortable with coming here,

it's good for them to have something to aim for and say,

'Hey, I know where I'm at.'

I want to put a tower here.

We can use a tower for multiple uses,

we can use it for orientating ourselves to come in,

we can use it to orientate ourselves in the wintertime

when it's snowing or when we're traveling and it's foggy,

and we'll also be able to get up in it

and look over to see if the ocean is rough,

and maybe even see a seal or two

if they're popping up around here.

Shouldn't take too long to dig and chop

and tie something together

that could be very, very useful to everybody around here.

Coming up with new ideas, improvisation,

that's the nature of living out here in Alaska.

So that's the, uh, plane that takes my nephew, Jesse, home.

Alright.

Bye, Auntie.

No problem, Auntie.

You did an amazing, amazing job.

He's definitely been a big boon, a big asset this year.

I could not have made it through the season without him.

Time for me to get back to work, get ready for winter.

It's coming.

Nobody here to help me,

and that's just the way the cookie crumbles.

With her nephew Jesse gone,

Sue Aikens must rely on herself

to survive the long winter months ahead.

Preserving her winter meat supply is a priority.

Time for Susie to look for some parts.

Making a smoker is pretty simple.

You got your source of heat, which creates the smoke,

you send it up into the smoker.

It's not gonna go there like a dog.

You got to channel it using pipe.

Here you go.

Might be able to use that.

This boneyard is pieces and parts

that I've taken apart and changed.

As I change and update and upgrade camp,

this kind of stuff is extra.

There's another little elbow or two.

This goes up into my smoker.

Yay, smoke comes in.

I am happy with my little parts,

and, uh, time for me to get 'em together and carry 'em in.

This is the life that I've chosen to live,

and it's just what we do.

Martha and I have been really busy the entire summer

running our fishing lodge, and we're here right at the end.

Our last client left yesterday,

we're leaving Iliamna for Wiseman in a few days.

Erik and Martha Salitan have spent the summer

at their lodge in Iliamna,

taking advantage of the area's resources

to maintain their subsistence lifestyle.

With dark winter approaching,

the couple has one last chance at harvesting salmon

before they return to Wiseman.

You know, Martha and I eat a lot of fish,

it's a real nice break to break up our red meat diet

that we primarily eat up there

with moose and sheep and caribou,

and, uh, we just wanted to get out here,

put up a few fish of our own,

and be able to take those fish home to Wiseman for the winter.

Because Erik and I rely a lot on subsistence,

it's very important that we take advantage of what's in season,

so right now salmon are in season.

So these fish here in the Iliamna drainage

are sockeye salmon that are locally known as reds,

one of the best eating fish on Earth.

I'm looking forward to getting home to Wiseman.

Yeah, me, too.

I'd like to put away some salmon, though.

Fish on!

Fish on?

It's foul-hooked.

For salmon, you got to catch 'em in the mouth,

you're not allowed to keep 'em unless you do,

so when you hook 'em on the fin

or anywhere else on the body besides the mouth,

you have to let 'em go,

'cause it's called a foul hook, and that's sports fishing.

Well, let's head downriver below the rapids.

I think the fish are better,

even that one was a little reddish, it's kind of turning.

I think the fish below the rapids are far less beat up.

Let me fish a couple more.

Oh, you want to fish more, okay.

Girl loves to fish.

The water coming down the river right now

is all silty and glaciery,

and it comes into this little creek right here,

and then you can't see the fish anymore, because it's all murky.

Not to mention that the rain makes it hard to see

'cause it disturbs the surface of the water.

I told Martha like ten minutes ago, like, let's go,

and she agreed, and she's still over there fishing.

The girl is obsessed with fishing.

Push the boat off here and pick Martha up

since she refuses to quit ever,

and see if we can't get on the fish a little bit better.

How am I supposed to get in?

Like that?

Yeah.

Anytime I get a chance to, like, get out,

go camping and go hunting and fishing,

that's just like everything to me.

That's why I live up here.

Well, I'm going up into what I call Bigfoot Country.

I'm about to travel 100 to 110 miles

through three to four different rivers,

just to kind of get more in touch

with the country out there.

That's the whole purpose of this trip is, uh, to go out here

in this time of year before moose hunting season

and just kind of check the country out

and get to know it better.

Jessie Holmes is journeying

deep into the wilderness to scout for resources.

Finding an area to fish and hunt for the fall season is crucial

to feeding himself and his sled dogs through the winter.

Alright. Daylight's burning.

It's pretty important to, like,

be familiar with the land around you.

I don't really rely on compasses or maps,

so this is just all a part of developing my intimacy

with the land out there.

I feel like I'm going on a great adventure,

I feel like I'm Jeremiah Johnson.

But I ain't, I'm Jessie Holmes, the River Man.

Well, I think this is Ding Mac Puck's Slough.

But I'm also thinking this still might be on the Tanana River.

I'm just trying to sense where I go as I go.

I don't necessarily know exactly where I'm at.

I just know I'm on the river.

We might still be in the channel of the Tanana,

and like, Ding Mac Puck might be up here around the bend.

Only been here one time,

so I just kind of got to pay attention, you know,

it's really actually difficult to navigate out here.

This is what I call a critical point of the journey,

knowing where the hell you're going.

Got to make sure about these things, man,

you don't want to spend a bunch of gas

going in the wrong direction.

I don't have a GPS, I don't have a map.

Find out one way.

You have to always constantly be aware of the water

and what it's doing.

It's full of, like, sandbars, logs.

The river's been dropping a lot lately.

We're gonna be dealing with shallow water.

It's okay, fella.

We're not bothering you, we're just trying to get by you.

Pretty shallow, hope we make it through here,

'cause we already came a long way.

I don't want to turn back around.

Think I'm lost.

Think I'm lost.

Took a wrong turn quite a ways back there,

and I'm tired of trying to battle up this shallow water.

I don't think I'm going the right way.

I've never even been this way before,

so, looks like I made a mistake,

and now I'm gonna have to turn around and go back.