I'm Bear Grylls.
Whoo!
I'm gonna show you what it takes to get out alive
from some of the most dangerous places on earth.
I've gotta make it through a week of challenges
in the sort of places you wouldn't last a day
without the right survival skills.
Whoa!
This time I'm in the Arizona desert
where I'll be taking on its parched landscape...
..skimming the choking sands...
I'm using the power of the wind.
..avoiding its deadly inhabitants...
It's a rattlesnake. Let's leave him. Let's keep following.
..and facing all the challenges it can throw at me head-on.
Whoa!
Arizona might feel like the backyard of America,
but don't be deceived.
The vast majority of it
is this huge 100,000 square mile desert.
Get lost here and you're in big trouble.
The US Armed Forces store thousands of unused aircraft
from all round the country here.
The desert air is so dry that it dramatically slows rusting.
But what's good for metal is really bad for the human body
and I'm heading right into the heart of this furnace.
Incredibly dry desert environment down here,
which means in the day it gets superhot
and then in the night very, very cold.
The highest temperature recorded in Arizona peaked at 128 degrees.
And the lowest? -40.
Get lost off the beaten track here and you might never be found.
Every year people get lost out here and hundreds actually die.
Do not underestimate this place.
The scorching desert generates strong thermal up-currents,
but I can use these to reach the ground in a totally new way.
This time I'm not just gonna be skydiving in.
I'm actually gonna be using a wingsuit,
which gives me a huge amount of lift
which means I can literally fly like a bird
and target my landing zone.
But I've only ever used these one-man flying suits once before
so this is a jump I've gotta get right.
- Are we good? - No, not yet.
- Good luck out there. - Steady now. Hover.
Get a wingsuit exit wrong
and there's a chance of hitting the rotor blades.
Rather than dropping straight down like a normal skydiver,
the wingsuit transforms me into a high-speed glider
capable of reaching over 100 miles an hour
and that enables me to travel miles from the helicopter,
deep into the remote terrain.
Get this thing under control in the wind.
Whoa.
And that is as close to flying like a bird
as you're ever gonna get.
Just amazing. Whoo!
But, man, the heat is the first thing that hits you here.
It's like landing in an oven, a very dry oven.
Normally if youre lost in the desert and someone knows you're out there
your best bet is to stay where you are
and draw as much attention to your position as possible
so you can be seen easily from the air.
This might not look much on the ground,
but this is all about being spotted from the air
and what you don't see in nature very often is dead straight lines.
A large triangle
is the internationally recognised distress sign.
And, again, if you've got something brightly coloured,
like a parachute, use it.
Lay it out on the ground.
It'll give you more chance of being spotted from the air.
Anything you can take from the parachute that's gonna help you
you wanna have with you.
Ultimately, if nobody's looking for you
it's gonna come down to you to get yourself out of here
and that means on your own feet.
But if you look at this sort of terrain
you see all of these sky islands -
these small pockets of mini mountain ranges.
If you can reach one of those,
it will be up to 25 degrees cooler
and you're gonna have more chance of finding food and water as well.
OK, leave this arrow just as a marker
so if somebody finds the parachute
they're gonna know which way you've gone.
OK, come on.
Temperatures drop around 3.5 degrees every thousand feet you climb,
which makes any nearby mountain a good goal,
but in these temperatures
if you don't find water quickly dehydration will set in.
Always keep in mind the survival rule of three -
you can live for three minutes without air three days without water
and three weeks without food.
But when you're in a desert this hot
that three days without water gets reduced massively.
You've gotta make water your priority out here.
Greenery doesn't always mean water.
Desert vegetation is so good
at sucking even the smallest amount of moisture from the ground,
it can leave virtually nothing behind.
The further you can get below the surface
the better your chances of finding water.
It's quite deep down here.
Steady on the edge.
All this is very loose.
This slot canyon run all the way here.
They're often quite good places to look for water, though.
Just 'cause they see so little sun
any water is gonna evaporate that much slower.
OK, let's try and get down into this, see if we can find any.
Arizona is scattered with slot canyons and abandoned mines.
Inside, temperatures can be more than 10 degrees cooler -
a good way to escape the heat of the day -
but they can also be prone to flash floods
so you always need a quick way out.
That might be interesting to try and get out of.
I'm gonna dig for some water.
A bit of charcoal as well - that's always worth taking.
There's loads you can use that for.
The intensely dry air here
means lightning strikes often start bush fires
so charcoal is pretty common to find.
But water - that's another matter entirely.
This is all absolutely...bone dry.
Look.
It just shows how hard it is to get water in the desert.
There's nothing down here. Come on. Let's get out.
Ohh!
Looks like a big dry wash.
These, though, can be a real oasis of life.
You know, more likely to find water and food here.
And, actually, look. You can see the line where the river will run.
Let's get down to this. Come on.
Now, you see how baked dry all of this ground is?
Look. You can see, it looks a little bit like chocolate.
That means there's probably still some moisture in that.
You wanna find the lowest bit of ground
and also bits in the shade.
That's gonna give the best chance of then finding water.
Clay retains water around a hundred times better than sand
and these grasses are a good indication
that some form of water isn't far away.
What will happen is the sun will bake all the surface sand,
but as soon as you get down a bit
it suddenly becomes cooler and more moisture-filled.
Look. You can see how damp that is.
The challenge, though,
is always getting the moisture out of the sand so you can drink it.
One way is just to use your sock.
All you need to do...
..is fill your sock full of the wet sand
and then you can wring that out.
Just force all the sand down the end and just twist it
and you can suck it...
through the sock.
Look. There you go. You see it dripping off.
It has a certain flavour to it, especially through these socks.
Once it gets over 100 degrees,
you need to drink two pints of water an hour.
Out here, that's not easy.
I'm in the scorching Arizona desert.
Ahead of me are the sky island mountains
and up there it's cooler
and there's a better chance of finding water.
But there's a parched, dry lake bed I'm gonna have to cross first.
Over the years,
this desert has swallowed countless hikers without trace.
It's a dangerous and deadly place to get yourself lost.
In a brown featureless place like this
anything brightly coloured is instantly visible.
It's a wreckage of a dune buggy or something.
Actually, that's a wing.
It's all parts from an ultralight.
Some of this just might be useful.
Yeah, even something like that.
Look. That's pretty shiny.
It'd probably polish up nicely as a signal mirror.
If the sun comes up, you spot an aircraft,
you could use that to signal with.
Yeah, there you go - propeller.
It's well-known that drug traffickers
try and cross from Mexican border using light aircraft and ultralight.
This one's come to a sticky end.
I'm just wondering whether, though, with this wind and these wheels...
Look, here's some more wheels here.
..and my reserve parachute as well...
..I just might be able to...
..improvise something
to get me across here
way faster than I'm gonna be able to walk.
One man's junk is another man's treasure.
OK, let's get this parachute out
and see if this is gonna fly.
The truth is I have no idea whether this is gonna...gonna work.
In the desert, you've always gotta balance
the amount of energy you use against any possible benefit,
but sometimes you've gotta take risks.
It's definitely strong - the wind.
Oh, hold on. I need the buggy!
I need the buggy!
Things don't always work out the way you hope,
but being resourceful and adapting is so often the key to survival.
A huge amount of power in this.
OK. Whoa.
With the sun reflecting off the dry lake,
temperatures here can rise to over 100 degrees
so you want to get out of here fast.
Whoa.
We're off. Whoo!
Well, it's a bit of a jury rig, but it's working.
Survival is all about efficiency.
Trying to cross this lake on foot...
..is gonna burn up way more energy and dehydrate you way more
than using the power of the wind.
And, really, it's all about the end goal.
You've just gotta keep improvising
and not everything's gonna work,
but you've just gotta keep trying!
As this buggy races me over the dry lake bed,
the wind from my forward movement helps cool me down.
But in the desert, things rarely go according to plan.
Whoa!
I'm in Arizona
where I've tied together bits of a wrecked ultralight aircraft
to get me across this dry lake bed.
But the desert never lets you out without a fight.
Ohh, that didn't quite go according to plan.
Ow!
It's bent all of this axle as well.
But it's got me most of the way across this.
Kind of like hitching a free ride with the wind.
But back on foot for the last bit.
But do you know what? Definitely worth it.
OK, let's get this parachute, get it stowed, and get moving.
Hang on. Look. There's a scorpion here.
It's a desert hairy.
But these are pretty aggressive scorpions.
And that's the stinger you wanna watch out for on the end there.
Let's just take that off.
OK.
Always just double-check I've taken stinger off before picking it up.
But you can see him reaching for me. Ow, ow. Let go, let go.
This is what they do.
You try and pick them up, they'll grab you,
you then let go and go "Ow!"
and they'll "Wap!", they'll try and hit you.
But he's got his stinger off now
so he can't do me too much harm.
But it's a good bit of nutrition. Bit of fluids as well.
I just wanna bite the pincers first.
So much of survival
depends on being prepared to do what you wouldn't normally do
and that could make all the difference.
The human body can go three weeks without food,
but in the desert you won't last more than three days without water.
Finding it is your top priority.
In these rocky areas you're much more likely to find water.
Springs and streams are often forced up to the surface
through geological fault lines.
This is looking way more promising for finding water.
Look. You can actually see a black mark here. That's a water mark.
You don't get that if it's only occasional rainfall.
You need a good amount of water to leave that.
And look - flash flood debris.
This regularly sees water. Let's follow this.
Whoa!
I heard a rattle. Look. Steady, steady.
Come round here. Just under the bush. Look. There's a rattlesnake.
Whoa.
Stay there, stay there.
He's gonna like it round here - lots of prey.
You know he'd probably find mice and vermin down here looking for water.
That's what he'll be feeding off.
OK, let's just leave him. Come on.
With signs of water nearby,
I'm gonna leave this snake in peace.
I've got bigger priorities.
Water!
It's all collected in this pool.
Stagnant, but that's gonna be fresh water.
Let's get down to there.
Few things in life are so wonderful as finding fresh water in desert.
Springs like this - even stagnant ones -
can support life for many miles around.
Get rid of this. I need a dunking.
Ohh!
Filthy and stinking, but undeniably lovely.
Drinking tainted water can make you sick, give you diarrhoea,
dehydrate you even more,
but there are ways you can filter it.
OK.
Try and see if we can make some of this water drinkable.
Maybe use this bit of tubing from that ultralight
to make an improvised filtration stick.
This is what downed pilots will have as part of their survival pack
so they can drink behind enemy lines.
But just something like that.
All I need is then...a bit of grass.
That's gonna be the first layer of the filter.
And then a bit of that charcoal that I got.
Charcoal is a great filter.
It'll filter out a lot of the bacteria and nasties.
And then really... you can drink from that.
In fact, maybe just put your sleeve over the end as another barrier.
Spitting out the first few mouthfuls
helps clear the filter of any loose bits of grass and charcoal.
And then really you can just drink.
Oh, it's good.
I'm gonna fill up my bottle as well.
Well, rehydrated, resupplied, cooler
and morale right back up there.
OK, let's get going again.
The Arizona mountains are cooler than the surrounding desert,
but this tough terrain is no easy option.
The mountains look a whole load more imposing when you get up close.
Quite formidable.
You need to pick a good route up there.
These mountains are so rugged
that they were used as stronghold by Apache warriors Geronimo and Cochise
in the 19th century.
Climbing into them is gonna be a serious challenge.
It's definitely getting steeper now.
The crumbling rock makes climbing dangerous,
but scaling this mountain
using some metal tubing from the ultralight to extend my reach
will get me up out of the desert and to the cooler land above.
But the higher I get, the steeper the rock becomes.
It's all just so horrible and loose.
Look. Even this...this whole thing is about to go. Look.
Really, I need to try and get across this bit of the face,
try and go up the shoulder there.
With no reliable handholds ahead,
I'm gonna tackle the sheer rock face
using a precarious climbing technique called a pendulum.
I'm using some of the cord from my reserve parachute
as a rope to swing out,
but with a huge drop like this below
relying on it feels like a risky strategy.
OK, that's secure around that.
Then I'm bringing these together.
That means when I've finish with them
I can just pull one strand and it will run through.
OK, but that is gonna be way stronger
than trying to trust all those flaky bits of rock.
I reckon this can get me round this.
It just takes a bit of confidence to go.
OK, come on, come on, come on.
Ohh!
Using this technique several times in succession
I can make my way sideways across these vertical faces,
but there's a real danger
the para cord could fray on these rough rocks and break.
And the more times you use the same cord, the greater the danger.
OK.
Whoa!
OK, got it!
Phew!
Up and out of the heat of the desert.
You know, it's amazing how something so spectacular
can also be so harsh.
But look. There's a bit of a breeze up here, which is nice.
It's definitely cooler. OK.
I may be up out of the desert, but the mountains are gonna throw
an even bigger set of challenges at me.
Whoa!
I've escaped the scorching heat of the Arizona desert
by climbing up into the sky island mountains.
Up here, there's plenty of water
and finding it is no longer your main challenge.
Being up this high, though,
there's a whole new series of challenges,
but also opportunities -
opportunities for food, water and shelter.
As you climb, the terrain can change dramatically.
In a matter of hours,
you can pass through six different environments,
from the blistering desert to subalpine forest.
When night falls, the temperature will plummet,
but a fire and some food will always help you through the night.
One way of starting a fire
if you haven't got a firesteel or matches
is to just improvise a fire piston
and you can do that just with two bits of tube.
I've taken this off that ultralight.
They fit nicely together to create an airtight seal.
And the principle works on compressed air creating heat,
in the same way when you put your finger over a bicycle pump -
comes away really hot.
Get a bit of charcoal...
..force that into the end.
That's the bit that's gonna take the ember.
With the other end of the tube sealed the fire piston is now ready.
And you need to give this a good whack
to really generate that compressed air and heat.
Pull it out and you'll have an ember.
Oh, nope.
I'll try that once more.
Grab a bit of tinder, give it a blow...
You can see that glowing now.
The fire piston technique
was developed in the jungles of South-East Asia
where they use pieces of bamboo or hollowed out bone.
And gently try and nurture it... into life.
OK.
Whoa.
Wow! Once that goes, it goes.
It's almost impossible not to smile
when you get a fire going like that,
especially as when you're getting higher, it's getting colder
and fire is really gonna matter.
That's such a good feeling.
With a fire stoked, finding food is the next priority.
With jaguar and mountain lions in these forests,
I'm not the only animal out hunting.
Oh, here we go, under here.
Mountain lions often leave part of their kill hidden.
This is a peccary - a local species of wild pig.
But this region also home to other predators apart from just big cats.
Look. This is bear poo.
You're gonna get black bears in these woods.
Look. You can see all the acorns it's been feeding off.
See all of that?
The thing is black bears aren't only herbivores.
They're also opportunistic
it means it's gonna be a bad place to camp as well.
Let's just get to the fire, have something to eat
and we'll make a plan from there.
There's a lot of meat on that still.
That means at least I've got food this evening.
Cooking this helps your body to digest and absorb its nutrients.
It also provides warmth and raises morale.
Looking a bit charred on the outside, but on the inside...
..this is gonna be nicely cooked.
Actually, a bit of the shoulder meat is well cooked.
That's alright.
But it's warm and it's nutritious.
Filling my reserve parachute with grasses and pine needles
will protect me from the worst of the coming night's cold.
Like, make a giant sausage of it.
If you're on the ground
its more important to insulate yourself from below than above
as the earth will suck warmth from you faster than the air,
but where I'm going that won't be a problem.
OK, let's go.
When you're asleep, you're at your most vulnerable
to bears and mountain lions that roam here.
Look. This is gonna work.
But being completely out of their reach
means you can sleep relatively safely.
You're not gonna want to fall out of it, but it's gonna be good
and I've got somewhere nice to suspend it from as well.
I'm using the remains of the parachute
to make what's known as a hanging bivouac.
Climbers often use these when they're halfway up a mountain.
Climb down into this.
OK.
Well, it's snug.
But, man, what a view!
Look at that. Ooh!
I challenge any mountain lion or bear to get me in this thing.
You know, it's funny -
if you forget for a second
that you're 50 feet suspended
up a sheer rock face,
it's actually quite nice and cosy in here.
The pine needles are nice.
I can get really well wrapped up in this stuff.
But hanging bivouacs do also
kind of mess with your mind.
Five minutes ago I had some pebbles
fall down, land on the top of it.
I kept thinking, "Is that...
"..is that my anchor points giving way?"
And then you kind of realise,
"Look, you've just gotta kind of not worry about that,"
and realise it's the mental game
and that you need sleep
and you gotta rest
and just kind of put all that aside
and try and sleep.
And also remember if you need a pee
you can't go wandering outside.
You're in a little thing
hanging up a very high rock face.
Once you're over that, it's all fine.
OK, I'll turn this off.
This tough mountainous region of Arizona
is covered by razor sharp thorns
where every bush and tree seems like it's against you.
Very hard, bone-dry and spiky bits of branch
that just nail you in the shins.
I'm just gonna stop and do something about this,
otherwise I'm gonna end up with no skin on my shins.
Yeah, even a bit of bark like this -
you can use that as an improvised shin pad.
Let's break it down.
I've been out in the wilds with so many people,
when something starts to niggle
they just kind of try and tough it out and push on
when actually they'd be way better off
just stopping and doing something about it.
Look, even something like this to cover my shins
will just stop them getting absolutely shredded.
OK, that's gonna help.
OK, let's get back into it.
Wow. That's way better!
Now we'll make some progress.
This terrain is so hard to travel through
that the great Apache warriors Geronimo and Cochise
successfully held out here against the US cavalry for many years.
Wow! Just an incredible view...
..all the way through the mountains down to the desert plains.
Actually, it'd be a good place to signal from, from up here.
What you have is a massive visibility range, 360 degrees,
that you don't have when you're down amongst all the scrub.
Somewhere like up here is your best chance of being spotted
by light aircraft or even people.
You know, if you can signal in some way...
Even like that bit of metal from that ultralight.
Get anything that can polish up nice and shiny
that will reflect the sun,
then you put your finger up in a 'V',
reflect the sun on the back of your hand,
put your target in the centre of that 'V'
and then flash it.
The flash from a good signal mirror can be seen 50 miles away.
But anything reflective will work.
Someone was even rescued once
using nothing more than the hologram on their credit card.
If no-one sees your signal, you'll need to move on.
And ahead of me is yet another rocky barrier.
Let's get up this bit.
It's not looking particularly brilliant.
Yeah, not that way.
You know, this is gonna be our best option. Come on and check this out.
It's a bit of a crazy one.
Rather than trying to go over all of this
it might actually be way easier to use this hole
to try and get a line from here straight across to those pinnacles,
shimmy across it, then go straight over the other side.
OK, let's just tie a load of strands
of this parachute cord around a rock
And loads of strength in that
and if I get this across, that will easily hold my weight.
I just need it to lodge in a bit of a nook or cranny over there.
Arggh...
But this technique just isn't working
and that's when you need to think outside the box.
It's just a blinking awkward angle to throw from.
I can't get any swing to it.
Just wondering whether I'll maybe use some of that willow we passed
and make something just to shoot this across.
That actually might be easier.
OK, stay here.
An Apache-style bow could be my solution.
OK, see if we can make this work now.
I've reached a sheer rock face that looking impossible to climb over.
Yeah, not that way.
A small hole looks like it could offer me a way through.
If I can get my para cord lodged into the rocks beyond
I can climb across it.
Just wondering whether I'll maybe use some of that willow we passed
and make something to shoot this across.
That actually might be easier.
Willow is a great bush tool.
It can indicate where water is
and contains salicylic acid - the basic ingredient of aspirin.
But what I want it for right now is its flexibility.
You often get willow growing down near water in creeks like this.
It's great for making bows or snares
just 'cause it's springy and flexible, strong.
But also it grows nice and straight
so you get lengths like that very easily.
All I need do - put these together.
Binding several branches together
increases their strength whilst keeping their flexibility.
Just put a jamming knot in this.
What you do - a little figure of eight in the end, twice round,
and then you just take one overhand knot round itself
and you can then really...
..tighten that up nicely on itself.
Just cut off there.
You can string a bow like this
by bending it and then slipping the cord between two of the branches
and tying it off.
It looks basic, but this type of bow
was used to devastating effect by the Apache
for both hunting and in battle.
OK, that will do. Let's go.
OK, let's see if we can make this work now.
OK, let's give this a go.
No.
Just fell short.
But getting accuracy with a bow like this takes a lot of practice.
Lots and lots of practice.
Bang!
This is proving one of those ones
where you just need a bit of patience.
OK, one, two, three.
Bang!
Oh! I've got it!
I'm not even gonna tell you how many attempts that has taken.
It's caught as well. OK, we just need to tension this right up.
Just lean over here.
Using the ultralight tubing as a simple anchor,
the line should hold me.
Moment of truth time on this.
Oh, it's tight.
I'll try and send this across.
Ohh!
Across.
Well, that worked nicely.
OK, time to get down.
Come on. Let's get out of these hills.
On the other side of the rock face the land ahead looks to open up.
But with darkness falling fast
and the prospect of another freezing night ahead,
I want to get through these mountains as quickly as possible.
OK, let's get on and up this.
Wanna be a bit careful, though.
Real ankle-snapping terrain, all of this. Just go steady.
Just check that out.
The last bit of dying light of the day
guiding us down to civilisation.
And that's what I call a beautiful sight.
For the survivor,
that's a feeling that's harddescribe.
OK, let's get down theree it's dark.
Come on.
But if your life isn't in danger,
please respect all the plants ands you find.
Remember - the greatest danger
most of the rest ofworld faces
is mankind.
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