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sue: I don't have clients in this year because of
everything else that's happening with the pandemic.
So there is, along with some of the angst that goes with that,
there is a relaxation.
I see caribou getting ready to migrate,
and they're in the valley getting fat.
There's not that many people up here pushing these guys.
They get a chance to relax.
It feels pretty good.
For me, I think it's, it's probably one of the first times, oh.
What's he running for?
These guys started running.
Caribou turned into a scare-ibou.
And you've got some kind of predator here.
Oh, hold on.
Holy cow.
I see a wolf.
There's a slight breeze and it's pushing the scent.
That might be why these guys started running.
Wow, he's big. He's healthy.
This is what makes kavik so special that I want to save and protect.
I live in an area that I can wake up,
drink coffee, and see caribou.
And good, healthy, black wolf doing his hunting.
And I'm part of it.
I'm part of this particular chain of life.
And that's pretty amazing.
I've seen visually who's in my neighborhood that was willing
to show themselves.
I need to get my eyes on the things I don't see.
Maybe I'll go and check out the river.
How else do I know what's in my neighborhood?
See what the prints are.
Time to go check it out.
Andy: Living the life out here, sometimes there's a lot of
discomfort because you work your tail off here every day.
Denise: You're excited? You want to go on the boat?
Grizz has to learn about boat rides.
Good boy, grizz.
Andy: Okay.
Grizz get to go on a trip to go get some brick from
an ancient fireplace.
Denise: All right, let's do this.
Andy: 100 years ago, there were hunters that were
stationed around here, and I stumbled upon one of
their old sites from a cabin that got destroyed.
But the fireplace is still there.
I want to go down and grab some of the brick and kind of
repurpose it and bring it up here,
and build up a new fireplace and enjoy that for the rest of
our lives here at calico bluff.
So we're gonna chisel out a little bit of history today.
Denise: Up, up! Atta boy!
Andy: Good boy!
Denise: Come on, grizz!
Oh.
Andy: Find it? Denise: Yeah!
Holy man. Wow.
I had no idea it was this big.
Andy: Yeah, no. It's, it's massive.
Like this was a, this was a permanent camp.
Denise: Wow.
Andy: This wasn't some let's go camp out here for a week.
Denise: Was this at their cabin then?
Andy: Yeah. It was in the cabin.
Denise: Okay. So now, what's your plan?
Andy: I want to salvage some of these brick.
We can just clean these up and make them part of our fireplace,
so there's a bunch of.
Denise: That's pretty cool.
Andy: Nice easy ones.
And then I might, might chisel out a few of those ones in the fireplace.
We'll see.
Denise: Just nice they have a story to go with them and we
can put that story forward.
Andy: I'm not the first person here.
I probably won't be the last person here.
But everybody leaves their mark.
And one of the things that I hope to do is leave our mark
by building a really beautiful rock stove that will be kind of a monument
to what short period of time I lived here with denise.
All right.
Denise: Got everything?
Andy: I think we got enough. That's a good haul.
Let's go back to the boat.
Hey, grizz. Come, come!
See if we can make it through the shallows.
Couple hundred pounds more brick with us.
Denise: Got a lot of work ahead.
Andy: There is.
And right now, all I want to do is get started on the stove.
Ricko: If you can't live off the land,
you can't live out here.
Nature is the most powerful thing out here.
Me and the kids are heading down huslia river.
It's the worst time of the year for bugs right now.
These gnats just tear you up.
You, it's the hottest time of the year,
but it's also the most buggiest time.
Something we can do though is get a bunch of supplies for bugs,
and then make a nice relaxation place inside the cabin.
And that makes our life not so miserable during the
buggy time of the year.
Narrator: In huslia, summer temperatures bring about an
endless onslaught of insects,
making everyday tasks nearly impossible.
Today, ricko dewilde and his children, skyler and skarlett,
are heading out to gather local supplies
to combat the infestation at their family cabin.
Ricko: Pretty sure this is the area.
We're looking for cottonwood or large alder.
Whoo, the gnats are here.
Put your hoods on.
Right now, the gnats got crazy energy.
They're just buzzing, they're everywhere you look.
Cottonwood is really important because it keeps the bugs out
of the area by slowly smoldering.
It doesn't just burn up like spruce.
It's not a huge heat source, but we use it for smoking our
foods and also for cooking outside.
Okay, this is what I'm looking for right here.
Some standing, old, dry cottonwood or just even big
alder like this, it smokes a lot longer than anything else.
This looks like worthless wood to someone,
really beat up, and old.
But this is actually the best smoke wood.
Once it starts burning, it just smolders for hours and it
disperses the bugs, and make life a little more comfortable
for me and the kids.
Okay, I got some cottonwood here.
I just got to haul it out to the boat.
The bugs are terrible, my kids are getting tore up by bugs,
so I got to try to boom bam boom,
knock this out, get back in the boat and get moving again.
You guys ready to carry out some wood?
It's really important to have all the supplies before winter
because the last thing I can do is get on my snow machine,
40-below, and go look for cottonwood.
That's a hard task.
That's some hard-earned smoke wood.
Good day so far.
We got all the wood we need.
Now we just need birch bark and birch punk,
and then we'll head home, build up that fire pit,
keep the bugs from crawling all over us.
Skyler: That's what I can't wait for.
Chip: It's all about adventure.
Having a good time. Making some good food.
Just one big wrapped-up way of living, and I love it.
Carol: Go.
Go through. Pull.
Just about there.
Chip: Right there, stop.
We're gonna put the sled right here.
And we're gonna make this go round. Okay?
Agnes: Today we're going to be,
we're setting up a nice little home idi's gonna be staying in
for the next few weeks.
Chip: Let's get this done.
Carol: I'll grab this one.
Agnes: Idi's coming with a brand-new baby,
and of course edward.
So we have lots to look forward to.
Lots to prepare for.
And most of all, make sure they'll be comfortable here so
after they leave, they'll want to come back.
Chip: You got it? Agnes: Yup.
It's kind of interesting to see my daughter willing to
come out here with her brand-newborn baby.
Chip: Keep moving the center.
Agnes: Of course, it's more healthy living.
There's clean air.
There's just a lot of animals that come your way in case you're hungry.
Good?
Chip: Yup.
Agnes: For me and my family, kiwalik is the place to be.
One, two, three, go!
Chip: Bring the weight towards us, girls.
Idi-bitty, when she was an eight-month baby,
we stayed by kotzebue and we lived in a tent.
So idi-bitty's first literal home within a day of being born was a tent.
Okay. Let's scoot, little bit at a time.
Six inches, one foot's good.
I told them if they came down here, I'd have a teepee.
You know, the spare that they could use.
I told them, you know there'd be a bed there.
That should be about dead center.
I can't make it any more centered than that.
Hi, grandson.
Carol: You made your own little door.
Agnes: This was your first teepee.
It's gonna be your baby sister's first teepee also
'cause we're making this ready for your mom.
Your mom is gonna come tomorrow with her brand-new baby.
Your little sister, like this, look!
Real little one.
Carol: Can't wait to hold your little baby sister?
Agnes: Uh-huh. They'll come tomorrow.
One more sleep.
Your baby sister and your mom will come in a while.
We got to just keep waiting.
Carol: You sure you want to meet your baby sister?
Agnes: You're gonna be the big brother in a little while.
Qutan: I hear a boat. It's over there.
Carol: Oh, look, mom. I hear the boat!
Qutan: I hear a boat. It's over there. See it?
Carol: Oh, look, mom. I hear the boat!
Agnes: Tata is already coming back with your mom and baby!
Carol: Awesome.
Wade: I'm gonna hide! Agnes: You're gonna hide?
It's kind of exciting watching wade wait for his mom and
his little newborn sister.
Of course, he don't know what to expect.
And it's kind of exciting to see his reaction when he sees
the baby for the first time.
Wade: Mom!
Agnes: Well, hello there!
Iriqtaq: Hey.
Wade: Ah!
(iriqtaq screams).
Iriqtaq: Hi, son! Chip: How you doing?
Agnes: Hi, baby.
Iriqtaq: I'm really excited to bring my daughter to my son.
He's gone through my sisters' pregnancies and then saw the
babies after they came home and everything,
so he was super excited for his own little sister.
Yup.
Wade: Can I hold her, mom?
Iriqtaq: No holding her yet, but here you go.
You want to see? Her name is adelyn.
Agnes: Adelyn?
Iriqtaq: She's three days old.
My daughter's full name is adelyn rain hailstone.
And her eskimo name is (native name) after my sister carolyn.
Agnes: Wow.
Iriqtaq: Just having a little girl as beautiful,
and hopefully as outgoing and shining as she is.
Edward: Come, son. Missed you too. Kiss me.
Nice to be back here in kiwalik.
Right when we pulled up my son was all happy jumping around.
And usually, I don't take off for that long.
My first time being out here with idi and the baby,
so it's nice.
We've got a lot to do and a lot to see.
Iriqtaq: Okay, I'm gonna go inside and go feed her real quick.
Agnes: Wow. Our latest grandchild.
Andy: Living out in the bush, it's not for everyone.
But it's probably one of the most rewarding things you can
do in your life.
So, this is just the firebox. We're building the firebox.
Denise: Oh, I see. And then there's the outer.
Andy: And then, the whole thing,
there'll be a steel top on top of it.
And then all the decorative stuff goes around the outside of this.
All the rock work, the brick work on the front.
So now we know, three feet wide.
Denise: Four feet. Andy: Four feet long.
Two-inch-thick concrete wall filled with sand up to the
grade, where we want this to start.
Denise: And I know that this is a big project now.
Andy: Yeah.
Denise: I had no idea how much.
Andy: And I've never laid brick before.
Denise: Was involved in this.
Andy: So this is gonna be really interesting to see what happens.
Narrator: Andy bassich and denise becker are building a
masonry stove at their property along the yukon river.
They hope that the stove will further their ability to
maintain their lifestyle, and also create a monument to
their time in alaska that will last well beyond their lifetimes.
Andy: This door won't actually fit into this fire brick.
The door will actually be out here farther where that brick
that we found out in the woods,
that'll be the face on the front here.
Is it up to your approval, boo?
What do you say, boo? What do you say, boo?
One of the things that I made a decision on when I started
developing this homestead, work is important to me.
But making my mark is really important to me too.
Building this stove is a really good example of how
when you develop a lot of different skills,
you can make something really, really nice that would last forever.
Or at least last our lifetime.
We'll just let that set for a little bit.
Denise: Getting ready to do some welding?
Andy: Yeah.
While I'm waiting for the concrete to cure.
Denise and I found some really cool heavy-duty grater blades.
They're about an inch thick, so I'm gonna make my top for
the masonry heater out of that.
I'm gonna cut these, all this length.
Weld them together.
(clang).
Denise: Oh, I hate that sound.
Andy: I don't.
That's the sound of welding and metal.
Oftentimes, people don't realize 100 years ago,
everybody lived the way I lived.
Minus the solar panel and the bulldozer.
But, denise and I are living kind of a hybridized way of
living close to nature.
And I hope that this inspires people to realize if you're
willing to take the time and learn the skills.
You can carve out a life for yourself, and maybe
make something that will be timeless in itself for them.
Denise: Done?
Andy: Think we're all done with it.
What do you think?
Denise: Oh! That's really nice.
Andy: Well, I just figured it's better than flowers.
They won't wilt.
Denise: They'll stand up to hot fires.
Andy: There's still more to do for other stuff but
this is a good start.
Sue: Sometimes you get so busy making a living that you
forget to experience your life.
Timmy! You want to come with?
You gonna show me what's out there?
Narrator: Without clients in kavik due to pandemic regulations,
sue aikens is alone in the tundra for the summer.
After seeing a wolf from her perch at camp,
sue is tracking the apex predator to learn more about
its behavior and gain vital intel for her own safety.
Sue: All right.
This, right here, is a pretty good-sized wolf.
It's bigger than my hand.
That's a large wolf.
Something with that stride and that power can be on me in a
very short period of time.
The wolf I saw was not afraid of camp.
Do I panic about it now?
No.
But this tells me a lot about how prepared I might want to be.
It's good intel.
The wolf was further out.
In order to get there, I have to cross water.
The part that worries me is right here.
Deep. Fast moving.
Little red can go through quite a bit,
but he can't sink.
(bleep).
Sue: (bleep).
That was a little hairy.
Little red did really good until I got closer to the bank.
That side was soft.
I thought it was gonna be a real bad situation.
So, I'm glad I made it up out of that.
I'm really interested in trying to find that wolf.
Or I'd love to know where did he come from.
So, I'm gonna keep on going.
Ricko: There's so many things out here that have value.
Everything has a spirit.
Everything has a reason out here for our people.
We're going on a supply run today.
Get a bunch of supplies for bugs,
and then head up to the family cabin and make a nice little
relaxation place outside.
We got our wood.
Now we just need birch punk and birch bark.
Birch punk is real good stuff, especially for bugs.
And having birch bark handy is really important for a fire-starter.
Okay, this is the spot.
It shouldn't take us long, because there's a lot of bugs.
This is exactly what I used to do with all my siblings
growing up, every year.
So thick back here.
You see any birch punk around here?
Skyler: Right there, on that tree.
Ricko: Okay, awesome.
There's birch punk on it, and there's birch bark.
This is what we're looking for.
Big old flakes of birch bark.
Skyler's allergic to this stuff.
So, just stay back, sky.
You want to grab this one, skar?
Oh, yeah.
There's a bunch right here.
On this side too, I'm gonna be getting this birch punk off.
Good for smoking and keeping bears away, and bugs.
They don't like the smell of this.
I see a lot of things that remind me of my childhood out here.
I get to bring the kids through an area that I went
through growing up, and that's what's important,
is just teaching my kids the old trails of the past
that provided for us.
Look at this, skar.
This is the motherload of birch bark.
We got all the birch bark we need,
one shot right here.
Valuable resources, literally grows on trees.
Unlike money.
It's my job to pass my culture onto the kids.
This is real, real survival here,
and it's proven.
It's thousands of years of knowledge that's passed on.
And I want them to carry that torch of survival.
Okay, we got our birch punk and birch bark,
so we're done with our supply run.
Time to head back to the cabin.
Ooh, these gnats are terrible, huh?
Andy: Out here, living a life where you work efficiently
means success.
Denise: More, more, more, more.
Doing good.
It just makes it.
Andy: Okay, we're gonna stop there, I think.
And I don't want you standing under that,
I'll just be the only one standing under that.
Denise: I know, it's so much weight.
Your hand gets stuck in there or something, it's gone.
I will be very happy when this part's over.
Narrator: With the foundation and firebrick in place,
andy and denise now face the most daunting stage of their
masonry stove build.
They will need to lower the top that andy built down
onto the frame.
And any misstep could cause the brick to crumble under the
massive weight of the steel.
Andy: So you know what you're doing.
I, kind of, know what I'm doing.
Let's see if we can make it happen.
Denise: Ready? Let's seal the deal!
Andy: Everything we bring here requires either boating or
snow machining or dog mushing down here,
and it's just a lot of physical labor to bring
materials down here to work with.
Denise: Go up. No, come forward!
Andy: Push it over! Push it towards me!
It's a lot of work to bring the brick in,
and the last thing I want to do is,
is accidentally crack or break my wall.
Tell me when that tab's close to hitting the brick!
I need to see hands!
Andy: What's it grinding on?
Denise: On these back brackets.
Andy: Okay, I'm going to try and lift,
tilt the bucket a little.
Center it up best you can, okay?
Denise: That might do it.
Andy: I'm just gonna lower it down, okay?
Keep pressure against it.
You're good.
I was able to get the heavy steel top onto the fire brick.
So the big step right now is just going and getting all the
materials lined out, and then just start working on the
outer layer of rock,
which is the exciting part and
something I've never really done before.
Denise: Okay. Now, we need the mortar.
Andy: We put a lot of sweat equity into our property and
the way we live here.
And we're getting to the point where everything I do,
I'm doing it for the last time ever.
And I'm trying to do it so that there is some artistic
value in it, and I feel really good about the project,
instead of just slopping it together.
It's a lot of work but it's the right way to do it.
And we're finally getting to the point where
I, kind of, see the light at the end of the tunnel as far as
making my homestead the way I want it.
Denise: These are all stones that have been collected
over the years.
So some of these, we're going to be picking out to place in
between the big stone work of the stove here.
And it's a great way to showcase some of this beauty
that's all around us.
People talk about the legacy that they'll leave,
the legacy that they're striving for,
and this fireplace stove has really made me ponder that.
Building this is potentially what my legacy would be.
And it's really just made me feel that things that can last
forever are definitely worth putting the effort and the
time, and the heart into.
Andy: I think we'll call that good for the artsy-fartsy side of this.
Denise: Artsy-fartsy.
That looks good.
Andy: Yup. Okay.
Denise: Think it'll last a little while, andy.
Andy: It's a stove. It's a stove.
All right, we're officially done.
Now we can just fire it up and see how it heats up.
Agnes: It's real important that we just keep passing down
knowledge of what we have to our kids.
Qutan: Here's the skin for the bed.
Last one?
Carol: I think I got it pretty much straight.
This bed is for adelyn and idi and edward and wade.
Qutan: Lots of mosquitos, so we need to put up our
huge mosquito net.
Carol: Can you help me put a mosquito net over her bed?
Qutan: Yeah.
Narrator: In kiwalik, the hailstone family has welcomed
the new arrival, three-day-old adelyn hailstone.
But with a fragile new life at camp,
the family must work together to safeguard her from the
unforgiving elements of the tundra,
just as their inupiaq ancestors have done
for thousands of years.
Carol: We're out here in the tundra,
and you can't just like say no spiders or no mosquitos,
so we got to, kind of, just watch out for the baby
ourselves to make sure there's a little mosquito-free zone.
Okay.
Just shake it off here.
We're just gonna make sure nothing like that happens and
no hornets or flies or anything goes in,
or just any other bug to bother the baby.
Carol: Awesome.
Iriqtaq: That lady, "wow. All 10 toes."
and I was like, "do they not always come out like that?"
"nope, not always."
usually, I'm the one who helps set up camp,
break down camp, you know, do stuff like that.
It's really nice to know that I have a great family support
system that are willing to help take care of me as I am
healing and, you know, slowly getting back on my feet.
I'm gonna go see son real quick.
I sure miss him, it's been a long month.
Agnes: Ana got you, sweetheart.
Iriqtaq: Okay.
Agnes: You got ana's little nose and tata's eyes and
ana's big ears.
You want to see tata?
Chip: Hello. Hello.
Agnes: Here. Careful.
Chip: Just, kind of, spooky, that's all.
Spooky to hold a brand new baby. Yeah.
Agnes: It's, kind of, exciting to see chip hold the newborn baby.
It's just different, you know?
You get, kind of, stiff and not wanting to break 'em.
Chip: Oh, wow. Welcome around, huh?
Nice little baby here. I'll hand her back to you.
Agnes: It's exciting.
It's just beautiful all the way around.
Edward: The girls, they set up the teepee to where
we have our own bed.
They got a mosquito net for the baby,
so that no bugs will get her.
All I got to do is put a stove pipe in,
get some water, and it should be nice.
Getting pretty cold out nowadays.
Every, each morning it's gonna be worse.
So, got to have the baby warm, you know.
Hopefully this stove is good and hopefully she's happy.
Should be warm.
Yeah, right on.
Looks good, it feels good.
Should be getting hot pretty soon.
It's actually nice to be back here in kiwalik.
It's my first time here in summertime and actually being
here with idi at the same time.
It's, kind of, scary, you know,
bringing a three-day-old girl out here.
But thankful for chip and agnes and the girls have set
up the teepee, thankful for them to put that up.
Sue: People call this the last frontier.
It's a beautiful place, but there is a brutality about it.
Looks like I got more wolfies here.
Looks like he's going this way.
Narrator: Sue is using her time alone to monitor her
camp's surroundings.
After spotting a wolf and caribou nearby,
sue has journeyed into the tundra to locate their tracks
and take note of their behavior.
Her findings will play a critical role in protecting
camp and herself from the region's predators.
Sue: Wolfies.
Hold on a minute, that's not a wolf print.
That's a bear.
This is not just any bear print.
Huge arctic grizzly.
This dude is no joke.
Here's my hand.
It takes two hands to get to where his claws are.
The thing for me, camp's only right there.
If you somehow, in bear language,
incur their wrath, you've got a force to be reckoned with.
Years ago, bear reached out and snatched me and drug me up
under the tundra.
The hips were torn out of the socket,
and it took ten days for somebody to find me.
Has it changed me?
Yeah.
I don't go out in the fog and go,
"hey, let's go check things out."
I avoid that.
I avoid the similar situations.
But I will educate myself on where are they at.
What are they doing?
Because my home is right there.
And he's headed this way.
So if I want to find out more about him,
I'm gonna go down this way too.
This is dangerous for me, but I still choose to be here.
Why?
Because it's awesome.
It is being in the middle of a blender,
where all the action is spinning.
That's what this is.
This is the part of my life that makes it worth living.
I think I see something. Gonna get up here.
There's your bear.
Just fyi, he just made us.
And he's sidling closer.
If he's coming with any urgency,
I got a rifle there. I got bullets here.
But I've got no desire to punch this guy's ticket.
Oh, there he goes.
He's not really worried about me.
And I can see he's got his mind on some caribou that
are down that way.
Hey, dude.
He's standing, I'm standing.
My heart to yours, buddy.
Thank you, bear.
I'm not gonna harvest you or nothing.
But I harvested a little peace.
You know, I had the big attack.
That was a lot to deal with.
For me to be at a point in my life...
That I can be close,
and not adversarial, he gave me something back today.
There's no attack, there's no aggression.
This is just a simple exchange of beauty, majesty.
We're living in harmony in a very wild wilderness.
Have a nice day.
Whoo. Yeah.
That's full circle, my friends.
That's about a good as exchange as I've ever had.
Thank you.
Iriqtaq: I was raised here. I came here as a baby.
Glad to say I was able to do the same with my own kids.
(baby crying).
Right on, thank you girls so much for making the bed.
Carol: Yup, it's perfect for the baby.
Iriqtaq: Yup, nice and comfortable.
It's edward's first time out here in the summertime.
It's our first time out here together.
While I'm healing and taking care of newborn baby,
he's out here with wade, taking care of his needs.
And having him around, it gives me more time to be able
to tend to myself and to the baby.
Wade: Is your baby (native name).
Iriqtaq: (native name) that's her eskimo name.
Edward: I know my son is excited to see idi, the baby.
He don't realize that, you know,
it's time for him to grow up, not be the baby.
And she'll look up to him and they'll learn from each other.
You know, he's the big brother now.
I know he's pretty excited.
He's happy.
Carol: Your mom and dad come long ways to go see you?
Wade: Yeah, I'm happy for you guys.
Iriqtaq: You're happy for us?
Edward: I'm happy for you too, son.
We're glad to see you.
Iriqtaq: Yeah. Edward: We missed you.
Iriqtaq: I understand the excitement and everything
everybody has to see baby,
and really great to be around everybody.
But traveling and just being a mother for the first few days
is very exhausting.
Qutan: We'll be here if you need anything. Just call us.
Iriqtaq: All right.
Carol: Have a good night. Wade: Have a good night.
Iriqtaq: Love you, son. Wade: Love you.
Iriqtaq: I was thankful that everybody gives me time to
relax and just get in the rhythm of being a new mom again.
My little adelyn rain.
I'm actually really happy to be able to say I'm raising my
kids out in camp, just like my parents did.
I love that my son is in love with the place,
he knows this place like home.
There we go.
Yeah.
Camp is great.
Life is great.
Yup, as long as my family's out here and comfortable,
I'm happy.
Ricko: Live life one day at a time.
But you also got to think ahead.
Capitalize on whatever life has to offer.
Okay, this is gonna be the fire spot where we burned before.
So, what I want to do is put these rocks on the outside of
this cooker here.
Maybe about right here for now.
Narrator: After finishing his supply run along the huslia river,
ricko will now make a new fire pit at the family cabin.
The smoke from the harvested materials will serve as a
deterrent for insects, providing vital relief for the
remainder of summer as he works around camp.
Ricko: The smoke wood we got, you can see it doesn't just
burn up.
All this birch punk, cottonwood, and alder wood,
it just smolders and that's the beauty of this wood.
It deters these gnats.
I'm able to get in the smoke here and just,
kind of, let these gnats disperse for a second.
That just allows me to, like, like a breath of fresh air
even though I'm standing in smoke.
You might think I'm choking on it, I'm not,
it's just like this.
I'm free of gnats.
My next plan, I'm gonna get some chainsaw work
going on over here.
Gonna start working on the relaxation spa.
I want to put some benches up in the front yard,
just a place to kick back and relax.
Nice, strong, not too big, spruce.
If I get birch, the birch will rot,
so it's got to be spruce.
Ah, dammit.
Ricko: Ah, dammit. Slip-chain. I hate these.
Small limbs like that, it happens with chainsaws.
Got to fix this up.
The fun ain't over yet.
Okay, I got my poles.
Time to get to work.
What I want to do is get this bark off,
then I'm gonna make a point and drive it in the ground.
One of the benefits of living in the woods,
you got to be creative.
If you're not creative, you're gonna struggle.
Trying to use a little bit of caveman knowledge to make
things a little more comfortable.
I'm able to survive out here.
But I want to thrive out here, too.
Okay. Bench is done. Whoo-hoo.
You guys want to check it out and have some hot choc?
Skyler: Yeah.
That's cooler than I expected.
Ricko: It's awesome, huh?
Skyler: Yeah.
Ricko: We got our rocks. We got our cottonwood.
We've got our bench, nice back rest.
Want to see how this thing is?
Look.
See how it just smolders?
Before western society came, before there was matches and
lighters and stuff, this is how back in the day,
people would carry their spark.
Because believe me, no matter how good you are at making a
fire, you wouldn't be able to make one at 50 below.
And without this spark, without this birch punk right
here, easily we could not be here today.
We'd be wiped out, extinct in this area of the earth.
Whatever created us and created the earth made it
possible with tools like this growing right on the trees.
So that's good to think about, you know.
Skyler: I know what was my favorite part of the day.
Ricko: What? Skyler: This.
Ricko: This is your favorite part.
Good one.
Now that these gnats are gone, we got the perfect spot.
Andy: I don't ever want to lose that enthusiasm or that
excitement over what this life gives to you here.
Yeah, baby. We got to get this fire going.
Denise: It was a long time coming.
Andy: I hear it popping and crackling.
Denise: First fire in our new stove. Wow.
Andy: I see smoke coming out.
It's strong.
Denise: Uh-hmm. Oh, I do, yeah.
Think we'll be able to make supper on it?
Andy: Yeah.
The inspiration for this project started with finding a
whole bunch of really old, historic brick in the middle
of the bush, out in the middle of nowhere.
Seeing that brick there, it made me think,
"well, maybe I can make something that denise and I
are gonna be maybe remembered by our time here at calico bluff."
because long after all my buildings rot away into the
tundra, this beautiful rock fireplace is gonna be sitting
there on its nice, sturdy foundation.
And hopefully someone will stumble upon it,
and maybe it'll inspire them to,
to live a lifestyle like I'm living here or at least to
learn a little bit about this lifestyle,
if nothing else.
Mm-hmm-mm.
I'm pretty happy with it.
I think it's gonna do exactly what we want it to do.
It might actually be a little overkill.
But not bad for a first crack at masonry work.
Denise: You know what else is really cool about this?
Right here.
We got those, we found those, we brought them back here,
and they're heated up again.
The legacy goes on.
Sue: I live in an area that daily,
sometimes hour-by-hour reminds me,
"hey, sue, you're not the boss,
you're just along for the ride."
I just have a couple of pieces of meat from a caribou I got
not very long ago.
Just throw that little piece of meat on there and the heat
of the fire is gonna start cooking it.
I just can't even imagine a better day.
This might be exactly what people
imagine alaska to be.
This big vast wilderness where you wake up,
the grizzlies scratching their booties and their chests,
and wolves running,
caribou scratching and looking,
and I'm eating game meat that I got myself.
The biggest part of this lifestyle,
if you're truly remote, orchestrate your life so that
you're actually living it.
And this right here and this right here,
it's living.
For me, this is life.
Welcome to alaska.
Captioned by cotter captioning services.