(PRODUCER SPEAKING)
You know, people always talk about the American dream.
Well, what is the American dream?
Who's to say what, what your dream should be, you know?
I mean, my dream is different than everybody's.
Because I don't really care for material items anymore.
That's about ruled out with me.
I don't have a vehicle, drives on foot
or I call somebody to come get me.
And, you know, so, uh, you know, it's, uh...
This is my dream.
This is the way, you know, like I say,
this is the (BLEEP) lifestyle of the rich and famous.
Because I am rich in my own way,
richer than anybody because
I don't have anybody to answer to.
I have everything I want to eat, everything I wanna do.
I can amuse myself up here in so many ways.
It's, uh, you know, ridiculous.
But, uh, you know, and people that live down below,
flatlanders, yeah, it's just like watching a rat race.
It's just like when they put the rats in the box
and they go running around like they're (BLEEP) crazy.
Hell, I'm not like that.
I can walk around up here at my own pace, do what I want.
Nobody can make me go faster than I want.
Nobody can tell me what to do.
NARRATOR: In the age of technology,
the electrical grid is expanding,
and the world is getting smaller.
For some, finding peace of mind means
hiding out where no one thinks to look.
To escape,
they redefine "off the grid."
You know, I don't think you could ever have
too many weapons.
They help me sleep good at night.
They help me feed myself.
So that is a very favorite tool of mine.
My gun there on the sawbuck is a .62 caliber flintlock.
It's a smoothbore. My dad always had a 20 gauge,
and now I got a 20 gauge.
And I can put shot in here and shoot turkeys.
I can put a round ball in here and shoot a bear.
It's a good little gun for that.
Keep you fed, that's the main thing.
NARRATOR: For the past 10 years,
Bear Claw has lived beyond the grid,
in the Clearwater Mountains of Idaho,
surviving almost entirely off the land.
In this region, it's now black bear season,
and Bear Claw relies on hunting to deliver
the protein he needs.
BEAR CLAW: I'm gonna head down to this creek.
It's warming up a little bit and, uh,
bears really like to come down here to the water.
My hunting career started when I was a young fella
shooting birds, and to me, it's not a day-to-day success.
It's the whole time.
And the more you hunt, the better you are.
There's always something out there.
You gotta have adventure, right?
Bears really like the grubs. They get big and fat
this time of year, and they're really hatching out
and it makes good food for them
because it's got good protein in it.
And I'll be darned, look at that now.
Got some fresh bear claws right here.
When a bear comes up to a tree,
especially a big ol' mother tree like this,
this will show you the home territory.
And what they want to do is, the younger ones down here,
and you can even see the baby bears have been crawling,
clawing like their mother has.
This is to, uh, mark their territory, is what they're doing.
And then this big ol' daddy comes by
and he can reach way up there.
Gives you an idea how tall that bear is.
That's a good six, six and a half footer.
There's even some way up there.
That's a good sign of we're in the right place
to find us a bear.
Looks like we're getting closer to what we're looking for.
NARRATOR: In the middle of Lake Michigan,
18 miles from the mainland,
lies a world outside the grid.
Titus, where you at, boy?
Come on, come on. (CLAPS) Come on, boy!
Come on, Titus!
Come on, the boat's leaving! Let's go!
It's traditional that I always give him a baptism.
He hates it, you hate it.
Get in the boat.
NARRATOR: Surrounded on all sides by the freshwater of Lake Michigan,
Dan Burton's home is within the Beaver Island archipelago,
a series of nine islands,
several of which are completely uninhabited.
To survive all the way out here,
Dan must make due with limited supplies
and whatever he can find.
So, he often embarks on salvage missions
in search of materials he can use.
DAN BURTON: Back in the early days, you know,
when there wasn't all the railroads and stuff,
the waterways were the main route.
So you had ships passing by here every day all the time.
You know, there's treasure all over.
You just gotta be out there and willing to look for it,
willing to dive in and get it.
One of the reasons we're out here today
is we've had a lot of success. This has been a great spot.
Keep our eyes open.
(PRODUCER SPEAKING)
DAN: All right.
Man, that does look like that's a potential, right there.
(PRODUCER SPEAKING)
It looks like it is, uh, if I had to guess,
an early, uh, early to mid, maybe '80s,
snowmobile sitting down there.
Either somebody had mechanical problems
or it probably got bailed off on the ice and, uh,
- nobody went back and got it. - (WHIMPERING)
Hang on, Tity!
Could always use a snowmobile.
I say we grab it, finders' keepers, loser's weepers.
NARRATOR: During winter months,
Dan usually relies on snowshoes
to walk across the ice to other islands.
A snowmobile could afford him safer passage
to find resources in the area.
DAN: There's a good chance that snow machine will run.
It's a different type of fishing.
We'll pull, uh, we'll pull a snowmobile off the bottom.
JOE RAY: Gets a little tight up here.
I'll go ahead and give you a little room maybe.
I don't know.
We open up a little more right around here.
NARRATOR: In a world below the grid,
Joe Ray has spent the last two weeks underground.
Today, he's headed for daylight.
JOE: This next bend, we'll go to the left
and we'll be there.
This is another one of my exits here,
and I have to go out.
Not that I really like going out, but I have to come out,
so we're on for a walk.
Coming out of the cave really makes me sort of nervous.
I don't feel safe out here.
I mean, it's always dangerous.
You never know what's gonna come.
Something falling on ya, something chasing ya.
And once I get outside,
anything can come from anywhere out here
and you never can tell what's gonna happen.
NARRATOR: Living below the grid,
Joe Ray rarely leaves his caves,
only heading outside when absolutely necessary.
JOE: We're gonna go down here.
NARRATOR: This trip is a mission to find valuable
materials he can sell, in hopes of purchasing
ammunition for his rifles.
JOE: This is the shaft we'll be going down in right here.
Looks like it's got shafts going off on both sides,
and these shafts could actually go for miles.
You know, I mean, there's no telling.
There could be a goldmine down there,
and there might not be (BLEEP) down there.
NARRATOR: The region Joe calls home is
the Ozark Mountains of north central Arkansas.
This area became a hotbed of mining activity
in the early 1900s.
JOE: There's not very many people that like to go
down in shafts, but that's the difference between me and them.
Shaft, that's just a cave that goes straight down.
Yeah, it's a ways down there.
I almost wanna jump in,
but I know I probably couldn't make that.
(PRODUCER SPEAKING)
JOE: Well, a lot of people might not think so,
but, uh, you just have to look at everything,
think of all the things that can happen and plan for them
and then plan for what you're not even thinking of,
because the first thing out here that will keep you alive
before anything else is common sense.
And if you don't have no common sense,
you better keep your ass out of the woods.
So, uh, let's go!
(ROOSTER CROWS)
JEANNY LEVERETT: Ah, chick, chick, chick.
Ah, chick, chick, chick, chick.
- You want some? - (CLUCKING)
Pepper, no.
Ah, chick, chick, chick.
Chick, chick, chick.
Hey!
No, Lee!
DOC LEVERETT: (BLEEP), (BLEEP)!
JEANNY: Rooster!
DOC: All right, oh.
NARRATOR: In Onion Creek, Washington,
Doc and Jeanny Leverett work every day to sustain
their life above the grid.
And some days, that means getting by on limited resources.
I got two eggs.
Yeah, she's working overtime. Maybe she heard we were in a food drought.
Here.
All right, you got one egg.
JEANNY: Is it cracked?
DOC: It's cracked, but it's still good. We can eat it.
- All right, here. - I can go ahead and get it.
DOC: I'm gonna get out of this junk,
and then I'll, uh, see what I can come up with.
Okay, we can eat the rooster.
DOC: (LAUGHS) Yeah, he's already done his job anyway.
NARRATOR: Out here, Doc and Jeanny Leverett
live 25 feet above the ground, in the dense forests
of eastern Washington near the Canadian border.
In their tree house,
they don't have enough power for refrigeration.
So, one year ago, they bartered for
a chicken and a rooster.
Today, Doc's hoping another trade can provide
the renewable food source they need.
DOC: We've been wanting to get a goat,
but, uh, out here on the creek,
we're not dealing so much in money.
We use a creeker currency, whatever you have on hand,
and I prefer it.
The thrill of the trade is much more satisfying to me
than to hand over some money.
We're coming up on my little nursery here.
Every one of these saplings out here have value.
Here's a good one.
This one is a fir. That's what he says
that he wants put up there, is fir.
They're a quick growing plant, good tree.
Just like finding money on the ground.
So now I think we need to get three or four more.
That ought to be worth a good trade.
One step closer to a goat.
MIKE WEID: Any luck over there?
DAN: Nope, no snowmobile yet.
Maybe a rock and a log. (SCOFFS)
NARRATOR: 18 miles from the mainland,
far outside the grid,
Dan Burton is attempting to salvage a sunken snowmobile
from the bottom of Lake Michigan.
I'm sure it's here.
I don't see anybody beating me to it.
No, there aren't too many people
going to salvage this thing.
NARRATOR: To lift its 400-pound frame,
he's recruited Mike Weid, a barge operator and master diver
who's lived on the island for 13 years.
DAN: What was that right there?
MIKE: Where, over here?
DAN: Yeah, right here, look at that.
MIKE: Oh, I see blue.
Yup, that's it, that's it.
DAN: Yeah.
MIKE: I'm on.
Anchors aweigh.
I'm gonna get my suit on.
It'd be nice to skin dive this one,
- but as cold as the water is... - MIKE: Yeah.
DAN: I'll go down and check it out.
Give it a little tug and see what the situation looks like.
Looks like she's sitting pretty good at the bottom.
- It's intact? - DAN: Looks intact.
MIKE: Okay. DAN: She felt heavy.
MIKE: That's fine, we got lift bags.
NARRATOR: In order to extract the snowmobile from the lake bottom,
Dan and Mike will utilize two lift barrels,
filling each with compressed air.
Their first step is tying off a thousand-pound test line
to either end of the machine.
MIKE: Well, it looks pretty good.
Yeah, you see why I wanted to go get it?
MIKE: Yeah, let's sink both of those lift barrels.
DAN: Okay.
We'll put one at each end
and we'll take a tank down and fill each one.
That would raise it nice and gently.
We gotta be careful when I'm coming up.
We don't wanna get underneath it.
Don't get anything hooked on it.
DAN: Okay, all right, let's lift this baby up, man.
(HOWLING)
NARRATOR: In the Clearwater Mountains of Idaho,
Bear Claw makes his home beyond the grid.
His nearest neighbors are mostly ranchers and loggers,
making their living off of the land.
(HOWLING)
BEAR CLAW: Hey, neighbor! CHRIS MORROW: What's up?
BEAR CLAW: I was just up the mountain,
and I saw some fresh bear sign.
CHRIS: Up by your place?
BEAR CLAW: Yeah, up by my place.
You got time to grab a few dogs and maybe we can catch a bear?
All right, let me get my stuff together.
BEAR CLAW: Hey, bandit.
Hey, buddy!
CHRIS: Come on!
(DOGS BARKING)
BEAR CLAW: Let's go catch a bear.
Come on, guys.
Come on, guys, up here, up here.
NARRATOR: Whenever Bear Claw and Chris hunt together,
they split their bounty 50/50
to ensure nothing goes to waste.
Chris' hounds are trained to chase their prey into a tree
when they find it, and in the dense forests of Idaho,
it's nearly the only technique
that provides a clear shot.
BEAR CLAW: So when I came down this morning,
- I saw some bear tracks up here. - CHRIS: Yeah.
I figured we could maybe start up here and then draw.
Okay.
BEAR CLAW: Come on, get it going.
Get it going.
CHRIS: Been digging right here.
BEAR CLAW: Squirrel don't pull a log open like that.
CHRIS: It's pretty fresh.
He's here somewhere.
All right, let's go get him!
Hey, wait a minute.
They're on a hot track.
CHRIS: Yeah, could be.
- (WHIMPERING) - BEAR CLAW: It's okay.
PRODUCER: Dogs are sniffing.
(HOWLING)
BEAR CLAW: Get 'em, boys.
CHRIS: They're after it.
BEAR CLAW: Let's get up after them.
(SPEAKING)
JOE: Well, it's time to take off and see how far these tunnels go.
NARRATOR: 70 feet below the grid,
Joe Ray has descended into an excelsior zinc mine,
closed and abandoned in the mid-1900s.
JOE: This shaft here is an old one.
This is probably one of the largest zinc mines
up here at one time.
Let's go check it out and see what's happening.
Well, here's some of the old drill bits from the days gone by.
(JOE SPEAKING)
Sort of a (BLEEP) there, it looks like.
NARRATOR: Down here, Joe Ray is searching
for valuable mineral ores he can sell,
in hopes of buying rifle ammunition he needs.
The most common mineral he extracts
is a white globular formation called smithsonite,
also known as turkey fat.
JOE: Hmm, hold on a second.
Look at this.
This is probably a miner's pocket pistol.
This is an old gun. It'd be like a .32 short or something.
This could bring me another $100 or so.
Let's go on a little further and, uh, keep going.
(MIKE SPEAKING)
(DAN SPEAKING)
(MIKE SPEAKING)
NARRATOR: Outside the grid in Lake Michigan,
Dan Burton and master diver Mike Weid
are attempting to salvage a snowmobile from the lake bottom.
This abandoned machine could prove vital to Dan's survival
during the cold winter months ahead.
MIKE: All right, man.
You got your snowmobile, buddy.
Woo-ey!
Let's lift this thing up, Mike.
This will be the perfect sled for the island.
Twin cylinder.
Looks like most of the parts are there.
Look, it even got a windshield.
MIKE: There we go.
Easy, big girl.
(MIKE LAUGHS)
Look at that!
(IMITATES MOTOR RUNNING)
Yup, this is me.
Give her a pull.
I don't think it'll start.
Cord is rotted off.
Eh, I got all that at home, though.
MIKE: A little wax, man, you're good to go.
DAN: Thanks, Mike.
DOC: Well, I'mma go see a man about a goat.
NARRATOR: In Washington, Doc and Jeanny Leverett
work every day to sustain their life above the grid.
And today, that means bartering with their closest
neighbor for the renewable food source they need.
DOC: Dennis!
I don't wanna get shot.
Dennis!
(DENNIS NEWTSON SPEAKING)
DOC: Oh.
(DENNIS SPEAKING)
Hey, it's Doc! Don't shoot!
- (DENNIS SPEAKING) - (LAUGHS)
DOC: Howdy!
TINA NEWTSON: Hey, what's up?
DOC: How are we doin'? DENNIS: Good.
DOC: I come to talk to you.
- Sure, how you doin', Doc? - DOC: Good, good, good.
I've got some saplings.
Can I take a look at the goat 'cause I kinda wanna...
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, so.
TINA: Come on in!
DOC: Is this her? TINA: Yeah.
- (DENNIS SPEAKING) - TINA: This is Mag.
DOC: Oh, hey, baby.
TINA: She's a LaMancha boer.
DOC: Yeah, how much do you get out of her a day?
A little bit under a gallon.
DOC: Oh, wow!
Okay, well, here's what I got.
You said you wanna plant some new saplings, so.
- (DENNIS SPEAKING) - DOC: I've dug up some sapling.
(DENNIS SPEAKING)
Well, you got any...
You got anything that needs a fixing?
(DENNIS SPEAKING)
DOC: All right.
Good, good.
NARRATOR: When bartering, Doc often utilizes
his abilities as an engineer and mechanic.
For 16 years in the Navy, he learned to build engines
and elevators on aircraft carriers and cruisers.
This is a micro version of what I used to work on when I was in the military.
Get a generator going, in any engine, there's just a few things you need.
You need spark,
so we're hoping that these spark plugs are good
and then the coil is good.
You need fuel. That's what our tank is for.
And you gotta have rotation.
And if you have all three of those in the right combination,
you'll have a runnin' motor.
I was kinda going in a bad direction as a young lad.
Getting in lots of trouble, lots of police activity,
and the Navy pulled me up and showed me the right directions.
I would almost say it saved me.
A lot of the lessons that I learned in the Navy
are helping me out here.
The concept of problem-solving
and self-reliance and using what you have at hand,
that's been one of the greatest tools I've had out here.
We have the rotation.
We lost our choke.
That spring in there is not doing its job.
Since the choke is not gonna cooperate,
I'm gonna make a manual choke out of a piece of electrical tape.
Hmm, make it stay there.
(ENGINE STARTING)
(DOC SPEAKING)
That's what Doc does.
Oh, I take hunks of junks and make them sort of work.
BEAR CLAW: Get after them, hound dogs.
NARRATOR: In the Clearwater Mountains of Idaho,
Bear Claw and Chris are closing in
on a black bear sow in the area.
BEAR CLAW: I can hear 'em up yonder barking.
CHRIS: Yeah.
NARRATOR: After following bear signs to this region of activity,
they've released their hounds in an attempt
to tree their prey.
BEAR CLAW: Getting close to 'em now.
(DOGS BARKING)
Hey, bear is up there.
(BEAR CLAW SPEAKING)
CHRIS: Yeah.
BEAR CLAW: Let's go get that thing.
CHRIS: That ain't a bad bear.
No, that ain't a bad bear.
I think we got the angle we're looking for.
He's just gotta lift his head up a little bit
from that branch.
There's a new piece.
Lift it up a little more.
We're gonna get some bear down here.
(GUNSHOT)
BEAR CLAW: Sorry to take your life, my brother.
This is what mountain men do.
Now comes the part of skinnin' him.
NARRATOR: In the Clearwater Mountains,
Bear Caw and Chris have taken a 200-pound black bear.
After working together,
they'll split the meat to ensure nothing goes to waste.
BEAR CLAW: My dad was a butcher so I really enjoy this,
skinning and cutting and fleshing and tanning.
I learned a long time ago from my father that we use
every bit of this meat.
It's just right that we use the whole bear.
DOC: Well, if you were a little bigger,
I'd put a saddle on you.
Make this trip a lot easier.
NARRATOR: In Onion Creek, Washington,
Doc Leverett has successfully bartered
for a LaMancha bear goat, the kind of renewable food source
he needs to sustain his life above the grid.
DOC: Jeanny!
JEANNY: Yeah!
DOC: We got us a goat.
JEANNY: Oh, look at her.
(BLEATING)
- What was her name? - DOC: Maddie.
JEANNY: Maddie. We can take her for a test spin, I guess.
DOC: Okay, come on, Maddie.
Maddie, Maddie.
JEANNY: You got her? DOC: Yeah, I got her.
JEANNY: If she kicks me, I'm gonna kick you back.
DOC: Easy there, Maddie.
JEANNY: This is gonna take a little bit of practice.
DOC: Okay, there's a joke here,
but I think I'm gonna leave it alone, okay?
(BOTH LAUGH)
JEANNY: Hey, there we go.
DOC: That was a good one, good girl.
Hey, come on!
You're gonna need some of this.
JEANNY: I'm not gonna be able to get much more out of her, I don't think.
DOC: I got somethin' that I didn't have to pay for
'cause Mother Nature provided for me,
and then I picked up the change
with what I had in my head. It don't get any better than that.
If every deal I made went that way, life would be grand.
Try it.
It is pretty good.
DOC: Oh, that's good stuff.
- JEANNY: Yeah. - We got a milk-producing lawn mower.
(LAUGHS) Yup, rock on.
JOE: It's like huntin'.
Huntin' animals, huntin' something to sell
as you watch and look and, you know,
more grounds you cover the better off you are.
NARRATOR: In northern Arkansas,
in an abandoned mine shaft 70 feet below the grid,
Joe Ray is searching for a valuable mineral
known as turkey fat, one he can sell to buy rifle ammunition.
Well, this is just all falling apart.
I thought that was gonna be a good place.
Ah, nothin' there either.
This is a nice little piece here.
There's a vein of little quartz that runs right in this.
It's real small.
Well, maybe I got somethin' right, oh, yeah! Hang on.
(SPEAKING)
Oh, hell.
This is just fantastic.
This is a pretty good-sized piece of turkey fat.
The nodules are what makes them the value.
When you've got these, that's got all these baby nodules,
and the big nodules,
that's, uh, what the collectors go crazy for.
They go gaga for that (BLEEP).
I've seen small pieces of it go for, like, 80 or 90 bucks,
and this is probably three or four times bigger
than any that I've seen.
I'm gonna take this piece of turkey fat
and these other little pieces of crystal I got here and, uh,
I'm gonna head on out and take them
over to my mineral buyer later this afternoon
and barter for whatever I need.
(THUNDER RUMBLING)
Well, it's rainin'.
This is gonna be super slick getting outta here, fellas.
So, y'all probably gonna need to put the cameras away
to make this a lot safer for everybody.
So, it's time to get on up and let's get out of here.
DAN: With the snow we get and the rough terrain
and the non-groomed trails,
it's important to have a proper snow machine.
NARRATOR: Far outside the grid, on Beaver Island,
Dan Burton is attempting to repair his newfound snowmobile,
after a successful salvage mission on Lake Michigan.
DAN: The sled was in pretty good shape.
That's one thing we have as advantage of is, you know,
it's all fresh water so we don't corrode as fast.
Kinda got the carburetors temporarily wired on until
I get the air breather and everything else in it.
(WHIRRING)
So, we're still sucking air in this carburetor,
we're gonna just to try to tighten it up a little bit temporarily.
A sled like this that was running would be at least $500.
You know, it was just sweat equity.
You find it, you fix it, and hopefully you don't
have to put too much money into it.
That's what we do on Beaver Island.
That's what life is all about,
is looking at what you've done at the end of the day.
Come on, girl, come on.
Woo!
(DAN SPEAKING)
Leave it there until winter. (CHUCKLES)
JOE: Hell, I've done come over here fixing to go up
and see my friend Bee, see if I can, uh,
sell all the minerals and stuff I've got here.
NARRATOR: In the Ozark Mountains,
Joe Ray has emerged from below the grid,
after discovering valuable minerals
in an abandoned mine shaft.
Now, he'll attempt to sell them
and earn the money he needs to buy rifle ammunition.
JOE: Hello, Bee, how's it goin'?
BEE DELOZIER: Long time no see, Joe.
JOE: Yeah, it's a long ways over the hill.
BEE: When you coming back to society?
I've got my own society up in the woods.
They don't bother me there as much.
I don't have to put up with people.
That's the way I love it.
Goin' underground, I don't have to put up with anybody.
- BEE: Yeah, I don't know. - It's a whole new world down there.
I found a small crystal vein when I was down in the tunnel.
BEE: Smithsonite.
This is definitely worth a little bit of cash.
So, I mean, I'm looking at maybe, I don't know, 150 bucks?
You go 200?
BEE: Ah, 175?
Okay.
BEE: 175 sounds like a good deal.
How about 180?
JOE: Hey, that'll work great.
This way you don't have to owe me any change.
(BEE LAUGHS)
You be careful going back over the hill, you hear?
Gimme a hug before I go.
- BEE: Yeah... (INDISTINCT) - Might be a while.
NARRATOR: With the sale complete,
Joe has enough money to buy the ammunition he needs
for the month to come.
And though supply runs like this
require him to leave the caves,
as soon as his business is done,
he quickly recedes back below the grid.
JOE: Finding stuff is great 'cause, I mean,
that's what I live off of and that's what supports me.
I mean, it's not like going to an 8:00 to 5:00 job,
sitting in a cubicle and looking out the window going,
"Ah, what am I doing here?"
And I don't miss none of that at all.
But I can always go out, dig,
and, uh, find something I can sell and make money with
'cause that's what you gotta do up here to survive.
BEAR CLAW: Me and the dogs are gonna eat good tonight.
NARRATOR: On the ridgelines of the Clearwater Mountains,
beyond the grid, Bear Claw returns to camp,
after a 10-hour hunt.
BEAR CLAW: Bear meat's kinda strong,
hell, you eat bear at night, you wake up with howling
in the morning, so.
You know, I learned when I was a kid,
my mom always said the squeal was the only part
of the hog that got away.
Use everything you can.
We certainly don't wanna be wasteful.
Lucky enough, I was raised by good folks.
It's ready. I can hardly wait.
Mmm, man, oh, man.
The best meat in the whole wide world tonight.
NARRATOR: Hiding from civilization,
far beyond the grid, even a solitary man
can't get by on his own all the time.
BEAR CLAW: I'm so fortunate to live here with all these fine neighbors.
When I get hungry and want some meat,
I go over and ask 'em to hunt.
It really helps in a real serious way.
NARRATOR: On the edge of the world, pride isn't an option.
You give us some milk, we'll give you some goodies.
That sounds like a fair trade, don't you think? Huh?
NARRATOR: And relying on a few trusted allies
can be the only way to endure.
JOE: Today was a good success.
You never have too much ammunition out here, trust me.
NARRATOR: For those who choose this life,
a little help can go a long way.
DAN: Living in an isolated area where you only have
a handful of neighbors, you have to work together.
Even in the toughest of times, you gotta band together.
I mean, that's what it takes to survive.