Well, you know, one time when I was in the big town,
and I was walking down the street up there,
it was like, you know, everybody up there...
And really I've seen this in lots of other places, too.
...I mean, it's just steadily on the cell phones.
You know, how can that ruin your life?
Think of how many ways that can ruin your life.
And seeing people drive and use the cell phone.
That's, you know, they ought to be giving them a DWI for that,
driving while ignorant, or something, you know.
You know, 'cause it's just all these people are just, you know,
their, their phones have taken over their lives.
I don't, I don't see none of that down here,
'cause it won't work.
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."
Lights are the biggest problem down here.
You can't move around without light.
So, I mean, the light is a commodity that I have to have.
I'll show you, because...
when the lights go out,
it'll get real dark in here.
Y'all getting scared?
For the past two years, Joe Ray has made his home below the grid
in the Ozark Mountains of North Central Arkansas.
Deep underground, Joe sometimes goes weeks
without seeing the sun.
Down here a single lantern is all he needs to illuminate his world.
My lantern and candles and everything like that,
I always have to think about them,
because I always have to keep candles stocked.
I always have to buy fuel for this. I always have to buy mantles for it.
So, I'm thinking about doing something else.
I've got a great creek down here
that has got a good water flow to it year round.
So, I can figure I can make me a little waterwheel system
out of maybe an old rim and some hubcaps or something,
and then have it running me a couple of alternators
to give me tons of power.
Then I'll have full-time electricity.
And then I can light my cave up with lights.
Waterwheel is still on the bucket list to get done pretty quick,
because I don't want to have to keep buying fuel.
I don't want to have...
That's something I just don't want to have to worry about.
To build a waterwheel in hopes of generating light,
Joe will repurpose found supplies.
Living below the grid,
he stockpiles any item he can salvage and use to survive.
Here we are up in my little storeroom here.
This is where I keep a lot of my supplies and stuff like that.
I keep the stuff here that I mostly work with,
as in hand tools
and anything that I'm saving up for a project.
This is the main piece of my waterwheel, right here.
This is what everything will mount to, to be spinning, and running everything.
I got wire.
That's what I'm hopefully gonna be running this afternoon.
I guess I'll take the hubcaps.
I'm gonna go over and see my buddy, Leo.
He's got quite a few old cars there over at his house.
And maybe I can go over there and get the main parts I need,
the alternator, the belt, and some lights.
That'll be my plan.
We're headed down to Conan's.
Conan is my little brother. I've been hunting with him for years.
Hello to camp!
Hey, man! How's it going, buddy?
Dang good. How about you?
Pretty good.
You know, every time I come over here, you're riding in circles.
I'm just going through all the cues.
Just so she's listening to me.
I'm using my legs and my hands and my butt.
Uh-huh.
She's a little non-responsive, so, I'm just lightening her back up.
I see.
I'm gonna grab Yuma, and then we're ready to roll.
Good.
Beyond the grid,
Bear Claw makes his home high atop the ridgelines
of the Clearwater Mountains in western Idaho.
Let's go down around the corner and look around.
We could probably find us a deer down in there.
Out here, Conan Ausmussen
is the closest thing Bear Claw has to a brother.
And every year, the two men head out on the hunt together,
on the first day of deer season.
Looks pretty nice down here, don't it?
Looks good to me.
Well, with all this good, green grass,
there ought to be plenty of game around here.
Oh, yeah.
Ought to be good hunting, I think.
There's a nice trail coming up the draw here.
Oh, hang on, buddy.
I think you flipped a shoe off.
There's a shoe sitting here.
It looks pretty fresh.
Yeah, this one's gone.
Ahhh, dang it.
I've been hearing a shoe clinking this morning,
and it's loosened up.
And apparently he stepped on it with his back foot
and popped it off.
I'm about to put a shoe on this horse
with two tomahawks and six nails.
This is how you would do it
if all you had was two tomahawks and six nails.
I'm just taking off the dirt and cleaning up the sole a little bit.
It still looks pretty flat, and the shoe is flat, which is good.
Probably get my file out and cut these nails off, Bear Claw.
I don't have a pair of pliers.
Though this temporary fix could last for weeks,
Conan will properly replace the horseshoe back at the stable.
For now, the hunt can continue on.
We're back in business. Here you go, bud.
- Well, partner. - We're back hunting.
- Thank you kindly, sir. - We'll keep on rolling.
You betcha.
I'm ready.
For the past five years,
Doc and Jeanny Leverett have made their home high above the grid,
in the remote woods of Onion Creek, Washington.
Over the past month, increased bear activity in the area
has put them on high alert.
Last week they built an elevated bathroom to avoid the threat.
And this morning Jeanny is surveying just how close the danger has come.
Come on. There you go.
We're looking for signs of bear.
I'm just gonna prove a point that we have a bear out here.
Doc wanted me to take a gun with me, but I don't do that.
I just take the dog, my, my Wilbur.
I figure he's gonna notice anything that's out here before I will.
He may be deaf, but he can smell things before I do.
He's got a good sense.
What do you got?
Did you find something?
What you got, bud?
Bear's been here digging up the tree stump.
You can see all this stuff is fresh that he's been digging up around here.
I don't want them out here, not this close.
It's, it's just too dangerous.
We've got the chickens. We have the goat.
You know, all that animal food that we have.
I can have Doc put a pulley system up, so we can raise that up,
and maybe the bear will go away after that.
You know, he's probably just getting into them scraps.
Wilbur?
That's a good idea.
I just need to get it about 12 foot in the air.
In Onion Creek,
Jeanny Leverett has spotted evidence of black bears
less than 15 feet from their treehouse.
Now, Doc is taking extra precautions
to keep valuable resources safe from the threat.
I'm trying to get the, the chicken and goat feed
up and out of the way.
I'm gonna put a pulley up the tree, and then hoist it up out of the way,
so it's easy access up and down.
So, when I got to feed the chickens and the goat,
and I can put it back up there,
and the bears can't dine on it during the night.
These are my tree spikes.
Loggers use these for climbing trees.
Wish me luck.
God bless America.
things.
Agh!
All of my weight is supported on a point that's right here.
So, whenever your feet are at an angle on that tree,
holding your weight,
they just dig and dig and dig.
I've been pretty rough on my body over my life.
One accident alone I broke over 23 bones.
Broken leg, broken ankle, broken toe,
hip and pelvis broken.
Ribs on both sides, punctured lung, collapsed lung,
ruptured spleen, lacerated liver.
Broken neck and back.
And then, broken melon.
Crushed my arm. I don't even have a wrist anymore.
Got stabbed here, I got stabbed twice.
Here, this was a mugging,
attempted, attempted mugging in a phone booth one time.
And this one was just an , he stabbed me through my hand here.
That was a ball.
I came out here to get away from it all.
You know, to kind of give my body a rest.
And these tree spikes aren't helping a bit.
I got to come up with something better,
'cause I don't think my ankles are gonna be able to handle this much longer.
After the Marine Corps and after college,
I started building houses, doing all kinds of construction.
You're told what to build with, and then you're told, you know,
what you're gonna, you know, conform or do for the homeowner.
So, you just get tired of all the guidelines, all the rules.
Here, you just do what you got to do,
when you want to do it and how you want to do it.
You know, and not something that someone else has told you to build or do.
So, I think it's freedom.
Outside the grid, in the middle of Lake Michigan,
Dan Burton makes his home on Beaver Island,
one of the most remote places in the Lower 48.
Out here the weather is beginning to cool as winter closes in.
So today Dan's up before dawn to prepare for the cold.
He and his sons plan to build a new structure
that will provide access tocrucial hunting grounds
and refuge from the elements.
With the weather being as bad as it's been the last two winters,
- I haven't been able to get back here. - Yeah.
So, I'm thinking if we could just get one building built this year,
and get ahead, get something that you can stay in,
you know, maybe stay in it for a couple weeks.
Yeah, that'll be good.
Instead of humping food out here and stuff, we can have storage.
Yup. Let's try to knock it out.
Cool.
I'm thinking right back in here.
That flat spot right there?
Yep. Looks pretty good.
It's always a good experience to have Nathan and Cameron around.
For me it's nice to be able to pass on something to the kids.
It's knowledge that's crucial in my terms of sustaining
and providing for your family.
They got a lot to learn, but they're getting it.
Bring me the chainsaw, Cam. Let's start nipping some of these off.
I try to teach my boys carpentry skills.
My dad taught me, his dad taught him
to survive in climates and areas like this.
That's what it takes to survive on Beaver Island.
All right, then hit all these right in here.
Yep, Leo's house, right over the little dump.
In Arkansas, Joe Ray is on the hunt for supplies
to build a waterwheel that can power lights
and illuminate his world below the grid.
Leo, what's happening?
Whenever Joe is in need of mechanical supplies,
he visits an old friend named Leo Cox,
who stockpiles old car parts and other salvaged materials.
How's it going? Good, man.
Man. Good to see you.
Whoo! Hot out here.
I'm sitting here knocking the froth off a cold one.
Let me get you one, bub.
Appreciate that.
What can I do you for today?
Well, I need some headlights and an alternator and a belt.
I wonder if you had anything like that.
I got some stuff around in one of these old trucks here.
We'll walk around over there and look and see what we can come up with.
I know there is!
Let's go over here and gander around.
I think I took an old alternator off a truck over here.
I'm gonna scratch these leaves around
and see if it's under them.
There's a fan belt.
There's an old headlight, right there.
Looks like it's still good.
Well, I found an alternator.
Looks like you got one here.
Watch it!
Yep. One beer is too many for me.
- Still spins good. - I bet it's all right.
I appreciate the beer. You bet.
Well, luck to you, my friend.
- Safety in your travels. - All right, appreciate it.
I'll see you soon.
Don't do nothing I wouldn't do.
Hardly ever do.
Right now the boys are getting ready to set the posts.
18 miles from the mainland, on Beaver Island...
You guys are doing good.
...Dan Burton and his sons have started construction
on a new shelter.
A structure that will provide access
to crucial hunting grounds during the harsh winter ahead.
The frost in this part of Michigan is about 42 inches deep.
So, in the wintertime, the ground will freeze 42 inches thick.
We're gonna try to get slightly below that.
Put a footing in, get our posts in,
and then try to get it elevated, building on top of that.
So, let's go ahead and drop that footing in, Nate.
Okay.
Nice and straight in the hole.
I'm definitely proud that, you know,
I have the ability to use my hands and build stuff.
I'm just setting something for my children,
like my parents did for me.
It's about, you know, the next generation.
It's about the seven generations ahead of them.
You're always just trying to learn from the past
and live, you know, try to respect the future.
That's good, Cam.
Now we're just gonna backfill this post in.
We got it below the frost.
People take for granted what you find in the stores and stuff,
and like, it brings you closer to nature and stuff
when you know how to do this.
You know, you have the skills that it takes
and you know the work that goes into it.
Make sure that that's parallel to there. See it?
Over the next eight hours,
Dan and his sons continue construction,
setting the foundation and building the shelter's floor.
Beautiful. Okay. We'll stagger the seam.
Instead of starting in the same spot, we'll lap the joints.
It'll make this deck a little bit stronger.
The elevation is gonna have a multipurpose to it.
One, if a snowstorm is happening, we're gonna be above that line
and it's gonna be easy to get in and out of.
It does help with the sense of smell.
When you watch a deer, he's always looking up.
He's sniffing the air.
We're hoping to get up in the air
to where a prevailing wind blows our scent
across the tops of these trees and not on the ground.
Just lift it, nice and easy.
Up and up.
Okay, hold right there.
All right. And we're done for the night.
We can watch the sunset.
We'll just get an early start and we'll get right back.
Sounds good to me.
For any hunt, you know,
it's not a bad idea to see if you can't shoot some arrows.
That's better.
In the Clearwater Mountains, beyond the grid,
Bear Claw and Conan have set out on the hunt for whitetail deer,
targeting an area wherethey've had success in the past.
We owe it to the game to do a lot of practicing
and to be real proficient with our bow and arrow.
This is not a game. This is a real thing, you know.
We're gonna take a life with these things in.
We want to hit the vitals where we're supposed to.
- Time to get serious? - Yeah.
Boy, that's a good lookout.
Don't get much better than that, does it?
This is a really good place to hunt.
So I'm just gonna hunker down here,
and hopefully something comes by.
I'll mosey back up to the pond,
and we'll meet up yonder towards dark. How's that sound?
All right, buddy. We'll see you at dusk, or before.
Good luck, partner.
This time of year when things are dry,
the animals are really dependent on the water.
And it's really a good place to hunt.
There's a deer track right there.
You see the deer track?
Breeze is going up.
That's just what we want.
The hardest thing about hunting whitetails
is tricking their nose.
They got real good eyesight.
They got really good hearing, but they bank on their nose.
And it very rarely lets them down.
Just gonna get comfortable here,
set as still as this tree.
Wait for some deer.
Hey, handy.
In Onion Creek, Washington, above the grid,
Doc Leverett is attempting to raise his food stores high in the trees
to avoid increased bear activity in the area.
To do it, Doc's attempting a new climbing method,
one that will help him contend with pain from old injuries.
When I was in the Navy, and we went to Japan one time,
they had this rope technique
where they used two sticks and a piece of rope,
and these Japanese guys were just shimmying up the tree.
I'm gonna try to mimic that. Now comes the fun part.
We're gonna try to get up a tree.
I want to get this as tight as I can here.
One, two.
All right, here goes nothing.
And then I just repeat this process.
This would be great if I had two working wrists.
So now, the key is, this rope,
the rope that's down at the bottom,
I have to get that thing undone...
pull it up and around...
and rinse and repeat.
Right now it's taking so damn long.
I think I need to perfect my knots a little more.
There's got to be an easier way.
- Hey, sweetie? What you doing? - I'm climbing a tree.
What the hell are those? It's a way to climb a tree
without having to hump a ladder through the woods.
Just two sticks and a rope.
The problem I'm trying to work out is not getting knotted up into everything.
I only got one arm, so...
I'm a little concerned about the sticks.
- I see the weaknesses of this. - Yeah.
It's hard as to do.
This took me 45 minutes to get that high.
Yeah, there's got to be something better, honey.
I'm sure there's a better way.
We got to figure out something.
Holler if you need me.
I need you!
You can see we're on a deer trail.
There's probably one coming down this way.
In western Idaho,
Bear Claw is on the hunt for whitetail deer.
He and his good friend, Conan, have divided to cover more ground,
but over the past four hours,
there are no signs of potential prey.
It is getting so dry up here on the ridges.
The dry places really affect the deer.
And the, the places that have just a little moisture,
it seems like the deer survived through those spots.
So, this is something we really don't want to see,
is all this dry ground.
It's warm this time of day.
They're probably gonna find some shade.
We'll just go up yonder here. Keep looking.
I see some white over there.
You stay behind me.
He's got a funny look to him.
The way he's acting, I don't think he's healthy.
I think there's a chance that he might have blue tongue,
and I don't want to shoot him.
He just doesn't look right.
You know, it's just not worth the risk.
This is a spring.
This is why I chose this for the best place to be,
because this water stays constant year round.
It'll probably go down a little bit more,
maybe a couple inches from what it is right now,
and it'll stay that way.
In North Central Arkansas,
Joe Ray is on a mission to build a renewable energy source
to generate electricity below the grid.
His plan: to construct a waterwheel
and harness the current on this creek,
less than 1,000 feet from his home cave.
Well, this is what's gonna be the main part
of my waterwheel, right here.
I've got some hubcaps that I've attached to this,
as the creek spins, it's gonna spin this,
it's gonna turn my rod,
rod's gonna spin my alternator,
alternator's gonna make me some electricity.
A lot of the stuff I've learned when I was young,
you know, comes into play up here.
You know, from the days of when I was a carpenter.
I fall back on the knowledge that I gained back then,
and it's... It makes life simpler.
You always use everything you can, don't waste anything.
This is the way to go.
Okay, well, I got them all tightened up,
now we're fixing to start lowering it down.
Okay, well, we'll see about setting a box for the alternator now.
So, it'll be time to start making some juice here in just a few minutes.
Okay, we're spinning.
Not real fast, but the alternators,
they don't have to spin real fast to make maximum power.
See if I can hook my lights up tonight.
Okay. So, the ladders look good.
You guys feel comfortable right there for getting up that first row?
Yeah, it feels all right.
Let's get the first row of sheathing on,
and we'll just run it all the way to the top.
Okay.
Outside the grid on Beaver Island,
Dan Burton and his sons are building a new shelter
to access crucial hunting grounds during winter.
- You guys got that tacked on? - Oh, yeah, tacked right on.
To combat harsh weather in the months to come,
they rely on extra layers of wood siding for insulation.
We use a lot of cedar logs. They hold up well. They repel moisture.
As long as you got them out of the dirt, they'll last a long time.
So, come deer season, yeah, it's gonna be a bonus for sure.
All right, I'm handing you the sheath.
Let's get off of the scaffolding quick and we can hop back up.
Okay, jump.
Come on down.
- Nate! - Hey, hey!
You said to jump and come on down.
I meant for Cam... you to jump off the scaffolding,
and for Nate... Cameron to put the last nail in.
- Cam, Nate owes you one. - I know.
They got a lot to learn, but they're getting it.
At least they're not smashing their thumb.
Let's start using common sense a little bit more.
Make sure you're rotating that file, Cam.
I am.
In the middle of Lake Michigan, outside the grid,
Dan Burton is attempting to build a new hunting shelter in time for winter.
While his son Nate installs additional siding for insulation,
Dan and his youngest son, Cameron,
prep their tools for the next stage of construction.
Why is it crucial to sharpen your saw so much?
You want to make it even, so it doesn't pull one way or the other.
And it'll make the engine last longer, 'cause it's not wearing on it.
Not bad, not bad answers.
We'll pick something out for my, my stair system.
I want to get a couple risers and some treads
to get up into the deer shelter.
Everybody watch their heads.
That's that.
I'm just gonna spike 'em down.
That one's fine.
I always have a fun time working with the boys. It's neat.
It's always a good experience to have Nathan and Cameron around.
Going right there, Nate.
You don't get too many opportunities to hang out with your boys,
so, it's nice to be able to pass on something to the younger kids.
Oh, you got to take some anger out on it.
See what you think, Hambone. You're the heaviest in the group.
I know. I skipped that top step.
I don't blame you.
It's badass.
We wanted badass, and we got badass.
It's coming together nicely.
In Onion Creek, Doc Leverett is attempting a new climbing method
to raise his food stores above the grid.
Contending with multiple injuries,
Doc's hoping to develop the tools he needs to safely ascend high into the trees.
Same method, we'll be pulling it up,
but instead of the, the sticks...
there'll be a nice set of two steps.
I need as much support as I can, right here.
So, these act as an I-beam.
The end result is a, a safer step.
I run my rope through those notches there,
cleaned 'em all up, and then back around.
Like so.
And we got us a step.
All right, let's take this thing on its maiden voyage.
Get my seat belt on.
Keep a little tension on this.
This is where you have faith in your equipment here.
And then I walk up like a ladder.
Pull the other one up here.
And then I just repeat the steps of the one down there.
The key to this system working is being able to loosen the rope
and the step beneath you,
so you can raise it up and then repeat the process up the tree.
Now is the moment of truth.
Let's see if we can shake this all loose.
Look at that.
With just two of these steps, you can go as high as your gut can take you.
Ha, good deal.
I think this is, this is high enough to get it away from the bears.
Started off with one idea, and it kind of molded to my needs.
I made changes and adjustments until, until it meets what I need it for,
and it's kind of how things work out here.
Poor boy has poor ways, right?
Yeah. It ain't pretty, but it'll work.
And now, as long as we don't get a bear with thumbs, we're okay.
We didn't shoot a deer today,
but there's plenty of small game in this woods here.
Beyond the grid, in western Idaho,
Bear Claw is still on the hunt.
But after spotting deer possibly afflicted with blue tongue disease,
the plan has changed.
We're trying to slip up on something.
You guys got to be real quiet.
In need of food,
he's on the lookout for anypossible source of protein.
There's a squirrel over there.
We're trying to slip up on something.
You guys got to be real quiet.
There's a squirrel over there.
Got him right through the spine.
That's what we came out here to do.
We'll have us a little meat for the pot.
For a mountain man, meat is meat.
I couldn't be happier.
I'm on a mountain man diet: I eat everything in sight.
After eight hours on the hunt,
Bear Claw's quest for a deer has yielded a squirrel.
And though it wasn't what he was after,
out here he's learned to be grateful for whatever nature provides.
Well, you cooking up any fresh liver, yet?
Man, I didn't have anything come underneath me at all.
How about you? I guess you didn't see anything either, huh?
Well, I saw a deer, but it was like a walking dead deer.
It's been a lot of years since that's been around, that blue tongue,
but maybe we ought to switch to a different draw tomorrow or something.
Hopefully we get a deer tomorrow.
Yeah, that'd be cool.
Good ol' high mountain squirrel chili.
- Mmm. - It's like...
Tastes just like it did when I was a kid.
It's hot!
Living out in the mountains here,
my relations with the neighbors are deep.
Conan is my little brother.
Food and shelter and friends will make a mountain man strong.
Boy, that's good.
Yeah, it's pretty good.
Now all we need is 45 more of 'em.
That's a pretty good walk from the paddle wheel up here.
In the Ozark Mountains,
Joe Ray has constructed a renewable energy source,
in hopes of illuminating his world below the grid.
After installing a waterwheel to harness the river's current,
he's utilizing 1,000 feet of salvaged wiring
to finish the job.
Right now, I'm just gonna be hooking these up,
and when I turn the switch on later, we'll see if it's right.
Me and my brothers dealt in racecars and junk cars
and a little bit of everything all through the years.
Really teaches you a lot about everything,
'cause, I mean, you learn electrical,
you learn how everything else works on a car.
I guess it's time to kick the switch and see if it works.
Yep.
Drumroll, I guess.
Here we go.
No.
Let me go back and check some of my wires,
make sure I did that right.
I'm gonna be severely pissed off if I don't have lights.
Okay.
Let's see.
Oh, boy!
Hell! This is just fantastic.
Got electricity now.
You know, living in caves isn't for everyone.
It's probably not for a whole lot of people at all,
because it's a whole lot more for work.
But it's just the way I choose to live.
Under the ground is the greatest place in the world to be.
I mean, it's just that simple.
This is where I'll be forever.
And I can make this a great little home now.
Let's get that beam tacked in place. All right.
On Beaver Island, outside the grid,
Dan Burton and his sons have completed construction on a new shelter,
one that will provide access to crucial hunting grounds during winter.
Whoo, that's the last nail. All right.
Got her done.
The roof of their structure features an observation deck
for an elevated perspective on the forest below.
All right, you take the first shot.
Whoo!
Nailed it! Got it!
- You get the one on the left, the tan one. - Okay.
- All right. Here we go. - Pressure's on Cam.
Come on, Cam! Somebody needs to miss.
Cam's colorblind,
so, this will be the most challenging shot for him.
Whoo! All right.
On the edge of the world, outside the grid,
nothing is given, and everything must be earned.
I'm real proud of the boys. I know in a lot of ways they're survivors.
They can do a lot of things that I've done in life, and so much more.
I would love if all my kids could stay on Beaver Island,
but that's their choice.
If they don't, hopefully theypick something just as cool.
Out here, survival is built from the ground up,
with only two hands, blood and sweat.
There's no bear gonna bother me.
I didn't shoot a deer, but I got a fancy squirrel tail for my hat
and some mighty fine chili.
So, that's pretty cool.
The work is usually hard,
but for those who choose this path,
a job well done means a life well lived.
The lantern will be put away for a while.
I don't think I'll be needing it anymore.
I don't think I'll be needing this, either.
I think this is one of the best days I've had in a long time.