♪ ♪
JOHNNY: Java, you want to come with?
You gonna make the whole hike?
Alright, come on. Let's give it a try.
Today, Java and I are going to go on a scout.
We're going to look for a nice stand of timber,
something that's worth harvesting firewood from.
Good girl, Java!
You love that snow, huh?
Every single day,
the temperatures are dropping more and more,
which tells me that I'm going to be locked into a cold spell.
And when you walk out and see your firewood pile low,
it's not a good feeling,
because you don't know exactly how cold it's going to get.
Ultimately the goal is self-reliance.
'Cause there's no one coming to help.
We got a lake right here, that's good news.
Right across the lake is pretty dense wood.
That's what I'm looking for.
And the lake is something easy to drag the wood across.
So that's exactly what I'm after.
I think, uh, I think Java approves of the lake. Ha ha!
Should we get some wood here?
We got to make sure there's enough dead standing trees
before we decide this is the location.
Come on!
(barking)
The trees I'm looking for out here are dead,
but they're still standing.
And if I don't have to cut or kill a live tree,
then I don't do it.
I'm fit and able to go as far as I can to get wood.
And as I get old, and my body doesn't want to go as far,
I move closer into my cabin
and collect wood closer and closer each year.
Essentially, it's my 401(k) timber.
♪ ♪
Think I hit the gold mine here!
That looks like there's a lot of dead standing trees
just right here.
It's like that one, that's a big tree right there.
That thing's massive for out here.
So this far north, I don't get trees that big.
So, it should sound like I'm hitting a baseball
with a baseball bat, that's what it should sound like.
And that tells me that the wood's not rotten.
If it has like a low thump,
then it's rotten wood and it's no good.
(thunking)
That's the sound I'm looking for.
I don't want to burn rotten wood;
it's a waste of time, it's a waste of energy.
You do all the work, you cut it down, and it burns like crap.
It's not any good.
This one's gonna be a good tree.
So, I need to get my sled and come back tomorrow.
♪ ♪
ALEX: I like to challenge my body, my mind, and my spirit,
because it's not who you are when you're doing good,
it's who you are when you're doing terrible,
that's what's important.
♪ ♪
Anytime it snows, and I get fresh snow,
I got to take this truck out, and pull a drag over it.
Basically, what a drag is, it's kind of the same idea as a plow,
but the drag I'm using currently, it's, uh, really old.
And I think with a little bit of kind of engineering,
with a little bit of re-design, I can make it better.
NARRATOR: For Alex Javor, the unmaintained access route
running from his land to the main road
serves as his only escape, and a key to his survival.
But with deep snow on the horizon,
and no one around to help,
he must maintain his only path to civilization.
♪ ♪
ALEX: I got the lumber I'll use here.
This is the old drag I'm using.
Uh, the major problem with this one,
right now, it's pretty small, lightweight.
It just doesn't move enough snow out of the way,
and it doesn't squish it down hard enough,
so I end up with a softer trail than I could have.
To solve the issue with weight,
I'm just going to use heavier pieces of lumber,
kind of making it more robust, heavier, a little bit wider.
Hopefully give me a better trail.
Think I got the perfect guys right here.
These are thicker, more robust, and heavier,
so they should last longer.
In the past, there was a couple other people living out here.
They were old-timers who had been out here for a while,
and I was lucky, I was able to learn a lot from them.
The drag is actually one thing I learned.
But now since no one else is here, now it's my turn.
I don't have a choice; I got to do the work.
I just got to kind of be careful.
I only have so many screws.
Everything I got to do, I got to try to use the minimum amount
just so I don't run out.
It's always more complicated.
I always have to imagine the worst-case scenario
and plan for that.
Anything could happen.
I'm walking around with guns all the time.
I'm just walking around the woods alone.
If I'm swinging an axe enough,
at some point, I might cut my leg.
Easier I can make it to drive on this trail
without falling off of it, getting stuck,
basically, the better my life insurance policy is.
So, at this point, I have a drag.
This one's a lot heavier, and it's a lot wider.
So already, I think this will give me a better trail.
♪ ♪
CHRIS: No one does jigsaw puzzles
because they're really easy to put together.
It's the challenge,
it's the excitement that keeps you pushing forward.
Well, that's what it's like out here almost every day.
I have to give it 110, 120%.
♪ ♪
JESSI: I love it out here.
I love everything about being out here.
CHRIS: Me, too.
JESSI: Like, I have everything out here, except for the studio.
I miss making pots and art and just pretty things.
CHRIS: Being able to weld on things and hammer out iron.
JESSI: Yeah.
CHRIS: Yeah, I wish I could do something like that.
JESSI: Don't we have some stove brick?
Like some firebrick?
CHRIS: Yeah, I've got a stash of old firebrick I was saving.
JESSI: You think that's enough to make like a little forge?
Like a little kiln? Like a little mini raku kiln?
CHRIS: That'd be fun.
JESSI: Let's do it, let's make some pots,
let's make some knives.
CHRIS: Yeah. JESSI: Cool!
CHRIS: The other day, Jessi broke a cup,
and she was like, "Ah, man, you know, we only have so many cups,
and here I've broken one,
and we can't run to town and get another."
Let's go gather up the other supplies.
JESSI: Okay.
CHRIS: If we can get this little forge working,
not only is this project going to be fun
and something I can do with my wife,
but at the end we're going to have something
that we can use every day to create dinnerware,
and things to drink out of and eat off of.
That would be life-changing out here.
JESSI: Let's get this centered.
CHRIS: We need to make a chimney,
so maybe we go like this?
You know? Something like that?
Uh!
How's that?
JESSI: Awesome.
Propane is going to be connected to a weed burner,
and then I want to trap as much of that heat
that's coming out of the weed burner as possible.
CHRIS: Let's try this out,
because we're trying to hit 1,800 degrees, right?
We might have to mess with the chimney a little bit.
JESSI: I mean, I think it's just going to be
like everything out here, it's just trial and error, right?
We should be good to go.
CHRIS: Okay, I'll get this started.
JESSI: Wow.
I'd really love to know that I can make myself a little cup
that will actually hold water
that I'll be able to use as a measuring cup
or as a drinking cup.
There's so many things that I could make,
so I really stinkin' hope that this works out.
Yeah, 400, 440, 470, 480, 490.
Oop! You burnt it.
Holy smokes!
That's definitely hot enough.
The temperatures in the kiln exceed
whatever those wires were tested at, so it totally melted.
Definitely getting super, super hot.
And now I've got a pyrometer which is broken,
but hopefully, if we do everything correct,
we'll get to about 1,800 degrees.
That's the temperature I need for the clay vitrification
so it will hold water.
I think it's going to be plenty hot.
I basically know that the hottest this can get,
at perfect temperature, is like 1,900 degrees.
CHRIS: Yup.
JESSI: And that's a little bit hotter
than what I need for vitrification.
I got some clay, so,
what do you say we go and, um, find that clay and make a pot?
♪ ♪
MANZO: Life in Alaska is not something
where you can assess every risk.
Sometimes you just got to put on your doing hands,
and just buck up and get it done.
♪ ♪
Alright.
I got all these slabs of nice spruce
that I cleared off my dog training trails.
And the idea is, I want to build a meat cache
to get all of these critters away from my food.
My base camp has been a base camp
for almost half a decade now.
And what I'm finding is when animals are hungry,
they will go above and beyond
to leave their natural environment,
jump into my food tote, and then destroy it.
And so it's an Alaskan tradition
to elevate your good stuff off the ground
and keep all these critters off my hard-earned food.
I'm thinking this area is already a naturally clear area.
And I've got a sturdy tree here, and a sturdy tree there.
This is gonna work well.
That's a good spot.
I'm going to start on the legs.
(chainsaw starts)
Living in Alaska, you'll always see meat caches.
Every native village, every gold rush town.
They make a lot of sense.
'Cause basically, an elevated platform
sitting on 12-foot spruce poles
to keep animals off anything that might have a unique scent,
it's an impenetrable fortress.
Alright, got the legs all set up.
Now's time to build the platform.
Now that we're deep into the winter,
I've noticed these critters.
They get a little bold when they're hungry.
I've had black bears sniff things out
even with the dogs barking at them.
It's gonna be super sturdy.
When they find food,
they don't care how many humans or dogs are around.
If there's a will, there's a way,
and they will get into your food.
That's the last one, and then the deck is done.
Yeah, I'm starting to see it now.
It'll work pretty good.
(dogs barking)
Quiet down!
(barking)
Quiet down!
What the (bleep) is that?
♪ ♪
(dogs barking)
MANZO: What the (bleep) is that?
(barking)
I saw something brown moving across the dog lot,
coming around looking for something to scavenge.
These animals come in full force; they are hungry.
And they're willing to do anything
to get after these food sources.
♪ ♪
(barking)
You alright, Snoop?
What was that?
(barking)
From down there at the meat cache site,
I could see something barrel
right across the backside of the dog lot.
And I had my food on ground level.
That might bring in an occasional fox or a wolf.
I think there's even coyotes kicking around.
Stray dogs, who can say for sure?
I ain't got time to go track what it was.
Snoop's big, ferocious bark,
Mao's big, ferocious bark,
they sent the thing off.
What was that? What was that?
You keep that away, huh?
Good boy.
I better get that cache done so I can rest peaceably at night
and not have to worry about animals getting into my food.
Time to get back to work.
ALEX: I'm a predator.
Everything I do is physical.
I spend a lot of my days cold.
A lot of times, I burn more calories than I eat.
Life is movement.
When you stop moving, you're dead.
♪ ♪
So at this point, I have a drag.
It's, you know, functionally,
it's going to be the same as this one,
except this one's a lot heavier, and it's a lot wider.
So already I think this will give me a better trail.
But solving the problem of keeping it from sliding
back and forth is going to be a little more challenging.
That's where a little bit
of actual engineering comes into play.
I have an idea to change the way I hitch it to my truck.
And that won't eliminate it from swaying to and fro,
but it will eliminate how far it can sway to and fro.
So that might be enough.
My idea is to use the same system
I use on my personal sled.
Uh, just like a cross hitch.
If I'm the back of the truck,
I got one pole going from the opposite side.
And another pole coming from the opposite side.
And this way, it can only swing so far to either side
just because the pole is rigid.
Uh, so I think this might help.
Only one way to find out.
I only got my own brain to work with,
I don't have someone else to bounce ideas off of.
I don't have a team of engineers here with me
to tell me if what I'm about to do is stupid or not.
So I just got to just find out.
Okay, I got this side done, now I'll do the other one.
A lot of people won't do stuff like this
unless they feel like they can do a really good job at it.
I just, I don't have that luxury.
You know, I got to do things whether I'm good at them or not.
And, uh, maybe someday I'll become good at it.
Alright.
Well, it's basically all set up.
It's ready to be tested,
but I'm going to wait for light tomorrow,
because if I get down there and get stuck,
have some kind of issue, I don't want to have to walk back
in the dark and have a late night.
So, gonna save the big test for tomorrow.
First light, I'll hit it,
so I'm just gonna pack things up and head home.
♪ ♪
JOHNNY: Being this far away from help,
I have to know my responsible limits.
♪ ♪
Before I know what my limits are, I have to learn them.
♪ ♪
Come on, Java.
Time to harvest wood.
Today I'm back to the location
where I found a good stand of timbers.
You know, I have very limited daylight this time of year,
just a couple hours, and I just got to get it done.
It's just kind of a race right now.
The temperatures are dropping at least 10 degrees every day.
It's very valid to go out
and gather as much firewood as I can.
I'm definitely sinking into a cold spell,
and I want to be comfortable through it.
Right here.
This one's actually a really big one.
That's a lot of firewood.
Ho.
I need to get warmed up, and I think this big tree here
is a perfect start for me.
The next thing I got to do is figure out which direction
I want this tree to fall.
I play into which way the tree is leaning,
and it's leaning toward it wants to go uphill.
I've never fell a tree up against a hill like this before.
These trees weigh a lot, it's dangerous work, it really is.
So you just have to do it right,
especially when you're just using the axe.
Java, you stay over there, yeah?
So, I'm going to start making this wedge.
♪ ♪
I could get hurt on the outskirts of town chopping wood.
An axe is an axe, it's going to cause the same amount of damage.
But out here, the consequences are much greater,
because out here in the Arctic, being alone,
no one's gonna help me if I'm hurt.
You put all that together,
and it could be a very bad recipe of disaster.
Oh, it's gonna go.
(creaking) It's gonna go!
(dog barks) Java! Hey, no!
(chopping)
JOHNNY: Oh, it's gonna go.
It's gonna go!
(dog barks) Java! Hey, no!
(cracking)
(crash)
Java, you stay out of the way, dude.
Whew! Alright, got the tree down.
Next thing I got to do is just take all of these branches off.
Cut it into about five, six-foot pieces.
And those pieces will sit on my sled real nice.
I can drag them all the way to camp.
And coming out here, and doing all this hard work,
takes a lot of stamina and energy.
But the way I look at it is,
I'd spend all month working to pay for my heating bill.
Spending a couple days out here in this beautiful landscape
getting my heat is worth it.
♪ ♪
So, I'm making a sled load here.
And I'm gonna drag it back to camp,
just because I got to take Java back.
Her paws, she keeps lifting her paws up.
I can tell she's really cold out here.
The temperatures are dropping.
The sun's going down, I got a lot going against me right now.
But it's not gonna stop me and it's not gonna slow my progress.
I just keep pushing forward.
That's the name of the game.
Take 'em to camp, cut them into stove length.
♪ ♪
MANZO: A lot of these ideas that I implement
into my sustainable bush living life comes from old-timers.
If you don't know how to do something,
an old-timer will never lead you wrong.
♪ ♪
Alright, that's turning out to be a good, old, authentic,
rustic-looking meat cache base.
Now I got to turn this thing up onto its side.
Maybe prop it up against here
and run these little corner posts in,
then start building up the sides.
It's essentially just gonna be a big, heavy duty box.
NARRATOR: Michael Manzo is attempting to build
a meat cache to safely store and protect
his vital provisions.
As temperatures continue to drop,
he must work quickly, as the surrounding predators
move ever closer to his base camp.
♪ ♪
MANZO: I got the legs on.
Alright, next up, I'm gonna put the sides up.
(grunts)
That's heavy.
Ugh.
Putting together a meat cache
off the grid in the bush of Alaska.
This is really a puzzle.
Each piece of wood that I mill
is going to be slightly different from the next,
and so as I'm building,
I'm thinking of the genius of the old-timers.
Alright, time to get this roof on here.
You can look at a black and white photo of a meat cache,
but could you imagine what was involved
to erect that thing in the middle of nowhere?
I have amazing, newer technology tools to work with nowadays
than what the old-timers had.
That is awesome.
I'll probably cut out the doorway just big enough
to climb in there and throw some meat in there.
Get a quarter in there, moose quarter if I need to.
It reminds me that present day,
I certainly don't have the answers like the old-timers did.
I just keep working hard, and before you know it,
I'll have a complete,
authentically Alaskan turnkey meat cache.
♪ ♪
Plenty of space.
Ugh, yeah.
Stack a bunch of meat in here, keep the animals out of it.
It's an impenetrable fortress.
Keep the haters out.
Tomorrow's a big day.
Turn this thing upright, screw those four legs on,
lift it all up as one unit.
♪ ♪
JESSI: We're always gonna make mistakes,
and things are gonna come up,
and we're gonna have challenges and setbacks.
But we can't just quit when it comes to making the Cosna
our home and making this place ours.
♪ ♪
CHRIS: How's it going?
JESSI: Yeah. It's coming along.
I got the beginnings of a little cup.
CHRIS: Yeah, it looks pretty good,
it almost looks like a top of a flower.
JESSI: Yeah. It'll be a good little teacup, I think.
CHRIS: The look on her face when she starts creating her pottery,
making these tiny little funky cups,
it's like her happy spot.
JESSI: If I can drink out of it,
then I'm gonna be pleased as punch.
CHRIS: In the city, you can just run down to the local store
and buy whatever you need.
But out here, the only way to get stuff
is to create it from the land
or from the supplies you've brought out here.
We're really short on supplies, obviously,
so if we can find a way, like using a kiln,
to create new items, that's just unbelievable out here.
I was rummaging through things,
and I found some old rusty nails.
What I was thinking was,
might be able to stick it right down inside the forge,
and then get it hot, and I could pound out a knife or something.
JESSI: Yeah! I'm stoked.
I mean, like I'm gonna have my little cups,
and you're gonna make some sweet knives.
I think it'll be cool, have the forge.
CHRIS: I'm really excited to try this out.
JESSI: We're going to have the best little tiny cups and knives
in all of the Cosna.
CHRIS: I'm gonna go gather up some more supplies.
JESSI: Okay.
CHRIS: Give me a holler when your stuff's done.
JESSI: I'm gonna have to wait a handful of hours
to make sure that my pot is nice and dry,
and then I hope the kiln ramps up how it needs to.
It doesn't go too fast, it doesn't go too slow.
We'll have enough propane.
There's a lot of things that could go wrong here.
CHRIS: I think you should just fire it up and try it out!
JESSI: We'll see.
Nothing but to do but to do, so let's do it.
CHRIS: Alright, let me start this up for you.
JESSI: It's gonna be one of those
trial and error kind of Cosna tries.
♪ ♪
Okay.
We're gonna know pretty instantly
if this is gonna fail or not.
CHRIS: Do you want me to run the wand
while you watch everything or...?
JESSI: Uh, sure. You want to do that?
CHRIS: Yeah, I want to just heat it up real slow.
Let me just see this real quick.
JESSI: We need to get to about 1,800 degrees
for the clay vitrification.
What that means is the clay's sealed and it'll hold water.
CHRIS: Watch out.
I'm just gonna try to warm it up in there real slow at first.
JESSI: Communication is key.
We need to talk to each other, and we need to be aware
of where the flame is and not be careless in this project.
Because, I mean, we're getting 1,800 degrees.
Molten hot lava coming out of a volcano is 2,000 degrees,
so we're right there.
This is really, really hot.
Just know if that explodes,
like, it's gonna come flying out.
CHRIS: We got to be careful that we don't let anything explode
and come back and hit us.
It'd be really hard to deal with a burn
as well as something penetrated inside your skin
all the way out here.
I don't want to be sitting there with pliers
pulling glass out of my wife.
I'm gonna bring it in a little closer.
JESSI: Come on, little pot.
CHRIS: It looks really cool in there.
I'm gonna try to set it down.
It's not quite tall enough, we need a little shim.
Little more. Break it in half like that.
JESSI: I was gonna put this underneath here.
(pop)
JESSI: Oh, (bleep)! CHRIS: Oh, it exploded!
CHRIS: I'm gonna bring it in a little closer.
(pop)
JESSI: Oh, (bleep)! CHRIS: Oh, it exploded!
JESSI: Damn.
Oh, it exploded into a bunch of little pieces.
JESSI: Too wet. CHRIS: Too wet.
JESSI: Damn, damn, damn.
It's just a frustrating time right now.
I'm gonna have to let the other cups dry a little bit longer,
and then come back and try it again tomorrow.
I've had a lot of this.
I've had a lot of wet pieces that have gone in my kiln,
that have exploded just like this, so.
It will work.
I just have to be more patient.
Alright. Let's make some knives.
CHRIS: Alright.
Light this thing up.
♪ ♪
Alright, the spike's starting to glow.
Go ahead and tip it up, try to get the tip for me.
Perfect.
JESSI: Wow.
(clanking)
CHRIS: There it is!
It's something just calming about sitting back
and banging on steel and watching the sparks fly.
This is really cool.
I'm just trying to sharpen that edge up.
Alright. There's my knife.
I'm pretty excited. I had a fantastic success.
Before long, I'm gonna be making pocket knives
and skinning knives and axes,
and I'm gonna be making a lot of cool stuff out here
so we can survive a little easier.
I'm really happy with that.
I feel like it looks like a real knife.
It's got nice little beveled edge.
JESSI: You did great, love. It looks awesome.
CHRIS: Jess, on the other hand,
things didn't quite work out for her,
and I'm feeling kind of bad about that.
I hope tomorrow everything works out and she's has happy as I am.
JESSI: I'll be back for you, little kiln.
JOHNNY: This land is absolutely stunning.
It's just hard to believe that it's real.
And it's been a dream for well over a decade.
And to see where I've planted my flag, it's a awesome feeling.
♪ ♪
So I got a lot of my wood back here.
You know, the temperatures are dropping and dropping.
Every day it's getting colder.
The sky's getting clear, it's calm.
And I notice that's when all the cold air
sinks down into this valley.
So, firewood's a necessity.
And I'm here to cut it all up into stove-length pieces
that'll fit into my stove.
And I'm gonna stack 'em on the side of my cabin.
This kind of work makes me feel great.
You know, not only physically, but mentally.
Having a goal and accomplishing it, it's a good feeling.
It's very self-satisfying to do laborious hard work.
You know, it's the best sleeping medication I could ask for.
It's about to fall.
Every log that I stack up against the cabin
is a sense of accomplishment.
It's a good feeling.
Each one of those is providing heat,
it's providing boiled water,
it's providing a source of energy to cook my food.
I look at my stove as the heart of my cabin.
And the firewood is the blood that makes it run.
Whew!
This is a pretty good start.
This will be enough to get me through a couple weeks.
ALEX: All my adult life, I've always been kind of seeking
one challenge after another.
You know, I guess that's just kind of like my drug,
triggering a positive chemical reaction in my brain.
So, I've got this drag built.
Well, Sipsey, it's all ready to go.
What do you think? Is it gonna work?
He says, "I don't care."
So, let's go have a drive and test it out.
Yeah, so I'm just gonna, just take it down
and then bring it back up.
This is my usual route I got to drag.
There's not any fresh snow to push,
but I'll still be able to tell if it's gonna solve my problems.
Since I'm out here living alone, far from other people,
the responsibility to mitigate risk as much as possible
is totally on myself.
So I always have to kind of imagine the worst-case scenario
and plan for that.
Some of these narrow spots are where I'm worried about
it breaking, because it's just got to squeeze through there.
The better I can make this trail,
the easier I can make it to be able to use this truck,
and use it to give myself the best fighting chance
if there's an emergency.
Okay, that was a narrow spot I just squeezed and had a tug.
I want to check it.
See if that did any damage right there.
So far the drag itself is holding up fine.
So this, kind of this line, like right here,
this is, this is like how wide the trail was before,
and then it's pushing all this extra.
So shoving it out further is really good.
That's pretty cool.
I mean, we got more to test,
but the uphill side was cut off really good,
and that's one of those spots where it was sliding a lot.
We got more spots like that to hit,
but that's definitely a good sign.
The weight of the thing alone might also just help keep it
from sliding a lot, as well.
I can see that this bank,
it is grabbing that bank and pushing it out more, so.
I'm getting some extra width,
and it looks like it's just pushing right through that snow.
Yeah, so this whole section over here, this one spot
where there's kind of a, I'm kind of at an angle here.
You hear that?
Ooh, (bleep)!
I'm gonna need to check,
make sure everything's still in place.
Yeah, we had a failure here.
ALEX: Yeah, we had a failure here.
The drag itself is good.
In fact, it's great.
But this rope was too weak, and this rope broke.
The metal bar fell,
and that's what made that loud clanking noise.
So I'll just replace this rope
and then everything should be good.
♪ ♪
That's like one of those things you don't know
until you test things out.
So that's like one of those great things
you can learn through testing.
(beep) Oh.
So I was thinking to just double the rope up
and then make a knot, which will use a lot more rope,
but a chain is just way quicker and easier,
and it's much, much stronger.
I don't have to be down here tying knots as much.
I just put the chain through, hook it.
That's easy.
Okay, this side's good and tight.
Definitely it's gonna be a lot stronger.
Will it be strong enough?
Uh, I'll just have to go test it and see.
There we go.
Okay. This will be test two.
Alright, I don't need no whammies.
♪ ♪
That's good, it's staying a lot more rigid now.
I'm cutting the trail even wider
than the first time I passed through here.
You know, when it hits kind of a hard spot of snow,
it's not just bouncing off of it, it's plowing through.
Just having that rigid chain is a lot, doing a lot better.
So that's great.
So, if I just get through the rest of the way with this
and everything looks good, then call it done.
♪ ♪
MANZO: You can't escape the strains
of living a rural Alaskan lifestyle.
It's not for everybody.
But you walk away with a stronger core
and a stronger mind.
♪ ♪
Alright. Got a nice start. First light.
I'll set the legs, brace 'em good, hook up a winch, and boop!
Get this thing upright.
This meat cache is gonna save a lot of grief.
Keep all these animals out of my food.
After I attach these legs,
this thing will probably weigh 2,000 pounds.
And so 2,000 pounds of green wood
that hasn't quite got it's strength yet from drying out,
I'm super concerned about yanking this thing upright
in the cold weather.
It's not an easy job, and it's not a safe job,
but it has to be done.
Alright.
I'm just bracing this as good as I can everywhere.
And that's the only way that I can guarantee
that I'm not going to snap something.
If something breaks on the pull, I'm gonna give up on all this.
And I don't want to give up on it.
I don't want to winch from a horizontal
directly at the ground.
That type of force, it's going to flex and yank
and rip on things, and a joint could fail.
So, I'm gonna have to run a strap and tension it off
three or four trees, about 18 foot up.
That will give a more gradual pull
on this 2,000-pound meat cache.
I'm just trying to visualize
everything bad that could happen.
This could slip.
And if any of these joints slip, the shock of that
will allow that heavy meat cache to get enough inertia
to catastrophically destroy something.
Once I start the pull, I'm committed.
There's no backing away from that.
This whole job of erecting this thing,
there is a lot of uncertainty, a lot of unknowns.
It's very sobering.
(squeaking)
Hear that? It's begging for human sacrifice.
I don't like working with this tool.
I don't like anything about it.
It reminds me of a moment
when I was a young specialist in the army,
and I was going on my first convoy into a combat zone.
All these hokey-ass knots.
This strap is so thick I can barely work with it.
Some sketchy, sketchy (bleep).
We had no armor.
We had no air support.
And I was truly terrified.
Alright.
Time to do some crazy stuff.
(motor starts)
But there just comes a time where you just got to do it.
You got to get the mission done.
(cracking)
This pull at 2,000 pounds is heavier than anything
I've ever pulled with this winch.
Ah, this is so shady.
As this thing begins to rise up and go vertical,
it's gonna get to a point where it's gonna fall forward.
And once that thing gets some momentum,
it's gonna come crashing down, and it ain't gonna be pretty.
This is the moment where if something fails,
all that hard work, gone in a split second.
♪ ♪
MANZO: Ah, this is so shady.
♪ ♪
Alright. Piece of cake, huh?
16 foot to the top of that.
♪ ♪
Everything worked as envisioned.
It was some serious force, but it went up alright.
I'm glad nothing broke.
Super relieved.
Sometimes you got to do dangerous, stupid stuff.
But here it is.
It's up and running, and it's gonna save me a lot of work.
And now it's time to get a door on this,
get a bunch of my food in there,
get a roof on it.
Everything is now gonna be safe up in there,
where no animal can get my hides again.
♪ ♪
ALEX: Yeah, so these improvements
all look like they're really paying off.
Now it's cutting through the snowbanks a lot better.
As long as I have that discipline
to always come out here and drag it every time I get fresh snow,
I'm gonna have a really good, solid trail.
I like that a lot of the work I have to do here,
it involves me to get to know this actual land here,
to get to actually know my environment.
You know, I mean, you could be the same way
with your community in the city.
But I like that my environment here is a forest.
You know, it's beautiful.
It's something I want to be connected with.
There's no guarantees.
Just because living out here,
especially in a kind of a primitive way like I do,
I take on a lot of kind of deadly risk.
And so it's good to know I have this lifeline available.
If I have an emergency, I don't have to die out here.
♪ ♪
JESSI: Alright. Round two.
CHRIS: You think it's gonna work this time?
JESSI: I hope so.
These had a lot longer to dry,
put 'em right beside the stove, so.
Alright, here's a cup.
I feel like maybe it's too finicky for the Cosna.
CHRIS: It might be, but we're gonna try.
JESSI: I need to hit 1,800 degrees for the clay
to hit vitrification inside the kiln.
And as soon as the clay hits 1,800 degrees, we're good to go,
it just needs to cool down.
CHRIS: It's gonna go slowly down.
(torch roaring)
JESSI: Come on, little cup.
My first cup out here at the Cosna
burst inside the kiln first thing.
There is something about being out here at the Cosna.
Just being so close to success out here and then failing.
Oh, my gosh.
CHRIS: It is glowing in there.
JESSI: It's beautiful.
Come on, cup.
And I have learned that that's all part of the process.
You learn something with every failure.
CHRIS: You stoked?
JESSI: I'm so stoked!
Oh, my gosh.
CHRIS: I feel really proud she created something
that we can use every day.
And I can start making tools.
Endless possibilities,
and something we're gonna be able to use for years.
JESSI: Oh, little guy!
Look at you go.
CHRIS: Good job.
♪ ♪
MANZO: This thing was a journey into history.
It's looking pretty darn authentic.
Process of this, it went so smoothly.
And now that it's upright, I can get to putting on
some authentic Alaskan touches to this thing.
There's so much going on in my mind this time of the season.
I have new trails I have to put in,
boat repairs that need to be done,
finish work on a new cabin.
And now the stress of my food and hides
being ransacked by animals,
that's one less thing on my plate I have to worry about.
I'm gonna put a little set of antlers on here.
♪ ♪
There's the authentic touch to the great Alaskan puzzle.
Alright, that's a wrap.
JOHNNY: So, I'm taking water
and topping off my Arctic hot tub.
That's what I'm doing here.
Physically I feel pretty torn and battered
after busting my ass with firewood.
So I'm gonna take this barrel, I'm gonna take a soak.
Oh, god, that's nice.
That same timber that beat me up, that made my body sore,
is now converted into energy, and it's healing my body.
It's kind of a full circle.
I never imagined myself to be sitting in a homemade hot tub
above the Arctic Circle in -30 degrees and enjoying myself.
A lot of people say, why the Arctic?
What are you running from? What are you hiding from?
And my response is,
I'm not running or hiding from anything.
Maybe I'm seeking for something.
Being out here, you have an opportunity to isolate yourself,
to get to know yourself and find a more meaningful purpose.
I think ultimately, that's what we're all after, is freedom.
It's a lot of work to live this lifestyle.
But to me, it's a life worth living.
Captioned by Side Door Media Services