01x01 - Canadian Boreal Forest

[bunniefuu]

The Canadian North is one of the most vast
areas of wilderness on the planet.

The forest here, reaching from
Newfoundland to the Rocky Mountains,

is the largest track of unbroken forest in
the world.

Every year, nearly 2,000 people are lost
out here and have to face dangers ranging

from the biting cold, exposure,
starvation, and even predators.

This week, I'm stranded here miles from
the closest human being.

I have seven days to not only
survive, but find my own way

out, all without shelter or
water and with only one match.

Canadian North is magnificent this time of
year.

Nights are clear and cold and the bugs are
all gone.

And if you're lucky, you get to experience
the first winter snowfall.

I'd love to reward myself with a late fall
canoe trip.

The problem is, when you're completely
alone, if something does go wrong,

it's serious.

All right.

Here we go.

Paddlers can be hit with the, it can't
happen to me, syndrome.

In most cases, on a river like this,
a canoe can be gone for days downstream.

Camera crew leaves me alone now,
completely alone.

I'm soaked to the bone, it looks like it's
gonna rain, and sun's about to set.

Seven more days.

The first thing I have to assess is my
situation and get my head straight.

The decisions made
after an accident like this

often define whether
you're going to survive or not.

It's the hikers that often, or lost
hunters, that often have panic set in.

They don't think about
making a shelter, they

don't think about sitting
down and staying calm.

Often what happens is, they just take off.

And they start going pretty much as fast
as they can to try and get out.

Because they're, they're, they're certain
that just around the corner is gonna be

the trail that they lost, or the road,
or their car, or wherever, the parking

lot, wherever it was they left,
to go on that hike.

Generally speaking, though, they never
find it.

Just to see what's in the pack.

All right.

Camera.

Camera gear.

Cheated a little.

There's the camera I'm using right now,
and there's another tripod and a case, but.

..

Inside of rain pants.

Spare fleece.

It's gonna help.

Yeah, my hat.

A handful of cashews, and there's a little
bit of beef jerky in there.

One match.

And a Swiss army knife.

Got a great discovery over here on this
side of the river.

This big flat rock is
gonna be a great spot for

me to get a huge fire
going to try and dry out.

The good news is that it's not raining
yet.

The bad news is, is that it's snowing.

Not very much, but it's snowing.

I better get the fire going soon.

This big rock area in here might make for
a great shelter area if I can build a big

fire all along here and reflect the heat
back to me later in the night.

This guy's a little bit in the way.

That would've helped a lot more if I'd had
an axe.

Gathering firewood without an axe.

It's not easy.

You're reduced to pretty much a lot of
small wood.

It takes a lot of gathering.

Okay.

Time to use up a one match.

Cause I gotta get dry, and I gotta get dry
quick.

Success with my one and only match.

It's been over an hour since I fell in the
water.

And I've remained soaked to the skin ever
since on this cool Autumn day.

In great danger of hypothermia.

You know, it took me probably nearly two
hours to get those clothes dry.

Now my job is just to keep that fire going
as long and as hot as possible.

But night is coming in on me quick.

And it's not gonna be a warm one.

In a couple of hours,
or at least when this fire

dies down, I'll just
sit here and wait for it.

I'll then push all the coals up against
the big rock, take all these boughs,

put them down, and sleep on top with a
nice warm bed.

Basically all the heat from the rock
coming up through the boughs.

I call it my Jeremiah Johnson shelter.

Now actually it's not a shelter at all.

If the wind picks up or
if the rain comes down

heavy, or wet snow,
I'll have a long wet night.

Hypothermia could chill me to the bone and
k*ll me quickly.

But it isn't the only danger I'm faced
with in this remote Canadian wilderness.

Most times, hypothermia doesn't occur in
the winter.

It happens now, in the
fall of the year, when the

snow and the freezing rain
can catch you by surprise.

But there's more.

This is the rutting season for the bull
moose.

And at this time of year, it's the most
dangerous animal in North America.

Okay.

This is pretty much how I spent my night.

Like this.

Actually, the boughs on
the ground and heating

the rock up like that
worked really well.

The rock is actually still warm to the
touch.

And so I was pretty warm for about the
first three hours maybe or something.

After that though, even with the warmer
ground, without having anything over top

of me, it just started getting pretty
cold.

Fortunately, it didn't rain.

It, uh...

I just heard something big crack.

Holy crap!

What an incredible sight.

I'm, I'm, I'm actually, I'm trembling.

I'm completely trembling right now.

I feel a lot better now that I saw that it
was a cow moose.

I'm trembling because, had that been a
male, bull moose, in the rutting season,

of which we are in the height of,
and I'm in major moose territory,

is hands down the most dangerous animal in
Canada, bar none.

I mean, they're absolutely an insane
creature during this time of year.

Fifteen hundred pounds of absolute rage.

And I have been
chased and put up a tree

before, by a huge bull
moose during the season.

I mean, she's passed my camp, but now I'm
gonna be wondering who's on her trail.

Because, uh, I'm sure she's got a bull or
two, not too far behind her.

I'm, I'm trying to get myself further up,
from the water's edge, and I can,

I can feel it getting warmer, even right
now.

Just coming up about twenty feet or so up
the hill, you can just feel the

temperature difference as you go up and
graze.

And, uh, that's good.

So I'm looking for a good shelter spot.

I think something's over here.

Yeah.

So, here, check this out.

That's not bad.

Not bad at all.

It does feel warmer up here.

There's rocks there, there's sand.

It's a little damp here.

It's not gonna be comfortable.

But, uh, it's gonna work.

I'm gonna put all these rocks,
make a fire pit.

So I can have a bit of warmth.

That's under the assumption, of course,
that I can make a fire without matches.

And I'm up for the challenge.

Every location is different.

But if I'm to survive
seven days in Canada's

north in the fall,
shelter is a high priority.

Probably by far the safest way to break up
branches like this.

You're protected from getting hit with the
branches it breaks.

A lot better than jumping on it.

In the north, an axe holds the same
importance as a machete does in the jungle.

Without one, survival is extremely
difficult.

These spruce boughs actually shed the rain
really nicely.

I'm not gonna be super dry
in this thing, but, uh, I'll be a

heck of a lot drier than I
was last night, that's for sure.

And I didn't get rained on, but I was wide
open.

At least this way I've got some
protection.

I like to, uh, actually
kind of poke the, the

branches in so that they're
nice and smooth like this.

You don't really have to, you can just
throw them on, but this way all the rain

sort of goes with the flow of the,
of the boughs.

Even if I can't get my fire going tonight,
at least I'll be a little more comfortable

in here, a little more protected,
if, uh, if not warmer.

Sometimes the only way to get yourself a
nice sharp edge is to, uh, smash the rock.

This is dangerous though.

End up getting it hit back up in your eye
or something.

Let's see how this goes.

There we go.

That's what I'm looking for.

I figure I might as well use my rock and I
split open here because, uh, it'll extend

the life of my knife and not dull the
blade.

That's why also if you can get fires going
without matches, even when you have

matches, it means you'll have matches for
that much longer.

All I want is this fluffy, fluffy cedar
bark here.

It's good fire starting tinder.

In the fall in the Canadian wilderness,
fire is a major priority.

My one match was gone long ago,
leaving me to start a fire the way it's

been done since the dawn of man,
by rubbing two sticks together.

These guys here are nicknamed tinder
fungus.

Let's find out why.

Well, I hope I didn't do something stupid
here because I've never tried using this

fungus method before and it's starting to
get already a bit dusk on me.

I made a decision.

It was either add a lot more onto the
shelter, so I'm protected from the rain,

which looks like might
be coming in, or get a

fire going and, uh, I
opted to try for a fire.

Let's see, so I've got my fire bow,
which is just the bow, and the spoot lace,

and the spindle, straight and dead and
dry.

And then to push it all down, I've got
this bearing block.

It's just a piece of wood and I've gouged
out a hole to hold it all down.

And then the bottom end are these funguses
here.

Let's, uh, give them a shot.

Oh, man.

I guess I should have practiced this one
at home.

I've only ever seen this done.

Oh, man, this is useless.

Okay, I know somewhere out there,
there's some wise bush guy who's saying,

ah, come on, it's easy.

You know, this is working, but it's
k*lling my toes.

Ah, I'm going to grab some cedar.

Now this method I'm more familiar with,
so let's, uh, let's try it.

Put a little hole in here to start off.

Now it spins pretty good.

Oh, that's better.

Okay.

Oh, that's nice.

That's a good, good sign.

But you see, it just scatters all around
the top here.

And, ah, it's got to have a place to go.

All that dust has to have a place to
collect and form like a little Ember.

So I'm going to cut a notch in the side.

Sort of V.

There we go.

Well, hopefully that little notch there
will give it a place, all the ash,

a place to fall.

Come on.

I probably should have
just kept going on the

shelter, cover it all in
so I don't get rained on.

I'll be cold, but at least I'll be dry.

If I don't get to, and
that way I start the fire

in the morning and put
all the materials aside.

But I don't get this fire going now.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Once I see smoke, it's my signal to keep
going, not to quit.

And I have to remember to breathe.

I've got to give it all I
can and then carefully

stop so I don't knock
everything flying.

I don't think there's
anything more important than

getting my fire going during
this damp, cold season.

This looks good.

This looks good.

Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, oh, yeah.

Ooh, better move the spindles out of the
way.

Oh!

sh**t, sh**t, sh**t.

Talk about panic, I got no wood ready.

That's about as stupid as it gets.

All right, well, there's enough here.

From the other fire.

I'm gonna build it up nice and high and
then, uh, and then I'll take it into the

shelter with me so I've got it there for
the night.

Carrying the fire more than
a hundred yards through

the thick bush was a
lot easier said than done.

All right, here's what I got.

Now I gotta get my way all the way to,
uh, the other shelter.

Whew.

Ah!

I'm not gonna make it.

That was interesting.

Tried to make myself a torch to take to
the shelter.

Got to be a little too much.

I'm gonna have to try that again.

Cause I gotta get a fire over to the
shelter somehow.

Sorry I didn't bring you with me on that
one.

It's just too much work trying to carry
the fire and the camera at the same time.

Before it gets too dark, all I'm gonna do
now is gather some firewood.

Lots of it.

The rule of thumb is, look at your
firewood pile.

When you first think you
have enough, then make it five

times bigger if you want
to make it through the night.

There's nothing worse than running out in
the dark.

Well, I made it through the night all
right.

It's a lot better being protected with
this shelter.

It got too dark on me too quick and I ran
out of time to cover over the shelter more.

But it only rained just a little bit,
so I wasn't too bad off.

And even with my feet getting pretty cold,
just being able to warm my face and hands

up by the fire or turn around and put my
feet by the fire made a big difference.

Now I better get the shelter covered over
some more.

So in case any foul weather does come in,
I'll be protected.

I have to start thinking about food.

In northern Canada, there's about an
eight-week window to gather wild edible plants.

After that, if you don't hunt or fish,
you'll starve.

Any bit of extra little bit of sustenance
I can get is going to be helpful.

And here's some yellow wood sorrel.

Mmm.

Got a lemony taste to it.

It's just a delicate little plant.

Grows around wet areas like beaver dams
and swamps and moist woods.

Not a lot of calories, but at least it's
got some vitamins to it.

I don't know if this is true, but I've
always done it.

I drink a lot of water and Mark my
territory all around my camp.

And hopefully it'll serve
as a signal to bears

passing by that they
shouldn't come in this area.

I could be fooling myself, though.

Finding a piece of birch bark like this is
great.

If you just cut down the center of it,
you can take it out, open it up,

and you've got yourself
a nice shingle, which

is going to help to keep
you from getting wet.

This is actually a good place
to find grubs and worms and

things that you can throw
in the stoop pod if you want.

But maybe you can also find grubs and
things for bait.

Carpenter ants and big juicy creepy
crawlies.

Cook them all up in a nice part of water
and you've got some sustenance there.

Well, there's something I wasn't counting
on.

Well, I left to get some more boughs and
some more firewood.

I came back and all the underside of the
tree roots here were on fire.

There were all flames
coming up and I had to quickly

grab a rock and scrape them
all down to put out the fire.

Well, that's the last thing I want here,
even though I want to be warm tonight.

That's not the kind of warm I'm talking
about.

So I'm going to have to make use of some
of the dirt that's here and pack this in

and put a bigger rock, a
couple of big rocks there to

protect this whole underside
from catching on fire again.

You've got to remember
that, man, what I'm

making here is one big
gigantic tinder bundle.

Just staying alive can be dangerous.

Ever since I got here,
there's been a couple of

red squirrels chattering
around me all day long.

And what I'm making here, well,
it's called a figure four deadfall.

If there's squirrels or rodents like rats
or mice around, it works just about on any

location to help up the odds of getting
some sustenance.

And, you know, a little bit
of meat in my belly tonight

would go a long way towards
making me warmer, I'm sure.

If I can get this to hold, it's like a
little hairpin trigger.

Ah!

Damn.

Okay, so this part's a little too big.

Try that again.

Come on.

Decided to make a whole new set,
smaller.

And I grabbed a different rock,
too.

Ow!

Last thing I want to do is break a finger.

Ow!

Ah!

Try this again.

See if I can get this one to work.

I don't know what's up to date,
and I definitely pinched my thumb.

You know, it's only a pinched thumb,
but out here every injury is magnified

because it's just that
much more discomfort

you've got to go through
when you're out here.

Whoa!

I forget to put the bait right on the
stick before I lay the trap.

So now I have to lay it all around.

This could turn out to be a foolish waste
of my only food.

But one thing I know
I can do right now is

this sort of creaky
area has got pond lilies.

And at the base of them is big tubers full
of starches and nutrients.

But water is freezing cold, so I'm not
looking forward to this.

As long as I don't get too cold,
it'll be worth it.

Get the calories.

In just a week or two,
these lakes and ponds

will start to freeze
over for the winter.

Right now, it already feels like they're
cold enough to form ice.

Oh, that's cold.

I don't know if this is even worth it.

My body, my core
temperature has dropped pretty

good because of being
in the water like that.

Without any food energy in me now,
I'm just getting...

I'm losing my energy.

I don't have the
wherewithal to bother trying

to cook this thing up
tonight or in any way.

Maybe tomorrow.

Besides, the sun's going down and I've got
to get another big pile of firewood.

Ready to make it through the night.

In the northern bush, you've got a scant
six or seven weeks of picking wild edibles.

While the thought of blueberries
and raspberries seems

ideal, food to actually
survive on is another story.

Ah, breakfast.

At least these are pretty safe for me to
eat.

I'm hoping they'll just
be bland and give me

the nutrients and
energy I need right now.

Kind of feels like a roasted marshmallow.

Let's hope it tastes like one.

Oh!

God, that's horrible.

Oh!

Oh!

Let's try boiling it.

Oh!

I'm gonna try and soften up these tubers a
bit and maybe k*ll some of the flavor bite.

Ooh, stuck to my glove.

By pulling these hot rocks in...

...and basically trying to boil the water
in my hat.

Fortunately, the hat is
a heavy, heavy cotton,

I think, so it's holding
the water okay.

You just keep doing this, you keep
replacing hot rocks...

...until you bring the water to a boil.

In this case, I'll even cover it over.

As it was pretty bitter
and accurate tasting, just

roasted, but maybe this will
soften down the flavor a bit.

I suppose if I was just at home fasting
for a week, I'd be okay.

But not so when I have to film everything,
build shelters, start fires without

matches... ...and climb
through thick bush all day.

How appetizing is that?

I really need food so I can function.

Oh, wow.

Oh, it's still bitter, but not as bad,
I guess.

Oh, I've got to get this into me,
though.

I'm starving.

I'm really, really hungry.

And if I don't get some food into me soon,
I'm just going to get weaker and weaker.

And all my energy levels is just dropping
down.

So I'm going to have to bear with this.

Oh, boy.

Oh, boy.

Well, what goes down must come up.

It was just too much and too bitter for my
stomach to handle.

And I hate being sick in the bush.

I hate the thought of k*lling anything.

But as a matter of survival, all creatures
are fair game.

Finally, some meat.

I hate to see.

A scar go, anybody?

It's, uh, it's not squirrel meat.

But, uh, I wish it was.

But at least it's, uh,
it's going to be better

than pondle or tubers,
I can tell you that much.

Let's crack one of these guys open and see
what we got here.

These guys, they're all over the place.

Now that I know they're here, I'm going to
just check out all the rocks all the way

around this shoreline to see how many of
these I can find.

I did find a second one, right off the
bat.

Eee, there we go.

How's that look, anyway?

Ah, just kidding.

I'm going to roast it on the fire now,
on a rock.

All I need is some garlic butter.

Mmm.

Meat.

I'll let the snails cook for a while on
the fire, put some more punky logs on.

And as you can see, we're back to this
again.

Just an all-day drizzle, it seems like.

Well, at least it's not snow.

That's a cold wind that keeps coming in
here every once in a while.

It just feels like winter coming in,
you know?

Well, it probably doesn't look all that
bad on camera.

But trust me, it's a downpour.

In fact, just a few moments ago,
it was also thick snow as well.

And like an idiot, I've got rain pants and
I haven't been wearing them.

They've been rolled up in my pocket the
whole time.

I'm going to go hide in my little shelter.

Enough of this.

Okay, well, I'm in my little shelter.

I'm actually dry in here.

The shelter's keeping me pretty dry.

The fire's out though.

I figured it's a lot easier to put a
couple of big punky logs on that big

outside fire and let it
sit out the rain than to

try and feed this one
for the next couple hours.

For one thing, it would
just use up all my small

firewood that I need in
the middle of the night.

So, now I just wait.

Here's one cold, wet fire.

Nothing burning there.

And it doesn't look like any chance of
breaking.

But look at this.

My deadfall is still standing,
but the food's gone.

Yeah.

It was so stupid, I
didn't stick the little bit

of jerky right onto that
twig, onto that branch.

It would have to pull at it.

Instead, I was being lazy and...

Aw, man.

And I'm paying for it now.

This is not the breakfast I was hoping
for.

It's been about 48 hours, I think,
of non-stop rain.

I haven't filmed, I haven't done anything.

I just huddled in my shelter and I slept.

At least it didn't seem to be that cold,
I guess, with the cloud cover.

So I did sleep a lot.

After two days of solid rain, it was a
matter of get up, dry out a bit,

shake it off, and start planning my
escape.

I know there's a highway off to the east,
and it could be five kilometers,

could be 50 kilometers.

I don't remember how far.

With any luck, maybe it would only take me
a day.

I don't know.

I was going to get hiking.

With it raining for two days non-stop,
I thought, well, I didn't want to go ahead

and eat that snail without you,
and not share the meal with you.

So, uh, I still have it.

Actually, my two little snails.

Hmm.

I still need some garlic butter with them.

Okay, so that's it.

Two snails, three cashews today,
and a little bit of jerky.

Oh, and I'm just, uh, just raring to go.

You know, sometimes the decision to stay
or go is made for you.

Like, what if you're 100
miles from anywhere,

and you know there's
no way of hiking out.

Other times, it's just a
very critical decision that

you, uh, you simply must
make right in the beginning.

Am I gonna stay?

Am I gonna go?

Well, you know, can I stay?

Is there a place, is there a way of
getting food around here?

Uh, holy mackerel.

This just keeps getting, it's like the
forest is closing in on me here.

Um, you know, can I get food?

Can I make shelter?

Is anybody even gonna come looking for me?

Uh, heck, does anybody even know I'm gone?

And, uh, am I able to, to, to move around?

Uh, am I capable of, of traveling?

These are all important
questions you've gotta

ask before you make
the decision to, to move.

On the other hand,
you might make it out to

safety before anybody
even knows you're gone.

I hate that feeling like you've lost your
sense of direction.

Huh.

Okay, here's a, look at this.

Well, the moss only grows on the north
side of the trees, you know.

You can see all the moss here.

And this, uh, this is definitely the north
side.

I can tell by the sun right now.

This is definitely the north side of the
tree.

And it's clear over here.

So that works out pretty true.

But you know what?

A lot of times, it's not true at all.

I've seen thousands of trees where the
moss is just circled all the way around.

And, you know, you can't use it as a,
as a, as a Gauge.

Look, here's another tree just over here.

Same thing again.

That's the north side of the tree.

So in this case, you know, that's a bit of
a bearing for me.

And, uh, I'm gonna use it because I wanna
go due east.

I've come to yet another lake.

Pretty much hit it right at the tip end of
it here.

Cause it's a long lake.

It would have been a long lake to walk
around.

So, good news is, it's, uh, some treats
for me here.

It's not the right season, but,
uh, still helpful.

Let's see what it's like.

These guys, like in June, all down in
here, it's actually quite fresh.

And, uh, ah, in my mind, it's actually
even quite tasty.

And they're full of starches and
nutrients.

I have a feeling, yeah, it's pretty old in
the season.

But, uh, it's already gone Woody on me.

Not much chance of eating that.

I can always use the, uh, top end.

It's good for tinder.

It's good for stuffing for my clothing to
keep me warm if I needed it.

Or it's a good fire starter.

This stuff goes up like, just like
gasoline.

You put a little spark to it, or a match.

My mantra in a situation like this,
keep moving ahead.

But I've gotta deal cautiously and carefully
with every obstacle that I encounter.

Icy creek crossings.

Lakes to get around.

Thick, tangled bush.

There's no room for bravado or
carelessness when you're alone in the bush.

I see something over there that's,
uh, good to take hold of right now.

Grab what I can while I can.

Birch bark.

You know, from an environmental
perspective, I don't like, uh,

denuding the forest of anything.

And even in taking this birch bark,
um, you know, I'm just taking...

I mean, I'm in a
survival situation, so, I

mean, you do whatever
you have to do to survive.

But, I'm just taking, you know,
the dead hanging bark, or looking for a

tree that's already on the ground,
and pulling the bark off that.

Rather than stripping the tree all the way
around, I can k*ll a birch tree.

Well, that creek wasn't so tough to jump
over.

This lake is another story.

It's a long, thin lake, and it's right in
my path.

Probably go that way.

I estimate at least two kilometers extra
just to get around this lake.

Man, it's windy and cold now.

It's clear, but it's certainly,
uh, getting colder.

In spite of how beautiful it looks.

I've been walking and walking,
and I thought, you know, well,

either I'm gonna hit that highway, or at
least another lake, and I'll stay by a lake.

I'd feel better for some reason waiting
beside a lake for the night to pass.

That's not happening.

And there's only maybe like an hour and a
half, maybe an hour of sunlight left,

so I'm gonna use that time to build a big
fire here, if my fire bow will work again,

and just pull an all-nighter beside a
fire.

It's cold, and I'm cold from getting in
and out of that water.

I'm just gonna spend the next hour left of
sunlight gathering firewood and some

boughs to sleep on, and that's,
that's it.

Then I'm getting up and out of here as
soon as I can.

But I'm too tired and too chilled to keep
walking.

The whole psychological part of being
completely alone really comes into play here.

The purpose of the
fire is to keep away the

boogeyman and all things
that go bump in the night.

Because it's, uh, gonna be
spooky out here, because I'm

right in the thick of it, just
in the middle of the forest.

I'm gonna warm up these rocks,
and, uh, at different times, just in

intervals, when they're not too hot,
just warm, and take them, and just tuck

them right inside, up against the cold
areas, the small on my back, and,

uh, like little, uh, little mini hot water
bottles.

That'll help, that'll keep me warm,
like on my back end here tonight.

While the front's warm by the fire,
the back will be warm by these rocks.

It keeps snowing off and on, just little
tiny light, light flakes.

Hopefully it won't come on any,
any thicker.

I just hope this passes through quick.

I gotta go get my other coat on.

I have one more day to find a road,
or some kind of help.

After that, the crew will put a helicopter
in the air and look for me.

You know, layering's been great.

Being, like, dressed in layers,
when you're out in a place like this,

because you're cold at night, but during
the day, you're trying to, you know,

get, get out of here, get rescued,
or escape.

And, uh, you overheat really quickly.

So I just keep stripping
down layer upon layer until, uh,

until, uh, you know, I'm
comfortable, and I'm not sweating.

Sweating's the worst thing.

If it's, if I start to sweat, oh,
it just makes the nights miserable,

because then you just get those chills,
you know.

And, uh, that's not fun.

Oh, there's something.

Uh, looks like another creek.

No.

Oh, hey.

Oh, this is a, a nice sign for the weary
wanderer.

Oh, yeah.

Okay.

Well, now I got a decision to make.

Do you follow them?

Or do you keep going east because you
think there's a highway over there?

You could go up the
railway tracks and be right

around the corner from,
you know, an establishment.

On the other hand, you could be 250,


And, and, and maybe
the, the, the place that's

close is, is that way,
and you go that way.

In this case, my decision, I think,
is to, uh, is just to keep going east.

I'm gonna take the chance.

I know what you're thinking.

He should follow the tracks.

The thing is, I know
without a shadow of doubt

that the road is due
east, and not much farther.

I'm going with a sure thing.

Well, here I am, yet another night.

I really thought I was gonna make it out
by the end of tonight, except,

you know, the sun's going down,
and here I am at another lake.

I gotta traverse around.

Ah, that sucks.

I'm gonna curl up somewhere beside a tree,
I guess.

That'll be fun.

As I try to sleep,
I'm still panicking at

having made a wrong
decision about my route.

I know where I paddled
into, and I was fairly

confident on where I had
to go to get out due east.

What could go wrong?

But my guess was maybe one really long day
of walking.

Not three.

This is a good sign.

A hydro line.

It's not always that good of an idea to
follow them, though.

These things can go miles and miles in
either direction.

The thing about hydro
lines is, they can go right

up and over lakes and
swamps, and just keep going.

And you can't.

I'm just gonna keep heading east.

I gotta stick to my g*ns.

Carry on.

Because that doesn't necessarily mean
salvation when you find a hydro line.

Whew.

Means I'm getting close, though.

Now I'm desperate.

I just want to get out.

I start making the mistake of letting
myself get wet.

I know the producers will be looking for
me.

Every time I come up to water,
I just don't care anymore.

And before you know it, my pants are
starting to get soaked.

A dangerous situation if I'm stuck outside
one more night.

It's burned over areas.

It can be a lot of tricky climbing and
scrambling.

But I happen to love this burned over
areas.

Why?

Because...

I can hear the highway.

Hear it?

I can see it.

Thank you.

And so... This adds.