01x07 - Canyonlands

[bunniefuu]

The actions portrayed in this show
are carried out by a professional.

Do not attempt to duplicate
without expert supervision.

Some scenes contain graphic content.
Viewer discretion is advised.

Les Stroud: Ah man.
[breathing heavily]

[yells]

Awesome.

Oh yeah.

Ow.

Whoa.

[music]

ONE MAN

ALONE



NO FOOD

NO T.V. CREW

SURVIVORMAN
Canyonlands

This time on Survivorman,
I'm in southern Utah

and it's among the
most mysterious and

unexplored regions of
the American Southwest.

Ancient cultures have
survived here and vanished

in the breathtaking but
brutal Canyonland.

I'm going in for seven days, alone.

[music]

Awesome, massive country. The ancient
magic in these canyons is legendary.

I'm in for the ride of my life.

My crew will drop me in
and the local scout,

Desert Dave, will be
camped out many miles away

until I get back.

I hate this part!

No water. Predatory mountain lions.
Nighttime chills.

Disease carrying insects.
Lonliness and dispair. These

are the dangers and challenges
of the Southwest Canyons.

This is winter in one of the most
remote Canyonlands of the southwest.

It's no wonder Butch
Cassidy and his wild bunch

chose these remote parts
to hide out from the law.

But for now, it's just me, my camera,
my horse for the next seven days alone.

Dave knows a lot about surviving out
here but he's not telling me everything.

Dave: I think people get
psychologically spooked out by

some of the amazing energy that
runs around these canyons.

A lot of people that have come
here and vanished, there is

something happening here that's
not like what he's used to.

Les Stroud: Well, I'm on my own now. I
have to check out my surroundings I guess.

Here we go.

[music]

This is some pretty amazing biking country.
I figure if I had to,

really I could probably bike
out of here in about 3 days.

But hey, this is a survival show.

[tire hisses]

Let's make it a week.

Yeah, I do have a pack full of gear.
It's all my camera gear and clothing.

They left it for me.

Like sh**ting your own horse to eat,
I'll cannibalize the bike to survive.

It's incredibly quiet here.
Too quiet.

I don't really know how much sunlight
I have left. Let me tell ya,

one, two, three and a half handwidths
so that's about three and a half hours.

I better find a place to settle down.

Well this juniper tree behind me is going
to make some pretty good shelter for me.

But first I want to get a big fire going.
I figure if it

does snow tonight at least
if I have a big fire going

I can maybe make it through the night.

[music]

It may not look like
it but snow storms

blanketed these canyons
just before I got here.

Baked by the sun in the
day and frozen solid at

night. At least there
is plenty of firewood.

Can you hear the jet-way up there? Right
now those people are eating lobster.

The temperatures in
these parts are wild,

swinging the huge extremes
in a matter of hours.

Oh this is good stuff, really good stuff.

My biggest fear: Can my body adjust?

Fire starter and bedding.

I gotta make a long fire that
I can feed from one end,

then I don't have to worry
about breaking logs small.

I'm actually going to line
this thing with rocks

because the sand is
actually pretty damp.

Survival means multitasking and getting
it done without breaking a sweat.

If I sweat, the cold nights
will be hard to handle.

I still got maybe two hours of
sunlight left. Work on my shelter.

[music]

This pole is a little lower than I
wanted so I dug a hole down a bit

and then lined it with
juniper bark and this

grass just to raise me
up off the cold sand.

And I covered all of these
branches and sticks over top

to protect me a bit and reflect some of
the heat back once I do get a fire going.

But this is about as much work as I want
to do tonight before I get too sweaty.

Sun is almost behind the mountains.

Every time I come out and
try survival in a location,

I like to test some
kind of survival item.

Just to see how it works.
This time around I'm

trying this item, a
magnesium flint stick.

What I want to do is shave
off this magnesium. I

need to make a little pile.
Gotta be real patient.

[scraping sounds]

Well that's not a bad pile. We'll see.
I just don't know.

Magnesium.

There we go, there we go.
Okay, okay. Burn baby, burn.

Burning me. Whoa!

That little magnesium stick is
definitely a winner in my book.

[laughter]

[music]

[crackling]

Nice to be under this juniper
tree cause it is chilling

down really quickly as soon
as that sun disappeared.

So I guess I should show you what I
have to survive with for the week.

Always of course, my multi-tool.

You've already met mister
magnesium flint stick.

And last, not least, huh.

Well, look at this: an old,
shriveled up piece of energy bar.

Mmmm. And, some corn chips. Wow.

I would say that's about enough to last a
week, wouldn't you? Inedible but useful.

Well there is snow up in the mountains
and just a few miles from here,

devastating flash floods wiping
out everything in sight.

I hear that bobcats and mountain lions

come down into these valleys at times
like these searching for food, easy food.

Sleeping food.

That was one frosty night.

Ground is all frozen now and frosted over.

Really it was just a matter of sleep
a half hour, wake up feed the fire.

Sleep a half hour, wake up feed the fire.

And just pray for morning.

I can't believe it. I can't find
any water in this area at all,

and yet, there is a creek
down in the canyon cut.

And guess what, I can't get to it because
everywhere I look it's like a 30 foot drop.

I can get down in there but
I'd never get back out again.

Oh look. See what I mean?
How frustrating is that?

A beautiful canyon cut, flowing
creek and I can't get to it.

That's called getting
ledged up in cowboy terms.

Come to a spot like this, get down
and you can never get out again.

Can't get to the water,
you die of dehydration.

And at the moment I'm ledged up.

This is all the water I could find
in this whole slick rock area.

All it is is a little bit of frost melt.

When Butch Cassidy and his
wild bunch came through here

they sometimes had to sh**t
a horse just to eat.

It's time to retire my trusty horse. The
parts on this bike could save my life.

[music]

I shivered through last
night because my shelter

was thrown together so
quickly to beat nightfall.

I'm hustling now to insulate it and the
bike frame makes a great supporting wall.

Try not to take too much to hurt the tree.
Exposes them to bugs.

Out of respect for the environment I
took this bark from several trees.

I think in time I can probably weave a
really nice bed out of this but for now

I think just pulling it
in loose like this keeps

it lofty, probably good
insulation as a result.

This temperature can be deceiving. I'm
tempted to just kick around in the sun.

That could be the death of me.

It can go well below freezing
in just a few hours.

This shelter can never be insulated
enough, can never have enough firewood.

See that? Look.

Beautiful isn't it? Well, beauty fades fast
especially when you are cold and alone.

A general rule that
survivors use to gauge

the odds of survival is
called the Five W's.

Wood. Well there is plenty of
wood for burning and for shelter.

Weather. Weather is pretty good right now.

If it did turn bad there's places that
I could get in and protect myself.

Widow-makers. Well, there is
nothing tall, standing and dead

that's going to come crashing down on me
in the middle of the night and k*ll me.

Wigglies. Scorpions, spiders, snakes.
They're all

burried deep in the
ground this time of year.

I don't have to worry about them.
But water. Well, water.

There's none of it.

Without a good supply of water I
may have to move on at daybreak.

Off to bed.
[harmonica]

I feel a lot better with
a shelter like this now,

I'll tell ya. All closed
over and hopefully warmer

next to this juniper bark fireplace.

[music]

It's too bad I have to leave. The shelter
is just right but I need a drink

and this place is dry.

The strapping from inside the bike tire
is perfect to bundle up this juniper bark

and the bark is great insulation,
way too valuable to leave behind.

The crew will have to fly in
later to clean up the site.

[music]

This is an amazing sight. You gotta
see what I'm looking at here.

I'm thinking down there is water.

A big canyon like that has got to be a
flowing creek. Water is what I need

so I'm going to take the chance on it.

Have to find a way down.

It's got to be at least


Okay, now I'm pretty sure that I can
find my way down in this canyon.

What I'm walking on is a fresh cattle
trail. That's right, I said cattle trail.

They know the way down. There are cattle
roaming throughout here, free-range.

Cattle don't mean
salvation, that's for sure.

Okay, tell ya what. As dedicated as I
am to getting some good shots here,

this canyon is getting too steep.

I gotta strip down a bit and stop filming.

It's too much work going up and
down, setting up these cameras.

[inaudible]

Alright, I'm ready to head down,
take the little camera with me.

Maybe I can talk to you on the way.

Equipment weight: 55 lbs

This is when the camera
gear really gets heavy.

Should've taken my pants
off before I walked this.

That is where I came from.

It's a long way down.

[breathing heavily]

Vertical drop: 1500 feet

I better check this place out.

This is not good news.

Let me show you what I just walked.

This is my creek down in the valley bottom.

Dry as a bone.

[music]

Your body needs to thermal regulate.
Part of

that is your cells need
to shrink and expand

and if you don't get a drink
of water you can't do that.

You can sleep all night
in lots of insulation

next to the fire and still
be cold all the time.

Not good news.

Survival Day 3
Utah Canyonlands

It's a long way to come and not have water.

I'm getting thirsty. My
mouth is tasting stale.

My head is starting to hurt a bit.
I know that's from dehydration.

Not drinking enough.

I haven't peed in a long time.
That's a bad sign.

A small patch of snow to keep me
going until I can find shelter.

I searched a long stretch of this
canyon floor for some good shelter,

a lot of caves that I thought,
from a distance, looked great.

Up close their either too high to get
to or too small to snuggle into.

And most are pack rat dens anyway.

This one is facing south and it
could keep me warm on sunny days.

Desert Dave: So caves are great
for people but there's a

lot of creatures that have
set up their living in there

that are dangerous to us and they carry
black plague, or bubonic plague.

Hanta, which kills you a little faster.

Anaphylactic shock
from being bit by the

kissing bugs that live
on bats and pack rats.

I think this cave is ready
for an extreme makeover.

[music]

I've leveled out the floor inside here.
I put up a

rock wall and area for a
fire on the inside here.

Then what I need to do is get
a fire going in there and

start to warm up the cave,
very gently and slowly.

I knew once I got my fire
going that I'd probably

want a big one just to get
some good coals first.

So I thought I'd set
up my fire up in the

little flat area there,
get a big fire going

and I can transfer some
coals over here and start

a small, low fire to
help warm up the gave.

You gotta be really careful.
This is a deadly situation.

It wouldn't take much to thermal
crack this wall and have

a Cadillac size rock come
crashing down on top of me.

So I'll need to heat the cave very
slowly to keep the rock in tact

and maybe smoke out any pack
rats that might be deep inside.

You know everywhere I go to survive
is pretty intense and pretty special.

This place, it's magical here.
Not sure. It's the

strangest I've ever felt,
really, is in this canyon.

I'm mean I'm just corralled
in by it all and

to know that the
Anasazi and the Paiute

and Butch Cassidy and his
g*ng--it's a lot of history here.

One of the traditions of
the Paiute people were

to take this rabbit
brush, take this plant,

and they would burn it into
the cave on their first burn

just to ward off evil spirits
and ghosts and such.

Seems to me like a good idea.

Les Stroud: Desert Dave
told me that these

canyons were the most
remote in the Southwest

and as a result have the densest
population of mountain lions.

Locals fear coming down
here as I have unarmed.

One of the fire rocks just blew up on me,
sent big coals right into my bed and

burned my finger trying to clear it out.

It's going to feel a little
strange sleeping in here.

I'm sure I'll be thinking about
this rock over my head constantly.

[music]

Well it was some night.

I must have slept better because
both my fires went out.

The little one up in the cave
was out and cold but this one

But this one just has a little
tiny bit of residual heat.

Maybe I can turn it back into a flame.

Remember this guy? If I
just blow on the ashes,

they'll all fly away and
that'll be the end of it.

But when I slip this small tube from
my back down through the middle

and focus it into the last bit
of ash, I can gently coax

the surrounding charcoal back
into red embers once again

this way I don't use any
more of my magnesium stick,

saving resources wherever I
can is the survivors code.

Okay, it may be right now.

There we go. Now I'm putting these
corn chips in, believe it or not.

All that effort and a couple
of corn chips was worth it.

The chips keep the first flames burning
well thanks to the oil they're cooked in.

I'll show you what I mean
about those corn chips.

Look, see that? It holds its flame
just like a little, tiny candle.

So if you don't have much
tinder and you happen to

have some corn chips in
your pocket, like I did,

then it's a great way
to help get your fire going

because that grass
went out quick on me.

Then you can transport your
flame to wherever you need it.

Or you can eat 'em.

[music]

On my trail down into
this canyon along the way

I mentioned that I was
following a cow trail

so I decided to grab myself
not just your ordinary

cow pattie--okay, it is
your ordinary cow pattie--

but it's got a special job.

Cow pattie like that, given
that it's a little bit damp,

may smoulder for as long as
an hour to an hour and a half

which is a good thing if you
want to keep the coals going

in your little fire pit and
not burn up your wood.

It's already day four and I haven't
had a decent drink of water, yet.

Well I've been searching up and down this
creek and all I'm finding is damp sand.

It's wet but it's not wet enough.

Hunger is nothing compared to a quick
approaching death by dehydration.

Well, finally promising. A
little touch of water here.

There is one little puddle
and by the signs of the

mouse poop close by, they
drank out of it, too.

So, I wouldn't advise drinking out of
a puddle like this with mice around

but I've got to have water.

Oh my gosh.

You've gotta be really careful
entering these canyons.

Even the bigger ones, too.
Not just these slot

canyons if there are
storm clouds in the air

or if there has been a lot
of warm weather like I'm

getting, it might melt the
snow on the mountain tops.

You could find yourself
stuck in the middle with

a big wall of water coming
at you and no escape.

Four days of deadly silence
in these canyons, that

whole "It's quiet, yeah,
too quiet," kind of feel.

Makes you wonder if even the raven is real.

Ah brother raven is calling me.
I think he wanted

to tell me that I was close
to something good here.

[imitating raven's cawing]

It's nice to have his company. I'm happy
though because I found some water here.

It looks like it's a seepage of water.
I don't

think I even need a
drinking tube for this one.

[raven cawing]

[imitating raven's cawing]

I'm glad I found some water.
Makes life a little more bearable.

Quenches my thirst a lot better
than little bits of snow

but I've got to make a real concerted
effort to try and get some food.

[music]

The only realistic meal I can
catch around here is rat.

The Paiute string dead
fall is amazing. A

simple but deadly bit
of ancient technology,

it combines cord making methods with
leverage and balance principles.

Pure physics really, a stone
cold end to unsuspecting prey.

See that? Got that rope
tied around my little

notch here and tied around
this guy here, too.

Yucca--just a single leaf I
guess from the yucca plant.

These little fibers. We'll
use the yucca as a binding.

This is my little bit of energy bar that
they so graciously allowed me to have.

But let me show you how we can turn this,

well at least I'm going to hope I can turn
this into a lot more substantial food.

All I need is a little, tiny piece.
Not much at all, just to mush it up.

Be careful not to eat it.

There. Just a little, tiny bit.

See, I don't want to give these
guys food to go away with.

Because I've mashed it into
the end of this stick,

he's going to have to
work at that to get it.

Now for the hard part.

I can keep my mind off of hunger
by doing something proactive

like building and setting up these traps.

Problem is, this activity is all about
catching food. Now I'm even hungrier.

Okay.

See the trigger? You got your top piece,
the string, little trigger stick there

which puts pressure on
this stick here and it

goes up underneath and
lodges onto the rock.

I gotta go make a few more of these.
Wish me luck.

Another five or six traps should at least
better my odds at finally having a meal.

This is a nice discovery.
There's a big pool of water.

A good inch frozen on top though.

Cool.

Ah. Alright.

The inner tube makes for a perfect canteen.

Now have a look at what I found. It
doesn't really matter where you go,

everywhere on this planet somebody
has been and left behind garbage.

Mm-hmm. This looks very promising.

One man's garbage is
another man's treasure.

This is Mormon tea. It's got Ephedra in it
and it can give you a nice energy boost.

I've been gone a number
of hours and that cow

pattie is still red
hot and smouldering.

Just add dry grass and I've got fire again.

[music]

That improves life, significantly.

Even have a lid.

I spent time cleaning all the rust out
of this tin can with the available sand.

Eating or drinking any wild
plant is extremely dangerous

unless you know exactly what you're doing.

Cheers.

Mmm.

Five days without a meal
can play on your mind

and this while T kick to it.

The solitude, the crazy temperature
swings, the long hike down the canyon--

it's all taking it's toll.

Maybe this explains all
those grizzly canyon

legends of lost minds
and missing souls

where things get unreal.

Five days without food.

Well I'm in trouble once again. My little
puddle that was so fresh and clean

is down to, well, I'll drain it
out just with this right now.

And unfortunately the closest
source of water other than this

is that one silty puddle, very deep, but
it's a half an hour walk away from here.

See these two rocks here? These
didn't just happen by chance.

These were placed here.
They are the perfect

fit to each other for
a Paiute dead fall.

They're exactly the same type of dead
fall I'm using to try to catch pack rats.

Just like this one here which is one
of the five that I have set right now.

But guess what, it sprung.

I haven't opened it yet. I
don't know if I've got a meal

but we're going to find out.

[music]

I haven't opened it yet. I don't
know if there is anything here

or if I've got a meal but
we're going to find out.

With every failed trap, my hunger grows.

I actually expected to
find something under these

traps but they're not
even knocked down at all.

I'm just going to knock this one just
to show you how effective they can be.

One last trap to check. I think it's down.

Let's go find out. No
need for big fanfare

this time because the
first one had nothing.

Whoa! Well what do you know.

I'll show you this guy here.

I think it's a type of a ground squirrel.

I'm going to call it dinner.

Remember the spokes from the bike?
This skewer

will put distance between
myself and the squirrel.

The plague is still a very
real possibility out here.

Time to go shopping.
Mmm. Ground squirrel.

I'm going to need to cook
this guy really well

so I'm going to get him on the fire
now, let him cook for a good long time.

Once again I've been able
to use a piece off the

bike. It's going to help me
cook this little fellow.

Just used a brake cable hooking
through his head there.

Now I'm just going to let
him cook good and slow.

I'm going to singe all the hair
off and cook him very well

just in his own case like that
just to make sure everything,

in terms of diseases and parasites
has been taken care of.

Look, I don't like to k*ll anything at all
but this shows you that with ingenuity

and determination, you
can get yourself a meal

if you truly are lost
and need to survive.

All this camera work combined
with actual survival

makes hunting and gathering any food
at all vital to my ability to carry on.

These juniper berries, while they
do taste absolutely horrible,

eating a couple of them will help to,
because of the chemicals in them,

will help to prepare my stomach for
eating meat, make it easier to digest.

A lot of archeology is--I can just hear
the squirrel sizzling over there--

a lot of archeology is based on what they
find in terms of stone tools, rock tools,

things that are chipped into other things.

The Paiute around here and
the Anasazi were both

terrific at what's
called "flint knapping."

This is a piece of rock laying around
this area and this is a hammer rock,

an actual artifact from this
area just laying on the ground.

You can see the chipped end. It was
used for turning big pieces of rock

into little pieces of
rock, into knife points,

arrowheads, spear tips and
those kinds of things.

That's really what flint knapping
is so I'll see if I can use it.

Ah-ha! Success.

See that? That little guy
is very, very sharp.

This thing is so sharp it
just cuts right through.

He's definitely not cooked through yet.

Flip over, use the other side of this flint
because I'm going back up the top again.

And I'm sorry if this looks
disgusting but it's not different

than a chicken or a pig or
a turkey or anything else.

I'm not satisfied that he is
cooked all the way through yet.

I'll need to cook it right through
to make sure any parasites are dead.

Oh! my squirrels is burning.

Dinner.

Oh!

Oh! It's pretty charred on the
outside, so it should be.

Well, what I'm not gonna eat is the
entrails, being the intestines and such.

But you know the heart, kidney,
the liver--all good stuff to eat.

There is my meal. What
I'm gonna do is save all

the bones and I'm gonna
cook them even more.

I'm going to have them for breakfast.
Good bout of calcium.

So inside of here, I've got the heart.

Nope, that's the liver.

There is my squirrel.

Good.

Well tonight for a little extra
warmth I'm going to use hot rocks.

I've just taken these
rocks, I've got four like

this, and I'm putting
them close to the fire.

Getting good and hot. I'm going
to tuck these in like this as I

sleep and they'll keep me good
and warm for quite a long time.

I've got four and I'll just rotate two.
Two heating

up, two on my body. Two
heating up, two on my body.

Just leave that in there,
get a little hotter.

So water is still a big problem though.
It's a long way to get it.

Survival Day 6
Utah Canyonlands

Breakfast.

Mmm.

Oh if anything will get
you up in the morning

it's chewing on some
cold squirrel bones.

[crunching]

That was a cold night.

You know I'm just not
sure what the toughest

part is: the constant
search for water

or this huge fluctuation between very
hot days and bitterly cold nights.

I don't think I could do another
night like this though.

The food made me even thirstier
but at least cleared my mind.

Maybe these canyons had beaten me.

The outlaws used to lure law
men in here to starve them

out and they called it box
death, film or no film.

I need more water to survive.

Alright, you know what?

I'm not gonna do another day.
It's going to take

me all day just to hike
out of this canyon,

climb all the way back up.

Total distance hiked: 30 miles

I'm getting out of here now.

Survival is ultimately about getting out.

In my case, I'm still strong enough to do
so so I'm heading back while I still can.

Well of course I had to
come back for the camera.

What did ya think?

So now begins my long climb
up out of the canyon.

You know what? This time I'm making the
crew come back and pick up this camera.

See next time.

[music]