Ep 5 - Alaska (WARNING: Spoiler Alert)

Survivorman Alaska

Day 2

I am sitting on a cobblestone beach about a quarter mile long. Behind me is a four hundred foot waterfall and just in front of it is a very active bald eagle nest with the two adult eagles guarding it intently. In front of me a sea otter is playing in the ocean water while hundreds of silver salmon jump and break the surface. Beyond this active Alaskan scene there is the ocean bay they call Taroka Arm (meaning black bear). It is ringed with small rugged, snow capped mountains but their lush green shrubby rain forests touch all the way down to the ocean waters. Patches of crusty summer snow also dot along the edge of the ocean. The tide is slowly coming back in, threatening to steal away my red sea kayak. This is the North West Pacific coast. Alaska at it’s best. And it is unbelievably beautiful. Almost surreal. But I would dishonor it thinking that – for it is very real indeed. The first day and night went by in a drizzle – I simply kept paddling into the twilight and at one point sat down on a shore and slept out the rain, finally getting back into the kayak to head on again. Today I was rewarded with the sun. It has been raining for a week. My first actual camp spot is beautiful but difficult to survive on. There is fantastic scenery in abundance, but no real survival advantages. I have chosen to do this survival adventure by sea kayak, paddling along the coast a short ways and looking for places to survive. The usual – no food, no water – just my knife and this time – a device for fire starting called a fire piston. I’ve already tried it out tonight. I had a tough go of it at first but I practiced some patience and was finally successful. I simply added some more and different dried mossy stuff to the grass tinder bundle and dropped a bigger piece of punky wood in to catch the ember. And it worked great. So add a big crackling fire to that first picture I painted of this majestic coastal mountain scene.
There are plenty of small waterfalls so I filled up a glass jar I found and attempted to boil water in it like I did in Africa with a plastic bottle. It broke!! The heat made it explode at the bottom. It almost put out my hard earned fire.
There’s plenty of junk to comb the beach for here, just as there is all over the world. The sun is up here until midnight but between 1:00 AM and 4:00 AM it really only gets dusky – not dark at all. It’s not very warm though – not yet – or at least not at night. It might hit 60˚F if I am lucky during the day and if it stays sunny but otherwise it’s a perfect area to become hypothermic due to lots of cold and drizzly day-long rains this time of year. Cold and rainy is the usual weather. But not tonight. My biggest concern is going to be bears. Black and grizzly. Lots of ‘em. And big too. These are coastal bears and can be some of the biggest in the world. They ‘oughta be – they have the ocean to harvest from. There are signs of them everywhere I step. Right now – my position has me about a mile deep from the open ocean in a small bay.

Day 3

Evening

Just as I was about to leave my first campsite a good-sized bear came walking along the beach towards me. I saw him at about a hundred yards away but who knows just how close he got to me without me seeing him. He inspected and turned over a few rocks on the beach and then ambled off without incident. Which, by the way, is by far the norm. No horrific stories to tell about scary bear encounters.

There were short moments of rain, but not enough to soak me or put out my fire. Which is lucky because I had no shelter on that first survival site. Sleeping out in the open beside the fire, it helped to put rocks heated by the fire underneath me. They kept me surprisingly warm.
It turned out to be a warm and sunny day today! Exactly what I needed. So I paddled further and after checking out a couple of bays I landed on a large cobblestone beach, which I will make as my base camp for the rest of the week. If I kept moving, this week would become nothing but paddling, no real survival.

The rain will return sooner or later so the first thing I did once I landed was build a shelter using driftwood and some junk found by beach combing. There are a lot of beach combing treasures on this location for me to take advantage of. There is also lots of dried grass thanks to the sunny day I had, so getting another fire going shouldn’t be a problem.

As I checked out this new location I was surprised to find a gift from the gods. Or rather the eagles. A large silver salmon half eaten just laying on a log right in front of where I wanted to build my shelter. I ate a little raw – just to show that you can and will cook the rest of the tail tonight – what a treat! No bears on this site yet – but lots of signs – and for some reason – lots of blackflies. Something I wasn’t expecting. The sun is giving me a relaxed and warm evening as I look forward to my eagle gift of salmon.

Day 4

Mid Day

Near disaster last night!! My shelter caught fire! In all my years of practicing and teaching survival this is the first time it has happened to me. I got a little too careless and let my fire, which was just inside the door of my shelter, get too high. I had three-foot flames by the time I saw what was happening. Fortunately I remembered a big blue barrel that was washed up on the shore and it wasn’t too far away. I doused the flames with the ocean water just in time to save my shelter and avoid a volkswagon sized bon fire. Some of my camera gear was inside the shelter so I was lucky this time. I managed to save just enough coals to keep my fire going and the rest of the night was uneventful.

Today is amazing. Not a cloud in the sky. Warm and sunny. So I headed off in search of some ocean sea shore bounty and hit the motherload! A small bay about two miles from my survival location has a large tidal zone. Perfect for looking for edibles. I found sea lettuce, bladderwrack, goosetongue, and wild celery by the truck load. There were also plenty of muscles. But the barnacles were too small to take advantage of. The whole area was covered in bear evidence, lots of tracks and scat. The black flies were horribly thick so between them and the bears and since I already have my shelter built on the other location, I’ll stay where I am. I’ll use this location for harvesting whenever the ocean is at low tide. I’m back at camp now – it’s time to try some fishing.

Evening

The sun laid a beating on me today. That combined with the usual lack of sleep on a survival week had me pass out for about an hour before it got really hot. Then for some reason, likely the temperature, the black flies REALLY woke up. I was working on making a fishing line and hook and was bitten so much on my ears that they are now swollen and hot from the fly poison.

After flint knapping a piece of glass into a hook and subsequently breaking it in half by putting too much pressure on it, I made a second hook out of a piece of hard plastic I found. Then I found some old thick rope that I un-twisted to get a thinner fishing line out of. I also found an old fishnet float. So at the moment I have a hook with some of the dead fish on it as bait, a line and the float and it is all laid out on the beach at low tide waiting for the ocean to reverse it’s flow and come in. Meanwhile I can see salmon jumping everywhere. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky today but the sun is behind the mountains now so the cool air is falling down from the glaciers. My fire is going so here’s hoping I don’t burn down my shelter tonight!!

Day 5

Mid day

Still this incredibly great weather continues!! It was pretty cool again last night but heating up rocks and using them like hot water bottles helped a lot. I should make some kind of mattress to lie on though, the rocks are hard! Nothing took my bait last night so this morning I did more beach combing and have found a couple of old fishing nets. I used some old buoys and a bucket with a lid along with some wood as floats. I filled an old barrel and a bucket I found with rocks and used them as anchors. Then I laid everything out on the beach at low tide and waited for the ocean to come in. The salmon are jumping constantly in front of me – so here’s hoping!

Late Evening

Well……no luck with the net yet. But I’ll leave it out and hope for some action during the next high tide. Same goes for fishing with a line and hook. I went out in the kayak fishing for over an hour, but nothing bit. I did get out to ‘bounty bay’ for some more foraging, which keeps my spirits up. Tonight I even managed to make a short grass matt to sleep on and a hammock chair out of an old fishing net to hang on. The strangest thing happened tonight when I was making my grass matt. All of a sudden a deep and very loud grunting noise from about fifty yards away in the bush brought me to my feet and put the hairs up on the back of my neck. It repeated four times and I have to say sounded…..wait for it….just like a large gorilla! No, I’m not kidding. Hopefully I’m not losing it! But I swear. That’s what it sounded like. Not like a bear at all. Like a big gorilla. I will assume it was a bear though – a mother warning her cubs about my presence. But still…..it will be an interesting sleep tonight!

Day 6

Night

No more strange noises last night. Guess I will never know. Today was a tough day from the standpoint of my physical energy. Very low. I woke up and spent the better part of the day feeling lethargic. Eventually I got up the steam to build an outrigger for my kayak so it would be more stable for fishing. The thought of getting a big sea bass on my line in a rather unstable kayak was not comforting so I was seeking to remedy that. The day came in a stayed very grey always threatening to rain, but it held off and only now – late in the evening is it starting to mist heavily. I drifted with the wind all the way to a beautiful stream outflow, line fishing all the way with salmon jumping all around my kayak. Not a single bite! Very frustrating. I also came back to an empty net. So I filled up on sea-shore greenery and am about to eat the last of the four day old fish I found since it is not working as bait. I did manage to pick some bull kelp out of the ocean to eat and to wrap the fish in for cooking.

My seashore gathering ha been very successful but the salmon have eluded me. And that I believe is the reality of surviving. When you get skunked on a fishing trip it’s no big deal and you don’t really notice it. But it happens all the time, even with great fishing tackle. When it happens during survival it is a lot more heart breaking.

I have seen four bears come into my camp but each one has taken off like a shot when he has spotted me. So for now – I will play a little harmonica tonight and tomorrow morning head out by kayak to meet up with the safety crew somewhere on the coastline. No doubt, after a week of surprisingly beautiful weather, I will head out in the same weather I came in with. Cold, windy and rainy. It will be this intensely beautiful scenery that will offer me warming comfort as I paddle out.

_________________
"There dosen't look like there's much shelter over in those mountains, but that's the only choice I got right now, this is gonna be a long week" - Les Stroud Arctic

I read the first paragraph Embarassed

thats all, lol.
Im getting impatient to see the new episodes. So got to get my fix some how Shocked

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A Knifeless Man is a Lifeless Man
Canadian To The Core
We are Known By The Tracks we Leave Behind
Carry Less by Knowing More
Knowledge Weighs Nothing

I always read the whole thing because I'll forget what it was about by the time that I watch them Laughing

eric

It seems Les isn't very specific in these journals, which is excellent, it gives you something to look forward to, and doesn't give away everything. Can't wait!!

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Sorta but its the small things that sometimesmatter. I want to be 100% oblivious.

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"There dosen't look like there's much shelter over in those mountains, but that's the only choice I got right now, this is gonna be a long week" - Les Stroud Arctic

I saw this on the NPS Morning Report

Monday, July 23, 2007

INCIDENTS

Kenai Fjords National Park (AK)
Commercial Filming Violation Involving Discovery Channel

On July 16th, park resource management specialist Mike Tetreau, currently an intermittent employee working with a private firm conducting follow-up studies related to the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill along the park coastline, found an apparent commercial filming production in Taroka Arm, a seldom-visited area along the park's southern coast. In addition to the campsite "set" itself, a nearby support crew camp was located near a sensitive archaeological site. Ranger Sean Brennan, currently on detail as a criminal investigator assignment with the NPS Investigative Services Branch, flew to the site by chartered float plane the following day with Tetreau and contacted Les Stroud, also known as the "Survivorman", who has a show by the same name currently running on the Discovery Channel. Stroud, with a crew of four at the nearby camp, was apparently filming an upcoming episode of the show in the park, with a driftwood shelter constructed on the beach and multiple cameras surrounding it. Stroud was cited for commercial filming without a permit, and given the opportunity to obtain a permit. Stroud paid the required application, location and monitoring fees, totaling approximately $2,800, which will allow the park to recover most of the cost of the investigation. [Submitted by Jim Ireland, Chief of Interpretation & Visitor Services/Chief Ranger]

Hard-Tack wrote:

I saw this on the NPS Morning Report

Monday, July 23, 2007

INCIDENTS

Kenai Fjords National Park (AK)
Commercial Filming Violation Involving Discovery Channel

On July 16th, park resource management specialist Mike Tetreau, currently an intermittent employee working with a private firm conducting follow-up studies related to the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill along the park coastline, found an apparent commercial filming production in Taroka Arm, a seldom-visited area along the park's southern coast. In addition to the campsite "set" itself, a nearby support crew camp was located near a sensitive archaeological site. Ranger Sean Brennan, currently on detail as a criminal investigator assignment with the NPS Investigative Services Branch, flew to the site by chartered float plane the following day with Tetreau and contacted Les Stroud, also known as the "Survivorman", who has a show by the same name currently running on the Discovery Channel. Stroud, with a crew of four at the nearby camp, was apparently filming an upcoming episode of the show in the park, with a driftwood shelter constructed on the beach and multiple cameras surrounding it. Stroud was cited for commercial filming without a permit, and given the opportunity to obtain a permit. Stroud paid the required application, location and monitoring fees, totaling approximately $2,800, which will allow the park to recover most of the cost of the investigation. [Submitted by Jim Ireland, Chief of Interpretation & Visitor Services/Chief Ranger]

Whoops!! I never read the Blogs because i want it all to be a surprise!

_________________
~~~Watcher Of The Woods~~~
"Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can"~John Wesley

Hard-Tack wrote:

Monday, July 23, 2007

INCIDENTS

Kenai Fjords National Park (AK)
Commercial Filming Violation Involving Discovery Channel

On July 16th, park resource management specialist Mike Tetreau, currently an intermittent employee working with a private firm conducting follow-up studies related to the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill along the park coastline, found an apparent commercial filming production in Taroka Arm, a seldom-visited area along the park's southern coast. In addition to the campsite "set" itself, a nearby support crew camp was located near a sensitive archaeological site. Ranger Sean Brennan, currently on detail as a criminal investigator assignment with the NPS Investigative Services Branch, flew to the site by chartered float plane the following day with Tetreau and contacted Les Stroud, also known as the "Survivorman", who has a show by the same name currently running on the Discovery Channel. Stroud, with a crew of four at the nearby camp, was apparently filming an upcoming episode of the show in the park, with a driftwood shelter constructed on the beach and multiple cameras surrounding it. Stroud was cited for commercial filming without a permit, and given the opportunity to obtain a permit. Stroud paid the required application, location and monitoring fees, totaling approximately $2,800, which will allow the park to recover most of the cost of the investigation. [Submitted by Jim Ireland, Chief of Interpretation & Visitor Services/Chief Ranger]

I had considered getting a degree in forestry and working in Alaska, but if they pull shizzz like that I wouldn't want to be a part of it. What a bunch of A**holes! You need a permit to film in the wilderness? screw off, damned government. Fined for camping in a "sensitive archaeological site"? And they sign permits to log the wilderness to kingdom come every day. The hypocrisy of those scumbags makes a little vomit come up in my throat. I can only pray for anarchy.

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Never take anything for granted.

Could have to do with immigration stuff too...he is Canadian and filming in the US for that one. I know that when bands go on tours, they have to get Visas to tour around in different countries, same goes for filming movies for the actors.