Real stories, told by real people.
As always, I'm pleased to be back with another story to share. Hope you're doing well, and this finds you in good spirits. Today David joins us, and he's got a story to tell. This is going to be a good one.
Here's a little blurb from David's website to set the stage :
"Picture a place 125 miles from the nearest human where the land is as wild and unpredictable as the adventure it delivers. Imagine stepping from a bush plane on to a frozen lake where the temperature is -40ºF below. Three miles away sits a cabin that will be your home for the next year. Now, imagine not finding it for six bitter cold days. This is where the unforgettable true story begins for two young men in search of adventure in the Canadian wilderness."
To come out of an experience, whatever it may be, more refined, entuned, matured, evolved and liberated is what the Alchemical process is all about. That's an act of creation, creating a new you, essentially. May David's story encourage you with your own ability to transcend the difficult, lean into the unknown, and challenge any limiting beliefs you currently hold. Active and creative imagination, survival, isolation, solitude, extreme weather conditions, gratitude, courage, fear, we're getting it all today.
I'm pleased to introduce another GIANTS AMONGST US. You can share your thoughts and reach us using any of the links below.
Til next time
and very soon,
PEACE!
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_____
David Scott :
Website : https://www.paradisecreekcabin.com/
_____
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_____
Intro Song :
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_____
Background music by :
@bnoizemusic
00:00:02 --> 00:00:34 hear me? sometimes basking underneath the sun
00:00:34 --> 00:00:39 ready to bring in episode number 51 ladies and
00:00:39 --> 00:00:42 gentlemen welcome back to the show this is Giants
00:00:42 --> 00:00:45 Amongst Us a place where we share in the unique
00:00:45 --> 00:00:47 human experience and this is where you're going
00:00:47 --> 00:00:51 to hear real stories that are told by real people
00:00:51 --> 00:00:55 people just like yourself hope you guys are doing
00:00:55 --> 00:00:57 well hope you had a great week it's good to be
00:00:57 --> 00:01:02 back as always And I want to welcome anybody
00:01:02 --> 00:01:04 who's tuning in for the very first time. Appreciate
00:01:04 --> 00:01:07 you. Kick up a chair. Please do stay a while.
00:01:07 --> 00:01:11 What we do here is we talk story. There's people
00:01:11 --> 00:01:14 across the line who have been through their fair
00:01:14 --> 00:01:18 struggles, the shakes, the breaks of life. But
00:01:18 --> 00:01:21 there was a turning point. There was a time where
00:01:21 --> 00:01:24 things went from glory to glory, from being a
00:01:24 --> 00:01:28 victim to a victor. So These stories are meant
00:01:28 --> 00:01:31 to inspire, to encourage, to light up a flame
00:01:31 --> 00:01:35 inside of you and to give you hope so that you
00:01:35 --> 00:01:37 can actualize your own potential. You can see
00:01:37 --> 00:01:39 that you're no different. You can see that your
00:01:39 --> 00:01:42 life has meaning, your life has value and that
00:01:42 --> 00:01:45 you're worth the effort. It's gonna take work.
00:01:45 --> 00:01:48 It's gonna take some doing, but it can in fact
00:01:48 --> 00:01:53 be done. Listen to these stories and be reminded
00:01:53 --> 00:01:57 of that fact. and what you can do is you can
00:01:57 --> 00:02:03 bookmark giantsamongstus .org that's giantsamongstus
00:02:03 --> 00:02:08 .org and that's where you can find past stories
00:02:08 --> 00:02:12 past guests you can check out the backlog the
00:02:12 --> 00:02:15 archives blog posts that are up and even find
00:02:15 --> 00:02:18 updates on the show social media handles we're
00:02:18 --> 00:02:22 on reddit we're on YouTube and of course pretty
00:02:22 --> 00:02:26 much every streaming platform that you're able
00:02:26 --> 00:02:29 to listen to music or podcasts and one more thing
00:02:29 --> 00:02:32 if you enjoy what we're doing over here if you
00:02:32 --> 00:02:35 appreciate the stories you can always share this
00:02:35 --> 00:02:38 with a friend you can go to any of the links
00:02:38 --> 00:02:40 that you'll find in the show notes and leave
00:02:40 --> 00:02:44 a rating leave a review greatly appreciated whether
00:02:44 --> 00:02:47 it's no stars or five stars and writing a line
00:02:47 --> 00:02:50 of encouragement or critique Either way, this
00:02:50 --> 00:02:53 is just going to help us to continue to create
00:02:53 --> 00:02:57 a wonderful listening experience and to help
00:02:57 --> 00:03:00 these stories fall in the ears of new listeners.
00:03:01 --> 00:03:02 So with that out of the way, I don't want to
00:03:02 --> 00:03:04 hold you too much longer. I want to get into
00:03:04 --> 00:03:08 this and just to give you a heads up beforehand,
00:03:08 --> 00:03:12 this conversation was cut off at the very end.
00:03:12 --> 00:03:16 Abruptly, we weren't able to say our goodbyes,
00:03:16 --> 00:03:19 so to speak. The connection went bad. It fell
00:03:19 --> 00:03:22 off on my end. But after reconnecting, we both
00:03:22 --> 00:03:25 agreed the meat in the bulk of the adventure
00:03:25 --> 00:03:28 that he wanted to share with us all was said
00:03:28 --> 00:03:32 that we had ample time to do that. So let's go
00:03:32 --> 00:03:35 ahead and kick this thing off today. David joins
00:03:35 --> 00:03:40 us and he's got a story to tell. When I was very
00:03:40 --> 00:03:43 young, my parents, for whatever reason, they
00:03:43 --> 00:03:48 got rid of our family TV. So for about 13 years,
00:03:48 --> 00:03:51 I grew up without a television, which I think
00:03:51 --> 00:03:55 most people, especially before the internet revolution,
00:03:56 --> 00:04:00 would say that's kind of crazy. But it forced
00:04:00 --> 00:04:04 me to do other things. One of those things, I
00:04:04 --> 00:04:09 really found this love of the outdoors. And so
00:04:09 --> 00:04:12 I would go to this woods that was near my home.
00:04:12 --> 00:04:15 It was there that I climbed Mount Everest. It
00:04:15 --> 00:04:19 was there that I explored the Amazon. Ladies
00:04:19 --> 00:04:24 and gentlemen, without further ado, this is David
00:04:24 --> 00:04:31 and his story. Let's get rocking and David. All
00:04:31 --> 00:04:34 right. I'm all it. Let's do it. All right, so
00:04:34 --> 00:04:37 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the show
00:04:37 --> 00:04:40 This is Giants Amongst Us where we share in the
00:04:40 --> 00:04:43 unique human experience and I already enjoyed
00:04:43 --> 00:04:46 a nice little backstory and breaking the ice
00:04:46 --> 00:04:50 with my My good friend, I'm going to say my good
00:04:50 --> 00:04:52 friend David here across from me. He's on the
00:04:52 --> 00:04:55 other line and he was kind enough. He was open
00:04:55 --> 00:04:58 enough to share some, some of his experiences,
00:04:59 --> 00:05:03 his walk in life, my goodness, some of the fascinating
00:05:03 --> 00:05:06 things that he's embarked on. And just to, just
00:05:06 --> 00:05:10 to bring it in, I want to just read a small excerpt
00:05:10 --> 00:05:13 from your website. This is just kind of to paint
00:05:13 --> 00:05:18 the picture for those listening. asked to the
00:05:18 --> 00:05:21 person sitting across from me some of the things
00:05:21 --> 00:05:24 that he has embarked on but it says picture a
00:05:24 --> 00:05:28 place 125 miles from the nearest human where
00:05:28 --> 00:05:31 the land is wild is as wild and unpredictable
00:05:31 --> 00:05:35 as the adventure it delivers imagine stepping
00:05:35 --> 00:05:38 from a bush plane onto a frozen lake where the
00:05:38 --> 00:05:42 temperature is minus 40 Fahrenheit below Three
00:05:42 --> 00:05:45 miles away sits a cabin that will be your home
00:05:45 --> 00:05:49 for the next year. Now imagine not finding it
00:05:49 --> 00:05:53 for six bitter cold days. This is where the unforgettable
00:05:53 --> 00:05:56 true story begins for two young men in search
00:05:56 --> 00:06:00 of adventure in the Canadian wilderness. And
00:06:00 --> 00:06:04 one of those young men Now a bit older, but still
00:06:04 --> 00:06:07 in his prime. So David, thank you very much for
00:06:07 --> 00:06:09 taking time out of your day. You could have been
00:06:09 --> 00:06:11 anywhere. You could have been doing anything,
00:06:11 --> 00:06:14 but we're sitting across from each other and
00:06:14 --> 00:06:17 sharing the conversation. So thank you. How's
00:06:17 --> 00:06:19 it going? Thank you. I'm thrilled to be here.
00:06:19 --> 00:06:22 Things are going great. And I'm eager to share
00:06:22 --> 00:06:25 my story and hopefully give you and your listeners
00:06:25 --> 00:06:29 a memorable show to look back on. Yeah, right.
00:06:30 --> 00:06:33 You know, we have this you you were you embarked
00:06:33 --> 00:06:38 on this wild adventure. You were a year in nature's
00:06:38 --> 00:06:41 bosom in some harsh conditions. And I thought
00:06:41 --> 00:06:44 I brought this up to you before we started recording.
00:06:44 --> 00:06:47 And I'm just curious. I mean, this probably ties
00:06:47 --> 00:06:51 into some of the preparation that you already
00:06:51 --> 00:06:54 had at an early age to embark and want to do
00:06:54 --> 00:06:56 something like this, because also something we
00:06:56 --> 00:07:00 talked about was maybe This is an imagination,
00:07:00 --> 00:07:05 a dream that a lot of us have had, but very few
00:07:05 --> 00:07:10 have took the steps to turn that dream into a
00:07:10 --> 00:07:13 reality. I was reading some of your backstory
00:07:13 --> 00:07:17 and this was something that just jumped out of
00:07:17 --> 00:07:19 the screen as soon as I came across it because
00:07:19 --> 00:07:23 it sounded like something that you would hear
00:07:23 --> 00:07:26 on Ripley's Believe It or Not. because I told
00:07:26 --> 00:07:29 you like at this age, I probably was if I could
00:07:29 --> 00:07:32 think back, I was shooting marbles. I was playing
00:07:32 --> 00:07:34 baseball, learning how to throw maybe a fastball
00:07:34 --> 00:07:41 or curveball. But at 12 years old, this man climbed
00:07:41 --> 00:07:45 Everest, explored the Amazon, crossed the Sahara
00:07:45 --> 00:07:48 and survived the Arctic. Well, well, is that
00:07:48 --> 00:07:54 is that a feasible for a 12 year old? Well, let's
00:07:54 --> 00:07:56 let's back up a little bit because I think I
00:07:56 --> 00:08:00 think in that blurb that I wrote, those are all
00:08:00 --> 00:08:03 very true things, but they're not entirely true.
00:08:03 --> 00:08:06 Those things are those are all the things that
00:08:06 --> 00:08:09 I kind of that happened to me in my own imagination.
00:08:10 --> 00:08:15 So when I was very young, my parents, for whatever
00:08:15 --> 00:08:19 reason, they got rid of our family TV. So for
00:08:19 --> 00:08:22 about 13 years, I grew up without television
00:08:22 --> 00:08:26 which I think you know most people especially
00:08:26 --> 00:08:29 before the the internet revolution would would
00:08:29 --> 00:08:33 say that's that's kind of crazy but it forced
00:08:33 --> 00:08:36 me to do other things and one of those things
00:08:36 --> 00:08:40 I really found this this love of the outdoors
00:08:40 --> 00:08:44 and so I would go to this woods that was near
00:08:44 --> 00:08:47 my home it was there that I climbed Mount Everest
00:08:47 --> 00:08:51 it was there that I uh explored the amazon it
00:08:51 --> 00:08:54 was but these are all things that were uh that
00:08:54 --> 00:08:57 developed in a very active imagination so i i
00:08:57 --> 00:08:59 hope i wasn't misleading i hope you didn't think
00:08:59 --> 00:09:03 that i actually did these things you know you
00:09:03 --> 00:09:06 know what now that you say that i'm going to
00:09:06 --> 00:09:07 correct myself and i'm glad you brought that
00:09:07 --> 00:09:10 up because now this is the whole point of where
00:09:10 --> 00:09:14 you have reading comprehension so now so now
00:09:14 --> 00:09:19 i'm reading I'm rereading the next sentence and
00:09:19 --> 00:09:21 the next lines after that. And so yeah, no, you're
00:09:21 --> 00:09:24 right. It's clear that this was already an act
00:09:24 --> 00:09:27 of imagination. And so this is where it stems
00:09:27 --> 00:09:31 from. And context is everything. And so forgive
00:09:31 --> 00:09:35 me for, for missing or not connecting it, but
00:09:35 --> 00:09:38 now I see. No, no, no worries at all. It was
00:09:38 --> 00:09:41 a bit of a, it was a bit of baited writing. You
00:09:41 --> 00:09:44 know what I mean? You drew me in. There you go.
00:09:44 --> 00:09:47 It's an easy it's an easy trap for us. No, that's
00:09:47 --> 00:09:51 great because that is something also that Is
00:09:51 --> 00:09:54 so i'm sure that you probably uh, well, let's
00:09:54 --> 00:09:58 just let's put it like this. How is your your
00:09:58 --> 00:10:02 Or how do you feel about? the inner world is
00:10:02 --> 00:10:05 what creates the outer world now the the imagination
00:10:05 --> 00:10:10 the thought the uh thoughts and the the energy
00:10:10 --> 00:10:14 and the power that the mind has is with that
00:10:14 --> 00:10:16 we have the ability to create or destroy and
00:10:16 --> 00:10:20 with that we can, it seems like you were already
00:10:20 --> 00:10:24 actively imagining these things and later in
00:10:24 --> 00:10:28 life they became a fruition. So this is really
00:10:28 --> 00:10:32 a testament of the power of what the mind is
00:10:32 --> 00:10:35 capable of doing and sooner or later with the
00:10:35 --> 00:10:38 actions and the confidence that is built from
00:10:38 --> 00:10:42 it and all of the emotions that fuel it. This
00:10:42 --> 00:10:44 turns into a reality and it can be feasible.
00:10:45 --> 00:10:49 That is such a, it's such a great point and it
00:10:49 --> 00:10:53 really does tie in pretty heavily to this experience.
00:10:53 --> 00:10:56 So, you know, as I was mentioning, like I, I
00:10:56 --> 00:11:00 would spend every waking hour in the woods. And
00:11:00 --> 00:11:03 this of course was during the late seventies,
00:11:03 --> 00:11:06 early eighties when, when we were all just like
00:11:06 --> 00:11:09 feral. cats running around, you know, and like
00:11:09 --> 00:11:11 no parent was really paying attention. So you'd
00:11:11 --> 00:11:14 be out until then that no one knew. And so I
00:11:14 --> 00:11:16 would come home from school. I would be in the
00:11:16 --> 00:11:20 woods until dark or after dark, and then I would
00:11:20 --> 00:11:25 come home. And there were a couple of things
00:11:25 --> 00:11:28 that really changed my relationship with the
00:11:28 --> 00:11:30 outdoors. One of them was a book that I read.
00:11:31 --> 00:11:35 And I think you will find people that do these
00:11:35 --> 00:11:37 kinds of things. There are many of them that
00:11:37 --> 00:11:39 will point to this reading this book when they
00:11:39 --> 00:11:41 were younger. And the book is called My Side
00:11:41 --> 00:11:45 of the Mountain. And it's about a kid who runs
00:11:45 --> 00:11:47 away in the Catskill Mountains and he lives off
00:11:47 --> 00:11:52 the land. And it's a very romanticized idea of
00:11:52 --> 00:11:56 that experience. But it really had an impact
00:11:56 --> 00:12:00 on me as a young kid. That to me sounded like
00:12:00 --> 00:12:02 the greatest thing in the world, to be able to
00:12:02 --> 00:12:06 do that. He lived in a hollow tree. He had a
00:12:06 --> 00:12:08 peregrine falcon that he used to help him catch
00:12:08 --> 00:12:10 his food. It was just great. It was amazing.
00:12:10 --> 00:12:13 It was incredible. And again, very romanticized,
00:12:13 --> 00:12:17 but really brilliant. So that had a huge impact
00:12:17 --> 00:12:20 on me. The other thing was, there was one day
00:12:20 --> 00:12:23 when I was out in this woods and I found an arrowhead
00:12:23 --> 00:12:28 that was made by some primitive person. And I
00:12:28 --> 00:12:31 realized when I picked it up that... The last
00:12:31 --> 00:12:34 person that touched this was a native person.
00:12:34 --> 00:12:39 And it really had a huge... It kind of changed
00:12:39 --> 00:12:44 my life, I guess. Just my involvement with the
00:12:44 --> 00:12:47 outdoors became much deeper and, dare I say,
00:12:48 --> 00:12:51 almost on a spiritual level. The woods became
00:12:51 --> 00:12:57 this kind of a sacred place. I started dreaming
00:12:57 --> 00:13:03 about living in a remote location, in like a
00:13:03 --> 00:13:07 log cabin. I just, I fantasized about it. And
00:13:07 --> 00:13:11 oddly, I never pursued that, just because it
00:13:11 --> 00:13:13 seemed like it was too big. That idea, like,
00:13:14 --> 00:13:17 that'll never happen, you know. But yet, I held
00:13:17 --> 00:13:20 on to it. I believed in it so much that I wrote
00:13:20 --> 00:13:23 a story about running away and living in a log
00:13:23 --> 00:13:27 cabin in Canada. when I was probably 12 or 13
00:13:27 --> 00:13:32 years old. Did you ever share those? Did you
00:13:32 --> 00:13:35 ever share those dreams or imaginations with
00:13:35 --> 00:13:37 anybody? Oh, yeah. Well, as a matter of fact,
00:13:37 --> 00:13:40 I still have the story. It's all handwritten
00:13:40 --> 00:13:46 and I shared them to, you know, family. And,
00:13:46 --> 00:13:48 you know, that was about that was about it just
00:13:48 --> 00:13:51 because the Internet wasn't a thing back then.
00:13:51 --> 00:13:54 But it was. it's an important thing to remember
00:13:54 --> 00:13:59 that I had this. Because this part of this story
00:13:59 --> 00:14:03 will certainly come up a little later on. But
00:14:03 --> 00:14:08 it was a very profound thing. So I practiced
00:14:08 --> 00:14:12 all sorts of skills that surrounded, I guess,
00:14:13 --> 00:14:16 primitive living in terms of building different
00:14:16 --> 00:14:19 shelters and tracking animals, learning about
00:14:19 --> 00:14:24 edible and medicinal plants and everything that
00:14:24 --> 00:14:28 I did kind of revolved around around this. And
00:14:28 --> 00:14:31 one of those things was working with a company
00:14:31 --> 00:14:34 called a group called the SCA, which is the Student
00:14:34 --> 00:14:40 Conservation Association. They bring in high
00:14:40 --> 00:14:44 school kids who volunteer to help national parks
00:14:44 --> 00:14:48 with Anything from, you know, trail service to
00:14:48 --> 00:14:51 handling guests to all kinds of different things.
00:14:51 --> 00:14:54 And prior to this trip, I went to a local outfitter
00:14:54 --> 00:14:58 to buy some gear. And I learned in talking to
00:14:58 --> 00:15:01 this person that when he was younger, he had
00:15:01 --> 00:15:05 spent several months in this log cabin in the
00:15:05 --> 00:15:08 middle of nowhere, which of course immediately
00:15:08 --> 00:15:12 kind of caught my attention. And when I returned
00:15:12 --> 00:15:15 from working with the Student Conservation Association,
00:15:16 --> 00:15:19 I went to work for this outfitter. And it was
00:15:19 --> 00:15:23 one day when the gentleman who built this log
00:15:23 --> 00:15:27 cabin came into the store and the owner told
00:15:27 --> 00:15:30 me, he goes, that's the guy who built this cabin
00:15:30 --> 00:15:33 that I stayed in. And I walked up to him, and
00:15:33 --> 00:15:36 I shook his hand. I didn't even introduce myself.
00:15:36 --> 00:15:38 I said, I have to go to this place. That was
00:15:38 --> 00:15:41 my introduction to him. I said, I have to go
00:15:41 --> 00:15:43 to this place. And he said, well, we'll see what
00:15:43 --> 00:15:47 we can do to maybe get you up there. And not
00:15:47 --> 00:15:50 long after, I got a call inviting me to go on
00:15:50 --> 00:15:55 a year -long trip to this incredible. place.
00:15:55 --> 00:15:58 And this is the Paradise Creek cabin that you
00:15:58 --> 00:16:00 speak about in your book and where you spent
00:16:00 --> 00:16:03 the year? Exactly. Yeah. So this guy, his name
00:16:03 --> 00:16:08 is Dr. Fordy. He or Doc, as he's affectionately
00:16:08 --> 00:16:12 known, he is one of the foremost experts on wilderness
00:16:12 --> 00:16:16 medicine and hypothermia. He has numerous books
00:16:16 --> 00:16:23 out. He built this cabin in 1974. It's located
00:16:23 --> 00:16:28 about 120 miles from the nearest town. Once the
00:16:28 --> 00:16:31 plane drops you off, you are truly isolated.
00:16:31 --> 00:16:34 You are really cut off from the rest of the world.
00:16:34 --> 00:16:37 And this is located in northern Manitoba. So
00:16:37 --> 00:16:39 the nearest town for us is Churchill, Manitoba.
00:16:40 --> 00:16:43 So we're in the sub -arctic essentially and we're
00:16:43 --> 00:16:47 about 120 miles away and the cabin itself is
00:16:47 --> 00:16:53 maybe a 12 by 12 box. It's a log cabin. The interior
00:16:53 --> 00:16:56 dimensions are about 12 by 12 with a loft and
00:16:56 --> 00:17:00 there's an attached tool shed and kind of another
00:17:00 --> 00:17:03 attached section of this cabin like an entryway
00:17:03 --> 00:17:06 and of course an outhouse which is you know your
00:17:06 --> 00:17:09 favorite place to visit when it's 40 below zero.
00:17:10 --> 00:17:15 And the idea of this was really... There was
00:17:15 --> 00:17:19 no way I could resist doing this. It was almost
00:17:19 --> 00:17:25 like destiny to me. And fortunately, my parents...
00:17:25 --> 00:17:26 You know, a lot of people ask, like, what did
00:17:26 --> 00:17:30 your... You're 19 years old. Your parents are
00:17:30 --> 00:17:33 letting go of you for a year. They have no means
00:17:33 --> 00:17:36 of contact with you. We had no communication.
00:17:36 --> 00:17:39 How did they feel about that? And... This is
00:17:39 --> 00:17:41 one of those interesting things where again,
00:17:41 --> 00:17:45 when I was 19, when I went on this trip, I didn't
00:17:45 --> 00:17:48 really consider it too much because I, you know,
00:17:48 --> 00:17:50 like, you know, I'm like, of course they're going
00:17:50 --> 00:17:52 to let me go. I mean, you know, and now that
00:17:52 --> 00:17:55 I'm older, I look back and I'm like, that's pretty
00:17:55 --> 00:17:58 extraordinary that they supported this. They,
00:17:58 --> 00:18:01 they said, we know that this is something that
00:18:01 --> 00:18:04 you've always dreamt of doing and you need to
00:18:04 --> 00:18:08 go do it. And I'm really grateful that But that
00:18:08 --> 00:18:11 they understood that on that level, because it's
00:18:11 --> 00:18:14 pretty amazing. I don't know too many parents
00:18:14 --> 00:18:17 that would just let their kids run off into the
00:18:17 --> 00:18:19 wild. So that was part of the reason why I asked
00:18:19 --> 00:18:22 you when you said that you would imagine this.
00:18:23 --> 00:18:25 You were you would think about this. You would
00:18:25 --> 00:18:28 write it down. You would almost you're experiencing
00:18:28 --> 00:18:32 it in your imagination. And I asked you if you
00:18:32 --> 00:18:35 shared it with anybody. Only only because you
00:18:35 --> 00:18:38 know, sometimes when we do have a fascination
00:18:38 --> 00:18:40 and imagination, you have a goal, you have a
00:18:40 --> 00:18:42 dream and then you share it with somebody and
00:18:42 --> 00:18:45 sometimes you have to be careful who you're sharing
00:18:45 --> 00:18:48 it with because they could talk that that that
00:18:48 --> 00:18:51 zest and that the vitality of you believing that
00:18:51 --> 00:18:55 you could accomplish it right out of it. even
00:18:55 --> 00:18:58 before the seed even hits the soil, it's already
00:18:58 --> 00:19:01 blown in the wind. And so you said that there
00:19:01 --> 00:19:03 was a bit of fear. I don't know if it was fear,
00:19:03 --> 00:19:05 just a thought of I couldn't do that. That's
00:19:05 --> 00:19:08 crazy. But it seemed like you held on to it and
00:19:08 --> 00:19:12 it was still really deep down in you. And with
00:19:12 --> 00:19:16 this this opportunity, you jumped on it and you
00:19:16 --> 00:19:18 had your parents support. So that's a beautiful
00:19:18 --> 00:19:22 thing. Yeah. Yeah, it and you're right it to
00:19:22 --> 00:19:27 me it just seemed like way too big a thing To
00:19:27 --> 00:19:29 realistically think about it. So so it remained
00:19:29 --> 00:19:32 this dream, you know, and it wasn't wasn't something
00:19:32 --> 00:19:36 that I really openly discussed necessary because
00:19:36 --> 00:19:39 I just I just didn't see it as being possible
00:19:39 --> 00:19:46 and and yet I held on to it and I think that
00:19:46 --> 00:19:52 definitely thinking of that and while doing all
00:19:52 --> 00:19:55 of these things that are kind of related to it
00:19:55 --> 00:19:59 all of these outdoor things you know it was I
00:19:59 --> 00:20:03 feel as though it the dream almost came to me
00:20:03 --> 00:20:05 it manifested like we were talking about earlier
00:20:05 --> 00:20:10 like it just happened and it was the the moment
00:20:10 --> 00:20:13 I really realized that was a pretty profound
00:20:13 --> 00:20:16 moment, you know, to realize like I'm in the
00:20:16 --> 00:20:19 middle of this right now. This is the thing that
00:20:19 --> 00:20:21 I dreamt about. This is the thing that I wrote
00:20:21 --> 00:20:24 a story about. So it was pretty, pretty incredible.
00:20:24 --> 00:20:28 That is, yeah, that really isn't at 19 years
00:20:28 --> 00:20:30 old. So we talked about this a little beforehand
00:20:30 --> 00:20:33 that at that age, you feel invincible. You feel
00:20:33 --> 00:20:37 like nothing can stop you. So is it safe to say
00:20:37 --> 00:20:41 that the fear wasn't A big factor to overcome,
00:20:41 --> 00:20:44 was there anything that you were struggling with
00:20:44 --> 00:20:48 beforehand in the preparations, mentally or physically,
00:20:48 --> 00:20:50 get yourself ready, or you weren't thinking that
00:20:50 --> 00:20:52 far ahead and just like, you know what, I'm going
00:20:52 --> 00:20:54 to go ahead and step and lean right into this.
00:20:54 --> 00:20:58 Well, we had a lot of time, you know, after kind
00:20:58 --> 00:21:02 of being asked to go on this. We had about a
00:21:02 --> 00:21:06 year and a half of planning and we spent a lot
00:21:06 --> 00:21:08 of time with Doc kind of learning from him because
00:21:08 --> 00:21:12 he really was an authority on the area. I don't
00:21:12 --> 00:21:15 know how many trips he'd made there, but also
00:21:15 --> 00:21:17 going through medical training with him because
00:21:17 --> 00:21:22 again, we are going to be reliant on no one but
00:21:22 --> 00:21:25 ourselves. So if anything goes wrong, we need
00:21:25 --> 00:21:28 to know how to manage it. And so there was a
00:21:28 --> 00:21:31 lot of time to think about this from the skills
00:21:31 --> 00:21:35 aspect of it, I guess. I wasn't really concerned
00:21:35 --> 00:21:38 with that. I was a little worried about the cold,
00:21:38 --> 00:21:42 because I'd never been in temperatures like that.
00:21:42 --> 00:21:46 And temperatures that get down to the 40 below
00:21:46 --> 00:21:53 range can be really dangerous. Say, for example,
00:21:53 --> 00:21:56 something like fuel that you would put in a camping
00:21:56 --> 00:21:59 stove you know that fuel is essentially like
00:21:59 --> 00:22:03 super cooled when it's 40 below so handling that
00:22:03 --> 00:22:05 fuel being careful not to spill it on your hands
00:22:05 --> 00:22:08 or little things like that that you just you
00:22:08 --> 00:22:11 need to be mindful of it almost happens organically
00:22:11 --> 00:22:14 when you're there you know you you just deal
00:22:14 --> 00:22:17 with these things but you know i was i had some
00:22:17 --> 00:22:20 concerns with with those extreme temperatures
00:22:20 --> 00:22:23 but beyond that You know, I was just eager. I
00:22:23 --> 00:22:26 was chomping at the bit. Again, the invincibility
00:22:26 --> 00:22:30 of youth, you know, it's like that naivety probably
00:22:30 --> 00:22:32 helped protect me a little bit, you know, because
00:22:32 --> 00:22:34 if you're doing something and you don't know
00:22:34 --> 00:22:37 that you can't do it, you know, then somehow
00:22:37 --> 00:22:40 you're able to do it. It's if that makes any
00:22:40 --> 00:22:43 sense. It's a weird kind of thing. And I think
00:22:43 --> 00:22:46 naivety plays a part in that. Can I ask you,
00:22:46 --> 00:22:49 David, I don't know if you mentioned this, you
00:22:49 --> 00:22:51 probably do in the in the book, but Now, the
00:22:51 --> 00:22:54 partner that you chose to take this this journey
00:22:54 --> 00:22:56 with this expedition, was he the same age as
00:22:56 --> 00:22:59 you? He was a year older than me. And it's it's
00:22:59 --> 00:23:02 it's a great it's a great question. He actually
00:23:02 --> 00:23:07 chose me the to a doc after meeting me and learning
00:23:07 --> 00:23:10 a bit about my background, realized that I had
00:23:10 --> 00:23:14 quite a bit of outdoor experience. My trip partner,
00:23:14 --> 00:23:18 his name is Scott Power. He. Went to this cabin
00:23:18 --> 00:23:24 in 1989 our trip was in 91 That was the first
00:23:24 --> 00:23:27 time in 89. It was the first time that he'd ever
00:23:27 --> 00:23:32 slept in a tent he had like zero outdoor experience
00:23:32 --> 00:23:35 and So he was green very green and this is one
00:23:35 --> 00:23:38 of those things that when I look back on I'm
00:23:38 --> 00:23:40 more amazed with because for somebody who's an
00:23:40 --> 00:23:43 outdoors person Okay, that's not a great leap
00:23:43 --> 00:23:48 but to go live in a place like this with almost
00:23:48 --> 00:23:51 no experience that to me is and to come out of
00:23:51 --> 00:23:55 it Loving it and being passionate about it rather
00:23:55 --> 00:23:57 than being you know Just decimated and defeated
00:23:57 --> 00:24:00 that to me is a pretty remarkable thing. He and
00:24:00 --> 00:24:05 I did take several smaller trips before this
00:24:05 --> 00:24:08 just to make sure that we could get along is
00:24:08 --> 00:24:11 just to see how we worked together because going
00:24:11 --> 00:24:13 to a place like this, that's kind of critical.
00:24:14 --> 00:24:16 You got to make sure you can vibe with the person
00:24:16 --> 00:24:18 that you're because if you can't, there's going
00:24:18 --> 00:24:21 to be fallout. There's going to be some problems.
00:24:21 --> 00:24:24 And you don't want that to happen up there because
00:24:24 --> 00:24:26 that's, you know, you've already got enough to
00:24:26 --> 00:24:30 deal with kind of mentally being that isolated.
00:24:31 --> 00:24:35 So luckily, Scott and I We're both pretty chill
00:24:35 --> 00:24:38 anyway. So like we could get along and we could
00:24:38 --> 00:24:42 navigate conflict or disagreement pretty amicably
00:24:42 --> 00:24:46 and without any blowups or fights or anything
00:24:46 --> 00:24:49 like that. So we manage that pretty well. But
00:24:49 --> 00:24:54 it's tricky because that can unravel pretty fast.
00:24:54 --> 00:24:57 Yeah. I can imagine in close quarters while you
00:24:57 --> 00:25:00 do have a lot of land to get out and say if you
00:25:00 --> 00:25:02 know just to blow off some steam if there are
00:25:02 --> 00:25:05 disagreements but I mean that dynamic that that
00:25:05 --> 00:25:07 chemistry has to be right if you're you're to
00:25:07 --> 00:25:10 sit you're to build you're to create you're to
00:25:10 --> 00:25:13 survive with somebody for a year and just pretty
00:25:13 --> 00:25:16 much just depend on one another and the skills
00:25:16 --> 00:25:18 that you have available at the ready. So, yeah,
00:25:19 --> 00:25:23 that's a pretty crucial choice to, you know,
00:25:23 --> 00:25:26 choose your partner to dance with during that
00:25:26 --> 00:25:30 time. Yeah. Well, there's a great line by an
00:25:30 --> 00:25:32 outdoor writer. His name was Cal Rutstrom, and
00:25:32 --> 00:25:35 he was talking about the challenges of this dynamic
00:25:35 --> 00:25:38 with another person. And he said, you know, How
00:25:38 --> 00:25:41 do you tell somebody you hate the way they hold
00:25:41 --> 00:25:44 their fork? You hate them just because of the
00:25:44 --> 00:25:47 way they hold their fork. And it can come down,
00:25:47 --> 00:25:50 you know, like there's some, we all experience
00:25:50 --> 00:25:52 it, especially - The way you close the cabinet.
00:25:52 --> 00:25:55 Yeah, it's just if there's, if you have a partner
00:25:55 --> 00:25:58 of, you know, your wife or whomever, we all do
00:25:58 --> 00:26:00 things that irritate each other, you know, just
00:26:00 --> 00:26:04 little things. But in a situation like that,
00:26:04 --> 00:26:07 those things can be amplified substantially,
00:26:07 --> 00:26:10 especially if you don't bring them out into the
00:26:10 --> 00:26:13 open or talk about them. You know, little tiny
00:26:13 --> 00:26:16 things can just gnaw away at you. So it's that
00:26:16 --> 00:26:19 dynamic of how you work with someone else is
00:26:19 --> 00:26:24 a pretty important element of all of this. You
00:26:24 --> 00:26:27 know your your parents I have to go back to that
00:26:27 --> 00:26:30 real quick because they had to have I mean for
00:26:30 --> 00:26:32 one the support They had the loving support of
00:26:32 --> 00:26:35 you But they had to have some trust and confidence
00:26:35 --> 00:26:38 and what you were capable of doing already To
00:26:38 --> 00:26:41 let you go on that because some you have to get
00:26:41 --> 00:26:44 a permission slip slip to go to Disneyland at
00:26:44 --> 00:26:48 17 We're talking about going out in the middle
00:26:48 --> 00:26:53 of nowhere Minus 40 degrees where maybe the Sasquatch
00:26:53 --> 00:26:57 or the abominable snowman in the polar bears
00:26:57 --> 00:27:01 can go ahead and take you to lunch. You can do
00:27:01 --> 00:27:04 a number on it. Sure, sure. Wow. Yeah. I think
00:27:04 --> 00:27:07 they, you know, they watched. And no contact.
00:27:07 --> 00:27:10 And no contact. Complete blackout. Media blackout.
00:27:11 --> 00:27:13 That's a big deal. You know, this one thing that's
00:27:13 --> 00:27:16 interesting about this trip is that it took place
00:27:16 --> 00:27:20 really before the whole digital revolution. If
00:27:20 --> 00:27:22 we were to do that now, you'd be up there, you'd
00:27:22 --> 00:27:27 be vying for followers, wanting likes, and you'd
00:27:27 --> 00:27:31 be vlogging, the whole thing. Frankly, I think
00:27:31 --> 00:27:34 it would ruin that experience. We were lucky
00:27:34 --> 00:27:37 in that we went before any of that really came
00:27:37 --> 00:27:41 about. It would have been great to have had the
00:27:41 --> 00:27:45 coverage or to be able to share this experience
00:27:45 --> 00:27:48 with a wider audience. But I think it would have
00:27:48 --> 00:27:53 really put a damper on what was important and
00:27:53 --> 00:27:56 that was kind of, you know, experiencing this
00:27:56 --> 00:28:01 isolation and this form of living without, you
00:28:01 --> 00:28:04 know, being tied to communicating or anything
00:28:04 --> 00:28:07 like that. I think that was also, I was going
00:28:07 --> 00:28:11 over some of our correspondences via email and
00:28:11 --> 00:28:15 everything and also some of the the information
00:28:15 --> 00:28:17 you set with that but I think that was part of
00:28:17 --> 00:28:19 the reason why you wanted a partner not to go
00:28:19 --> 00:28:21 embarking this alone right was to have somebody
00:28:21 --> 00:28:26 to recall and just just go back down memory lane
00:28:26 --> 00:28:29 and to cherish because this is a once in a lifetime
00:28:29 --> 00:28:33 thing for a lot of people and but With it being
00:28:33 --> 00:28:36 a once -in -a -lifetime thing, it is something
00:28:36 --> 00:28:39 that has been impressed on your soul, spirit,
00:28:39 --> 00:28:42 and total being, but kind of sidetracked you
00:28:42 --> 00:28:44 and everything, but I know you were getting into,
00:28:45 --> 00:28:48 you had the experience with Doc, getting the
00:28:48 --> 00:28:51 medical training, going through that year -long
00:28:51 --> 00:28:54 prepping yourself for the trip. Was there any
00:28:54 --> 00:28:57 hiccups along the way that almost prevented and
00:28:57 --> 00:29:00 stopped it from coming to fruition and happening?
00:29:00 --> 00:29:06 For the most part, the planning and the overall
00:29:06 --> 00:29:10 execution of at least getting us there went pretty
00:29:10 --> 00:29:16 smoothly. To give you an idea of how far away
00:29:16 --> 00:29:19 this place is, we had all of our gear and food
00:29:19 --> 00:29:24 and provisions and we drove 15 hours up to Winnipeg.
00:29:25 --> 00:29:30 From Winnipeg we took a train about a day. up
00:29:30 --> 00:29:32 to a small town called Thompson and then from
00:29:32 --> 00:29:35 Thompson you fly an hour and a half by bush plane.
00:29:35 --> 00:29:40 So that lets you know just how far into the wilderness
00:29:40 --> 00:29:45 you are. So you're flying, you're in flying distance
00:29:45 --> 00:29:49 about an hour, over an hour from any man or some
00:29:49 --> 00:29:52 type of town or village. Well, from the town
00:29:52 --> 00:29:55 that we left from, it's about an hour and a half
00:29:55 --> 00:29:58 flight. If you fly from Churchill, which is a
00:29:58 --> 00:30:02 little closer, It's about an hour long flight.
00:30:02 --> 00:30:05 And there's no trekking by snowmobile or anything
00:30:05 --> 00:30:08 like that, right? No. The only way to get in
00:30:08 --> 00:30:11 there is by bush plane. And you realize that
00:30:11 --> 00:30:13 as you're flying for an hour and a half, you're
00:30:13 --> 00:30:15 just looking out the window and there's nothing.
00:30:16 --> 00:30:22 It's just trees and frozen lakes. There is wilderness,
00:30:22 --> 00:30:25 period. Prior to actually taking off, we made
00:30:25 --> 00:30:29 the decision to leave for this trip in January.
00:30:29 --> 00:30:32 We decided on going in in the winter just because
00:30:32 --> 00:30:36 you essentially fly to this small lake. It's
00:30:36 --> 00:30:40 not small. It's a long, narrow lake, which we
00:30:40 --> 00:30:43 appropriately called Landing Lake. And from there,
00:30:44 --> 00:30:47 you transport your gear about three miles to
00:30:47 --> 00:30:52 the cabin. And because we had so much gear, sledding
00:30:52 --> 00:30:55 that gear back and forth was certainly going
00:30:55 --> 00:30:58 to be easier than trying to carry it. So we made
00:30:58 --> 00:31:01 the decision to go ahead and leave in January.
00:31:01 --> 00:31:04 Early that morning, when we were going to be
00:31:04 --> 00:31:07 departing, we tried to eat breakfast, but of
00:31:07 --> 00:31:09 course, your nerves are kind of bouncing around.
00:31:09 --> 00:31:12 So I wouldn't say that we really ate very much.
00:31:13 --> 00:31:16 The pilot called us and said, we have to wait
00:31:16 --> 00:31:19 until it warms up to 30 below before we'll fly.
00:31:19 --> 00:31:22 And this, again, is kind of triggering my, what
00:31:22 --> 00:31:24 is it like in these temperatures, you know, kind
00:31:24 --> 00:31:29 of a thing. And finally, we end up getting in
00:31:29 --> 00:31:31 the air. We make this hour and a half flight
00:31:31 --> 00:31:33 and we land on the lake and the pilot tells us.
00:31:34 --> 00:31:36 He's like, look, I'm giving you like 10 minutes
00:31:36 --> 00:31:39 to get your crap out of my plane and then I'm
00:31:39 --> 00:31:41 out of here because I don't want my engines freezing
00:31:41 --> 00:31:45 up or anything like that. So we start throwing
00:31:45 --> 00:31:49 gear out on the side of this frozen lake. We
00:31:49 --> 00:31:53 brought about, I would say, 1800 pounds of, you
00:31:53 --> 00:31:58 know, like staples. So like flour, salt, sugar,
00:31:59 --> 00:32:02 and then a bunch of freeze -dried food and things
00:32:02 --> 00:32:06 like this, along with all the necessary gear.
00:32:06 --> 00:32:09 There is quite a bit of food and gear that's
00:32:09 --> 00:32:12 typically stored in the cabin, but you can't
00:32:12 --> 00:32:15 count on that being there. Maybe a bear got in
00:32:15 --> 00:32:18 and went to town on anything that was there,
00:32:18 --> 00:32:22 so you still have to bring in quite a bit of
00:32:22 --> 00:32:25 supplies just to ensure that... you're you're
00:32:25 --> 00:32:27 gonna be okay. Did you have an estimation at
00:32:27 --> 00:32:30 least of your initial of everything that you
00:32:30 --> 00:32:33 initially brought like this would at least should
00:32:33 --> 00:32:36 hold us over for the next three four months or
00:32:36 --> 00:32:39 so? Yeah we had well we we planned it really
00:32:39 --> 00:32:42 well um and this was an area that Doc was really
00:32:42 --> 00:32:45 good he was really good at planning or helping
00:32:45 --> 00:32:51 to plan longer term trips and so he was a big
00:32:51 --> 00:32:54 a big help with that and the plan was for us
00:32:54 --> 00:32:57 to bring in enough provisions to hold us over
00:32:57 --> 00:33:00 for the first four months after which he doc
00:33:00 --> 00:33:03 would fly in with more provisions and then he
00:33:03 --> 00:33:05 would stay for you know a matter of a few days
00:33:05 --> 00:33:08 and then take off and and then we would so we
00:33:08 --> 00:33:12 had like three of those dates scheduled where
00:33:12 --> 00:33:14 we would get kind of resupplies and those types
00:33:14 --> 00:33:18 of things so So here we are, we're standing on
00:33:18 --> 00:33:23 this frozen lake. It's probably 35 -ish below,
00:33:23 --> 00:33:27 something like that. And a really incredible
00:33:27 --> 00:33:30 moment of this whole thing was watching this
00:33:30 --> 00:33:35 plane fly away. And we watched it until we could
00:33:35 --> 00:33:38 no longer see it. And we listened to the engine
00:33:38 --> 00:33:39 until we could no longer hear it. I mean, it
00:33:39 --> 00:33:42 was just this really... Because you realize when
00:33:42 --> 00:33:45 that thing leaves, that's it. I mean, you're
00:33:45 --> 00:33:48 there. The thing that hit me first was the the
00:33:48 --> 00:33:52 silence like I'd never experienced silence on
00:33:52 --> 00:33:57 that level like it was profound it was Anytime
00:33:57 --> 00:33:59 I write about it. I explained it as it's deafening
00:33:59 --> 00:34:02 almost because you're so used to sound you're
00:34:02 --> 00:34:06 so used to hearing some noise and that Silence,
00:34:06 --> 00:34:09 especially when it's kind of blanketed with snow.
00:34:09 --> 00:34:12 It's almost annoying you it takes a while to
00:34:12 --> 00:34:17 kind of get used to that much It's a bit bizarre.
00:34:18 --> 00:34:21 But our job right now, at this point, is we're
00:34:21 --> 00:34:24 just going to load up a couple of sleds. We're
00:34:24 --> 00:34:28 going to break a snowshoe trail from this lake
00:34:28 --> 00:34:31 three miles to the cabin. We're going to kind
00:34:31 --> 00:34:33 of get things established there. We knew the
00:34:33 --> 00:34:35 cabin was there. We'd just flown over it earlier
00:34:35 --> 00:34:38 just to make... So it was still three miles to
00:34:38 --> 00:34:40 get to the cabin. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It wasn't,
00:34:40 --> 00:34:43 it wasn't like he just, you know, dropped, not
00:34:43 --> 00:34:45 right on top of it, but just right outside of
00:34:45 --> 00:34:49 it. Oh, wow. Okay. Cause there, at the time they
00:34:49 --> 00:34:52 wouldn't, there, there is a river that runs in
00:34:52 --> 00:34:54 front of the cabin. Most of the pilots didn't
00:34:54 --> 00:34:56 want to try landing on that. It was a little
00:34:56 --> 00:35:01 too tricky. So, uh, so yeah, so we kind of load
00:35:01 --> 00:35:04 up the sleds. We put snow shoes on because the
00:35:04 --> 00:35:08 snow is so incredibly deep. And we start into
00:35:08 --> 00:35:13 making this trail. The only way to do this is
00:35:13 --> 00:35:18 this land is very flat and the trees are very
00:35:18 --> 00:35:22 tangled and they grow close together. So the
00:35:22 --> 00:35:26 only way really is with a compass is setting
00:35:26 --> 00:35:29 an azimuth and making that, you know, sticking
00:35:29 --> 00:35:32 to that line because otherwise you're just going
00:35:32 --> 00:35:35 to be walking in circles out there. And within
00:35:35 --> 00:35:38 the first few steps into the treeline, we both
00:35:38 --> 00:35:43 realized, like, this is going to be a hellacious
00:35:43 --> 00:35:45 hike. The snow, even though we had snow shoes
00:35:45 --> 00:35:49 on, at those temperatures is like powdered sugar.
00:35:49 --> 00:35:52 You punch through it rather than floating on
00:35:52 --> 00:35:54 top of it, which is what your snow shoes are
00:35:54 --> 00:35:57 supposed to do. And the hike was supposed to
00:35:57 --> 00:36:00 take, we anticipated the hike would take about
00:36:00 --> 00:36:02 four hours to complete. In those conditions.
00:36:02 --> 00:36:06 In those conditions, yeah. And so as we're hiking,
00:36:06 --> 00:36:09 about four hours in, by now the sun has gone
00:36:09 --> 00:36:11 down because you're, you know, winter up there,
00:36:12 --> 00:36:16 you're experiencing 19 hours of darkness, pretty
00:36:16 --> 00:36:20 much, with only just a few hours of daylight.
00:36:21 --> 00:36:24 But we did plan this in such a way that we knew
00:36:24 --> 00:36:27 there was going to at least be a full moon that
00:36:27 --> 00:36:30 would give us, you know, help give us some light.
00:36:31 --> 00:36:34 But we're four hours in. We anticipated that
00:36:34 --> 00:36:37 we'd be at the river by now. And finally, I hear
00:36:37 --> 00:36:40 my trip partners say, you know, oh, I can see
00:36:40 --> 00:36:43 the river down below. You could see this little
00:36:43 --> 00:36:47 ribbon of white way down below. And I remembered
00:36:47 --> 00:36:49 something Doc had told us. He said, when you
00:36:49 --> 00:36:52 could see the river, you're about halfway there.
00:36:53 --> 00:36:57 So we've got another four hours now. The water
00:36:57 --> 00:36:59 that we had brought, even though we tried our
00:36:59 --> 00:37:04 best to insulate it and protect it, had long
00:37:04 --> 00:37:08 frozen solid. And so we're expending tremendous
00:37:08 --> 00:37:11 amounts of calories and energy. Like I said,
00:37:11 --> 00:37:14 we'd barely eaten breakfast. So now we're getting
00:37:14 --> 00:37:18 dehydrated. We didn't really bring a lot of,
00:37:18 --> 00:37:21 most of the food that we brought with us was,
00:37:21 --> 00:37:24 you needed to cook it. So we're hungry, we're
00:37:24 --> 00:37:27 exhausted, but we finally make it to the river.
00:37:27 --> 00:37:31 We've hiked eight hours now. The only thing we
00:37:31 --> 00:37:34 have to do is find the cabin and we should be
00:37:34 --> 00:37:37 right on top of it. And we started searching
00:37:37 --> 00:37:40 up and down the riverbank. We did this for another
00:37:40 --> 00:37:43 two hours. So now it's 10 hours have gone by.
00:37:43 --> 00:37:48 We are depleted. everything, we're completely
00:37:48 --> 00:37:52 exhausted. And the cold is starting really to
00:37:52 --> 00:37:56 take effect. I can tell that both of us are,
00:37:57 --> 00:38:00 you know, just everything is becoming difficult.
00:38:01 --> 00:38:03 I think we're kind of in the early stages of
00:38:03 --> 00:38:07 hypothermia because we're just, just even your
00:38:07 --> 00:38:11 motor skills, it's hard to kind of operate under
00:38:11 --> 00:38:14 those circumstances. And we realize This now
00:38:14 --> 00:38:18 is an emergency situation. This is one of those
00:38:18 --> 00:38:22 life or death moments and we need to do something
00:38:22 --> 00:38:25 and we need to do it fast. We didn't bring a
00:38:25 --> 00:38:28 tent because we never assumed we would be using
00:38:28 --> 00:38:31 a tent before using the cabin. So we made the
00:38:31 --> 00:38:36 decision to just make a shelter and the shelter
00:38:36 --> 00:38:40 was pathetic, frankly. It wouldn't have really
00:38:40 --> 00:38:43 kept anybody alive. But I think it was the act
00:38:43 --> 00:38:48 of taking action and doing something, you know,
00:38:48 --> 00:38:50 being able to focus on something and take action.
00:38:51 --> 00:38:54 That was a really important thing. A lot of people
00:38:54 --> 00:38:58 in survival situations will sit down and just
00:38:58 --> 00:39:01 kind of give up and be like, well, I'm screwed.
00:39:01 --> 00:39:05 Again, maybe this was that magic of youth where
00:39:05 --> 00:39:07 it's like, well, we just need to figure out and
00:39:07 --> 00:39:09 do something else. And and that's what we did.
00:39:10 --> 00:39:14 So we. we constructed this rough shelter, kind
00:39:14 --> 00:39:18 of an A -frame thing, and piled up a bunch of
00:39:18 --> 00:39:22 spruce boughs on the bottom to insulate us from
00:39:22 --> 00:39:26 the snow. We spread an open sleeping bag on those
00:39:26 --> 00:39:29 spruce boughs and then we both climbed into the
00:39:29 --> 00:39:32 same sleeping, into one sleeping bag, pulling
00:39:32 --> 00:39:36 the open one around us and just kind of hugged
00:39:36 --> 00:39:39 each other to share what little heat we had.
00:39:39 --> 00:39:41 And I mean, this was one of those moments where
00:39:41 --> 00:39:43 you're like, you know, you realize there's a
00:39:43 --> 00:39:46 very good chance that you may not make it through
00:39:46 --> 00:39:49 this because it is this is the kind of thing
00:39:49 --> 00:39:55 that kills people. And I remember laying there
00:39:55 --> 00:39:57 again, that that silence kind of creeping in.
00:39:57 --> 00:40:01 I could hear my breath freeze as it hit the air.
00:40:01 --> 00:40:04 It sounded like a like a Windex bottle. You know,
00:40:04 --> 00:40:07 when you spray a window, it was that hissing
00:40:07 --> 00:40:10 kind of sound. So every time you exhaled, You
00:40:10 --> 00:40:13 would hear that your breath would crystallize,
00:40:13 --> 00:40:19 essentially. And every half hour, one of us would
00:40:19 --> 00:40:22 ask the other, like, are you OK? And we would
00:40:22 --> 00:40:23 kind of shake each other and be like, yeah, I'm
00:40:23 --> 00:40:27 OK. Are you OK? Yeah, I'm OK. OK. And this is
00:40:27 --> 00:40:32 how the night went. And I remember My feet really
00:40:32 --> 00:40:36 hurt, so I'd taken off my, they're called muck
00:40:36 --> 00:40:38 locks, my boots, and I was massaging my feet,
00:40:38 --> 00:40:42 trying to keep the blood circulating. And I asked
00:40:42 --> 00:40:44 Scott, I'm like, are your feet hurting? He's
00:40:44 --> 00:40:49 like, no, no, mine feel fine, and that'll come
00:40:49 --> 00:40:53 up later. That following morning, of course,
00:40:53 --> 00:40:56 seeing the sun come up was... hugely rewarding,
00:40:57 --> 00:40:58 but of course, you're still in this predicament.
00:40:58 --> 00:41:00 So you're still trying to figure out like what
00:41:00 --> 00:41:03 the hell you're going to what you're going to
00:41:03 --> 00:41:05 do. And we searched a little more for the cabin
00:41:05 --> 00:41:09 that morning. And after realizing like this,
00:41:09 --> 00:41:13 we need to regroup. We need to like we need to
00:41:13 --> 00:41:16 reset here. And we decided to go back to the
00:41:16 --> 00:41:19 lake. Now, because we'd already broken a trail,
00:41:20 --> 00:41:23 our return trip to the lake. took us about three
00:41:23 --> 00:41:27 and a half hours. We didn't have to bust through
00:41:27 --> 00:41:29 all of that snow. We had a pretty good trail
00:41:29 --> 00:41:32 that was already broken down. And when we got
00:41:32 --> 00:41:34 there, we took one of the tents that we had.
00:41:35 --> 00:41:38 We set this up. This tent came complete with
00:41:38 --> 00:41:44 a kerosene stove. And we knew one of the stove
00:41:44 --> 00:41:46 pipes, the elbow for the stove, we knew it was
00:41:46 --> 00:41:50 at the cabin. But again, we didn't expect to
00:41:50 --> 00:41:53 be using any of this before getting to the cabin
00:41:53 --> 00:41:57 itself. And so we fashioned one. We fashioned
00:41:57 --> 00:42:00 part of the stovepipe out of aluminum foil. And
00:42:00 --> 00:42:04 we fire up the stove. We start melting snow for
00:42:04 --> 00:42:07 water. And right about the time that snow started
00:42:07 --> 00:42:11 to melt, I heard Scott call out, fire. And sure
00:42:11 --> 00:42:15 enough, we looked, and this thing that we rigged
00:42:15 --> 00:42:19 had managed to catch part of the tent door on
00:42:19 --> 00:42:23 fire. And so we pulled the snow off of the stove.
00:42:24 --> 00:42:27 We threw this the stove out of the out of the
00:42:27 --> 00:42:30 tent. And in the brief period of time that this
00:42:30 --> 00:42:33 took place, that snow that was melting was now
00:42:33 --> 00:42:36 frozen. So once again, we were without water,
00:42:36 --> 00:42:40 essentially, and we're it's it's taking its toll.
00:42:41 --> 00:42:43 And so up until now, this whole time, you're
00:42:43 --> 00:42:45 pretty much on an empty tank, right? No food,
00:42:45 --> 00:42:48 no water. More or less. Yeah, that was your and
00:42:48 --> 00:42:51 that was your attempt to finally get a little
00:42:51 --> 00:42:54 bit of a Refreshment and that just fell to the
00:42:54 --> 00:42:58 wayside. Yeah, and we did have like some Some
00:42:58 --> 00:43:01 things in all of our gear. We did have you know,
00:43:01 --> 00:43:03 of course things like, you know chocolate or
00:43:03 --> 00:43:07 you know, some things like that that That we
00:43:07 --> 00:43:10 were able to that we had that night, but really
00:43:10 --> 00:43:13 still not getting the full Nourishment that we
00:43:13 --> 00:43:16 really that we really need And we just kind of
00:43:16 --> 00:43:19 at that point, we just kind of were like, you
00:43:19 --> 00:43:22 know, I'm just going to bury myself in my sleeping
00:43:22 --> 00:43:25 bag and tomorrow is going to be a new day and
00:43:25 --> 00:43:30 we'll we'll pick it up from there. And it was
00:43:30 --> 00:43:34 a very miserable, cold night once again. And
00:43:34 --> 00:43:39 the following morning, we brought more. We kind
00:43:39 --> 00:43:43 of loaded up our sleds with a better tent with
00:43:43 --> 00:43:47 a. Smaller a better stove and you know some food
00:43:47 --> 00:43:50 and things like that and we hiked back now now
00:43:50 --> 00:43:54 we're back at the river and This whole time,
00:43:54 --> 00:43:56 you know in the back of my mind. I'm just trying
00:43:56 --> 00:44:00 to figure out like Well, what the hell was going
00:44:00 --> 00:44:04 on like what how did this erode so quickly and
00:44:04 --> 00:44:08 it was You know, so it was for us. We were both
00:44:08 --> 00:44:11 clearly getting frustrated with with the situation
00:44:11 --> 00:44:15 When we got back to the river We start setting
00:44:15 --> 00:44:17 up this tent. Now, this tent is one of those
00:44:17 --> 00:44:20 dome tents that we've all seen. It's got these
00:44:20 --> 00:44:24 fiberglass poles that support it. And we learned
00:44:24 --> 00:44:28 that those fiberglass poles, they have a shock
00:44:28 --> 00:44:30 cord that runs through them like a rubber band.
00:44:31 --> 00:44:33 But we learned when you pull those apart with
00:44:33 --> 00:44:36 that shock cord, the shock cord doesn't go back
00:44:36 --> 00:44:38 together. When it's 40 below, it just droops.
00:44:38 --> 00:44:41 So imagine having a rubber band stretching it.
00:44:41 --> 00:44:44 It doesn't. doesn't want to go back to its, you
00:44:44 --> 00:44:46 know, so now we've got to take off our gloves
00:44:46 --> 00:44:50 and cut each one of these things out, which doesn't
00:44:50 --> 00:44:53 sound like a big deal. But again, in those temperatures,
00:44:55 --> 00:44:57 cutting each one of those things out individually
00:44:57 --> 00:45:01 was a kind of a monumental task. And by the time
00:45:01 --> 00:45:04 we got this thing set up, I remember looking
00:45:04 --> 00:45:07 at Scott, he was climbing into the tent and he
00:45:07 --> 00:45:12 looked back up at me and he his face was Ashen
00:45:12 --> 00:45:16 white, you know, it was it just didn't look good
00:45:16 --> 00:45:19 at all and I'm like I must look the same way,
00:45:19 --> 00:45:23 you know, like we this is dire here and when
00:45:23 --> 00:45:27 we got into this tent we We fired up this we
00:45:27 --> 00:45:31 had a Coleman like a backpacking stove and when
00:45:31 --> 00:45:35 we fired up the stove that dome tent was almost
00:45:35 --> 00:45:37 like a hot -air balloon it inflated with hot
00:45:37 --> 00:45:41 air and for the first time we were We had warmth.
00:45:42 --> 00:45:45 And for the first time we were melting snow for
00:45:45 --> 00:45:49 water and we had food. So we just gorged ourselves,
00:45:49 --> 00:45:52 you know, and just drank like, I don't know,
00:45:52 --> 00:45:55 I don't know how much water we both consumed
00:45:55 --> 00:45:57 that night. But now we're pretty excited. We're
00:45:57 --> 00:46:00 like, you know, as long as our fuel holds out,
00:46:00 --> 00:46:03 we've got a system, you know, this will work.
00:46:04 --> 00:46:08 And we had a good amount of fuel, but it wasn't
00:46:08 --> 00:46:11 something that I wanted to rely on for. months,
00:46:11 --> 00:46:13 you know, so we start looking at the map that
00:46:13 --> 00:46:15 night and we're trying to figure out what the
00:46:15 --> 00:46:18 hell is going on and We go to bed feeling pretty
00:46:18 --> 00:46:21 confident like tomorrow. This is gonna happen.
00:46:21 --> 00:46:25 We're We know where we are. We're gonna find
00:46:25 --> 00:46:28 it. Bah bah bah and The next morning when we
00:46:28 --> 00:46:33 awakened we discovered that Scott my partner
00:46:33 --> 00:46:37 had suffered really bad frostbite on one of his
00:46:37 --> 00:46:41 on his I think it was his right foot. And as
00:46:41 --> 00:46:44 I was complaining that first night about how
00:46:44 --> 00:46:49 bad my feet hurt, Scott didn't take off his footwear
00:46:49 --> 00:46:54 because he wasn't experiencing any pain. The
00:46:54 --> 00:46:56 problem was his feet were frozen, essentially.
00:46:56 --> 00:46:59 I mean, like, you know, if you do all of that
00:46:59 --> 00:47:02 work hiking, you're sweating in your footwear.
00:47:03 --> 00:47:05 And he left those on. And of course, those just
00:47:05 --> 00:47:10 turned into blocks of ice. He takes his socks
00:47:10 --> 00:47:13 off that morning and we see just how his whole
00:47:13 --> 00:47:18 right foot was black. And now we've got an interesting
00:47:18 --> 00:47:22 situation because if he does any more damage
00:47:22 --> 00:47:26 to that, it's going to be real. If you refreeze
00:47:26 --> 00:47:30 a frostbitten extremity, that's really bad news.
00:47:31 --> 00:47:35 And so we need to protect that. and make sure
00:47:35 --> 00:47:38 that he doesn't do any more damage to it. So
00:47:38 --> 00:47:41 now a two -man team is cut down to a one -man
00:47:41 --> 00:47:44 team. We had to, of course, call the search off
00:47:44 --> 00:47:47 for the cabin that day. I went back to the lake,
00:47:47 --> 00:47:50 got the medical kit, got more food to make sure
00:47:50 --> 00:47:52 that Scott was going to be, you know, secure
00:47:52 --> 00:48:00 in the tent. And when I got back to him, once
00:48:00 --> 00:48:03 again, we started, you know... we kind of regrouping
00:48:03 --> 00:48:06 and looking at the map and things like we decided
00:48:06 --> 00:48:09 that we assumed that we'd landed downstream from
00:48:09 --> 00:48:13 the cabin so the next morning i hiked upstream
00:48:13 --> 00:48:18 about a mile this is now day five i think and
00:48:18 --> 00:48:22 i'm hiking i'm constantly scanning into the treeline
00:48:22 --> 00:48:26 to see if i can spot this cabin and I don't find
00:48:26 --> 00:48:29 the cabin, but I find this stand of trees that's
00:48:29 --> 00:48:32 massive. These really big spruce trees. Most
00:48:32 --> 00:48:36 of the trees only grow about 30 feet, maybe 40
00:48:36 --> 00:48:38 feet up there because of the extreme environment.
00:48:38 --> 00:48:42 These were massive. And I decided to climb one,
00:48:42 --> 00:48:48 which is also a dangerous idea given, you know,
00:48:48 --> 00:48:52 where you are and the circumstances. And I climbed
00:48:52 --> 00:48:56 as high up as I could. looking to see if I could
00:48:56 --> 00:48:59 see the cabin from the air and what I found was
00:48:59 --> 00:49:04 there was a small lake just off the bank of the
00:49:04 --> 00:49:07 river that I could see upstream and I thought
00:49:07 --> 00:49:10 no one has ever mentioned anything about a small
00:49:10 --> 00:49:12 lake and I thought if I can find this on the
00:49:12 --> 00:49:16 map certainly I can find where we are in relation
00:49:16 --> 00:49:21 to this cabin and when I returned to the tent
00:49:21 --> 00:49:23 we opened up the map and sure enough there was
00:49:23 --> 00:49:27 this lake And we realized, if I'm looking at
00:49:27 --> 00:49:31 the same lake that I'd just seen, then we're
00:49:31 --> 00:49:36 about a mile upstream from the cabin. And the
00:49:36 --> 00:49:41 next day, I hiked downstream. And as I'm hiking,
00:49:41 --> 00:49:46 I notice there's a line in the trees that's about
00:49:46 --> 00:49:49 15 feet off the ground, and it's level with the
00:49:49 --> 00:49:54 ground. Clearly very unnatural right you don't
00:49:54 --> 00:49:56 see anything like that in the in the there's
00:49:56 --> 00:50:01 no level like tabletop type thing and I immediately
00:50:01 --> 00:50:04 go up to explore it and sure enough there there
00:50:04 --> 00:50:08 is this this cabin that that we've been so desperately
00:50:08 --> 00:50:12 trying to find and my first reaction was oh my
00:50:12 --> 00:50:15 god, we're saved, you know, we like we found
00:50:15 --> 00:50:19 it like now this whole thing can begin and now
00:50:19 --> 00:50:22 we're going to be saved. The next thought I had
00:50:22 --> 00:50:27 was when I walked into the cabin, this thought
00:50:27 --> 00:50:30 just kind of prepped in as almost a secondary
00:50:30 --> 00:50:33 where it was like, wow, this is the thing that
00:50:33 --> 00:50:35 I was dreaming of. Like, this is it. Like, I'm
00:50:35 --> 00:50:39 standing in the middle of this dream that I had
00:50:39 --> 00:50:41 when I was a kid. And here it is. Like, it's
00:50:41 --> 00:50:45 real. I'm in the middle of it. I manifested this
00:50:45 --> 00:50:48 almost. Like, that's how it felt. And it was
00:50:48 --> 00:50:52 really remarkable, you know, to be like, it just
00:50:52 --> 00:50:57 was surprising to me, you know, and I went back
00:50:57 --> 00:50:59 to the tent and told Scott that I found the cabin
00:50:59 --> 00:51:04 in the next day. We moved in and and kind of
00:51:04 --> 00:51:07 picked up from there. So it was quite a quite
00:51:07 --> 00:51:12 an experience. Wow. That's the way things can
00:51:12 --> 00:51:14 go. Right. I mean, like you said, that that's
00:51:14 --> 00:51:18 just the fact that you In your mind, imagine
00:51:18 --> 00:51:22 this, you were playing with this, you were entertaining
00:51:22 --> 00:51:25 it and everything that had fired up inside of
00:51:25 --> 00:51:29 you, the emotions that just creative imagination
00:51:29 --> 00:51:32 to where it was enough to fuel it into reality
00:51:32 --> 00:51:36 where you acted on it and you had an opportunity
00:51:36 --> 00:51:39 that presented itself probably on account of
00:51:39 --> 00:51:42 just this desire and you went ahead and embarked
00:51:42 --> 00:51:46 on it. It's crazy to hear that right away. I
00:51:46 --> 00:51:49 mean, all of the planning, all of the prepping,
00:51:50 --> 00:51:52 everything that can be done. But once you're
00:51:52 --> 00:51:57 in the elements, Mother Nature is really the
00:51:57 --> 00:52:02 one. That's a really great point, Richard. And
00:52:02 --> 00:52:05 that is, again, I've had so much time to kind
00:52:05 --> 00:52:09 of reflect on this whole experience. And I've
00:52:09 --> 00:52:12 come to the belief that that was that first week.
00:52:13 --> 00:52:17 was almost Mother Nature kind of making an agreement
00:52:17 --> 00:52:20 with us saying, I want you to understand what
00:52:20 --> 00:52:23 the hierarchy here is. Because we went in, we
00:52:23 --> 00:52:26 didn't go in with like, oh, we're going to conquer
00:52:26 --> 00:52:28 the wilderness. We didn't go in. We weren't stupid
00:52:28 --> 00:52:31 enough to go into that attitude. But we did.
00:52:31 --> 00:52:34 We were we were pretty confident. We were pretty
00:52:34 --> 00:52:36 arrogant kids, you know, like, yeah, we're going
00:52:36 --> 00:52:38 to really take advantage of this and really,
00:52:38 --> 00:52:41 you know. And I feel like it was Mother Nature's
00:52:41 --> 00:52:44 way of saying, I'm going to put you in check
00:52:44 --> 00:52:47 just so you know who the boss is. You're not
00:52:47 --> 00:52:50 part of the food chain here. In fact, you're
00:52:50 --> 00:52:51 not at the top of the food chain. You're part
00:52:51 --> 00:52:55 of the food chain here. You're a meal. So you
00:52:55 --> 00:52:59 need to mind your P's and Q's or you're going
00:52:59 --> 00:53:02 to pay a price. And Mother Nature doesn't have
00:53:02 --> 00:53:06 empathy. She doesn't care. If you die out there,
00:53:07 --> 00:53:10 you're just feeding something else. It was a
00:53:10 --> 00:53:14 real, like, it was interesting. Any time from
00:53:14 --> 00:53:17 that point forward, any time Scott or I passed
00:53:17 --> 00:53:21 that bivouac, that shelter that we made, whether
00:53:21 --> 00:53:24 it was on a canoe or skis or snowshoes or just
00:53:24 --> 00:53:27 walking, we both started to notice that our conversation
00:53:27 --> 00:53:30 would almost hush. Like we would, it was this
00:53:30 --> 00:53:33 weird, like this is a sacred place, you know,
00:53:33 --> 00:53:35 where, and we realized like that could very well
00:53:35 --> 00:53:38 have been our grave marker. It was a constant
00:53:38 --> 00:53:44 reminder that just know your place in this environment
00:53:44 --> 00:53:48 because you are not in charge. You plan for the
00:53:48 --> 00:53:50 very worst and you hope for the very best and
00:53:50 --> 00:53:53 that's all you can do. And it was a profound...
00:53:54 --> 00:53:57 a profound lesson that really stuck with both
00:53:57 --> 00:54:01 of us. You're exposed to those kind of extreme
00:54:01 --> 00:54:05 conditions and it's real easy, right? With the
00:54:05 --> 00:54:07 frostbite, I really, I was under the impression
00:54:07 --> 00:54:10 that within a certain temperature, like, I mean,
00:54:10 --> 00:54:13 if you're exposed, your skin is exposed in any
00:54:13 --> 00:54:15 kind of way that can be dire, that can be very
00:54:15 --> 00:54:17 detrimental to your health. And I don't know
00:54:17 --> 00:54:21 how well covered up you were or how it was that
00:54:21 --> 00:54:23 you were able to protect yourself so well and
00:54:23 --> 00:54:27 prevent just prevent another situation like that
00:54:27 --> 00:54:29 or if that was one of many I mean I don't know
00:54:29 --> 00:54:32 how that all played out later on because this
00:54:32 --> 00:54:34 was very early on in the trip not even a month
00:54:34 --> 00:54:39 in yeah yeah luckily that was really the only
00:54:39 --> 00:54:43 major kind of medical Concern, I guess that we
00:54:43 --> 00:54:46 had for lack of a better word it we were lucky
00:54:46 --> 00:54:50 in that, you know There were times where how
00:54:50 --> 00:54:52 did it heal? Can I can I like how did he get
00:54:52 --> 00:54:54 better? Oh, yeah, sure So well, here's the thing
00:54:54 --> 00:54:58 it didn't we took very good care of it every
00:54:58 --> 00:55:01 day We would change the bandages. We would occasionally
00:55:01 --> 00:55:07 almost create like a like a warm water Whirlpool
00:55:07 --> 00:55:10 with some diluted soap in there for him to put
00:55:10 --> 00:55:14 that in so we kept it very clean We changed bandages
00:55:14 --> 00:55:18 every day when dr. Forgi flew in to resupply
00:55:18 --> 00:55:22 us four months later Retelling this story to
00:55:22 --> 00:55:25 him was really the first time because I I don't
00:55:25 --> 00:55:28 remember being afraid which was odd to me because
00:55:28 --> 00:55:31 it was a scary situation and I don't know if
00:55:31 --> 00:55:34 it was youth or or maybe just my naivety thinking
00:55:34 --> 00:55:37 like oh We'll be fine. You know that that sort
00:55:37 --> 00:55:41 of thing as we're telling doc this story He's
00:55:41 --> 00:55:44 listening to it with the ears of an experienced
00:55:44 --> 00:55:47 physician So he's thinking of it scientifically
00:55:47 --> 00:55:49 like he's thinking of calorie output. He's thinking
00:55:49 --> 00:55:52 of the temperatures he's thinking of the dehydration
00:55:52 --> 00:55:56 and his eyes are getting bigger as as we tell
00:55:56 --> 00:55:59 this story and That's kind of when I realized
00:55:59 --> 00:56:02 like damn that was serious. That was a really
00:56:02 --> 00:56:06 serious thing and Of course, he's very interested
00:56:06 --> 00:56:10 in seeing Scott's foot. And when we show it to
00:56:10 --> 00:56:14 him, he doesn't he doesn't tell us this at first.
00:56:14 --> 00:56:17 But he said, I immediately knew you couldn't
00:56:17 --> 00:56:20 stay. Mike, there's no way he will do significant
00:56:20 --> 00:56:25 damage to this foot. So we had to we had to fly
00:56:25 --> 00:56:28 home for two months. Our trip was interrupted.
00:56:28 --> 00:56:31 Scott had to get a skin graft on his foot in
00:56:31 --> 00:56:35 order for us to continue. And the doctor, you
00:56:35 --> 00:56:37 know, normally with something like that, there's
00:56:37 --> 00:56:41 a period of time where the doctor kind of preps
00:56:41 --> 00:56:45 that damaged extremity. But he said, you guys
00:56:45 --> 00:56:47 did such a good job taking care of this. He's
00:56:47 --> 00:56:49 like, we can move him right into surgery and
00:56:49 --> 00:56:52 like just. Get this thing get this thing taken
00:56:52 --> 00:56:57 care of so We were proud of that but really disappointed
00:56:57 --> 00:57:00 that now this this goal of living for a year
00:57:00 --> 00:57:04 in the wilderness Is is now interrupted personally.
00:57:04 --> 00:57:07 I consider it part of the whole experience I
00:57:07 --> 00:57:11 you know, it's it was part of it Did that take
00:57:11 --> 00:57:14 some of the steam off of your your willingness
00:57:14 --> 00:57:17 to want to keep keep going or was this some kind?
00:57:17 --> 00:57:21 Was it the opposite? It would have the opposite
00:57:21 --> 00:57:24 effect. Yeah, I was I couldn't wait to get back
00:57:24 --> 00:57:27 the same for your partner. Oh, yeah Okay, so
00:57:27 --> 00:57:30 yeah, oh he was you know one the one great thing
00:57:30 --> 00:57:34 about Scott is He was very enthusiastic like
00:57:34 --> 00:57:37 he was he's an all -in kind of guy, you know,
00:57:38 --> 00:57:41 I'm more calculated I tend to think about things,
00:57:41 --> 00:57:44 you know and really, you know kind of reason
00:57:44 --> 00:57:47 with them and Scott is I'm jumping into the way
00:57:47 --> 00:57:51 I'm gonna I'm going let's do it and That was
00:57:51 --> 00:57:53 important, I think, in our relationship. I think
00:57:53 --> 00:57:56 it helped. It was a good working dynamic. We
00:57:56 --> 00:57:59 were both eager to get back, and in June, we
00:57:59 --> 00:58:02 flew out in April, late April, and we flew back
00:58:02 --> 00:58:06 in in June. And again, you know, his foot is
00:58:06 --> 00:58:08 something that we need to be careful with because
00:58:08 --> 00:58:12 he just had surgery, so it's pretty delicate.
00:58:12 --> 00:58:19 But we went back in in June, and... Now you've
00:58:19 --> 00:58:24 gone from this icy, silent wilderness. Now it's
00:58:24 --> 00:58:29 this bustling, energetic... Summertime, huh?
00:58:29 --> 00:58:34 Yeah, and it's amazing. I was impressed with
00:58:34 --> 00:58:37 how powerful the winter was, but the summer up
00:58:37 --> 00:58:41 there blew my mind just because it's spectacular.
00:58:41 --> 00:58:44 And you have the freedom of, while we were there
00:58:44 --> 00:58:47 in the winter, we would take... trips away from
00:58:47 --> 00:58:50 the cabin we would explore, but you're still
00:58:50 --> 00:58:54 kind of tied to that cabin. We likened it to
00:58:54 --> 00:58:59 a space capsule. You're in this horribly violent
00:58:59 --> 00:59:02 environment and you would protect yourself in
00:59:02 --> 00:59:06 your astronaut gear and then you could step away,
00:59:06 --> 00:59:10 but you really, that capsule is your lifeline.
00:59:10 --> 00:59:12 Without it, you're in trouble. Yeah, you were
00:59:12 --> 00:59:15 there. pretty much for the January, February,
00:59:15 --> 00:59:17 March. So you were there for a few months for
00:59:17 --> 00:59:19 up to four months. And during that winter time,
00:59:20 --> 00:59:23 you had really no sunlight. So you're dealing
00:59:23 --> 00:59:28 with. just a very, very short window of where
00:59:28 --> 00:59:31 you're getting that natural vitamin D, you know,
00:59:31 --> 00:59:34 which is very good for mental health. And it's
00:59:34 --> 00:59:37 good for just that overall quality of your, your,
00:59:37 --> 00:59:40 your wellbeing. And I wonder if it was pretty
00:59:40 --> 00:59:43 trying. Now I know the physical is, is one thing,
00:59:43 --> 00:59:47 but as far as the mental state, when you're dealing
00:59:47 --> 00:59:50 with such conditions, was that something to deal
00:59:50 --> 00:59:52 with? Were you dealing with your own things up
00:59:52 --> 00:59:56 top? Such a good question. There are, you know,
00:59:56 --> 00:59:59 there's a there's a show out called Alone. I
00:59:59 --> 01:00:01 don't know if you're familiar with it, but it's
01:00:01 --> 01:00:04 they have heard. Yeah, they send a group of people
01:00:04 --> 01:00:09 out to see how long they can survive. And whoever
01:00:09 --> 01:00:13 stays the longest wins. Right. And there's always
01:00:13 --> 01:00:17 a group of people in every episode where there's
01:00:17 --> 01:00:21 the kind of the macho. Special Forces guy that's
01:00:21 --> 01:00:23 like, I'm gonna no one's gonna beat me, you know,
01:00:24 --> 01:00:27 blah blah blah and inevitably shortly into the
01:00:27 --> 01:00:29 show that dude is that dude is Mealing by the
01:00:29 --> 01:00:32 side of a lake crying because he's broken down
01:00:32 --> 01:00:35 and please don't mistake in that I'm just saying
01:00:35 --> 01:00:37 special forces just as a example of somebody
01:00:37 --> 01:00:40 that's very tough and you know, the mental aspect
01:00:40 --> 01:00:44 of this is everything Physically if you can chop
01:00:44 --> 01:00:48 wood and carry water You could probably survive
01:00:48 --> 01:00:53 without much difficulty up there, you know. Mentally,
01:00:54 --> 01:00:57 that's a whole different ball of wax because
01:00:57 --> 01:01:01 your brain, it loves to play with you. and you
01:01:01 --> 01:01:04 start thinking about people at home and you're
01:01:04 --> 01:01:06 like, God, like the whole world is passing me
01:01:06 --> 01:01:09 by. I'm just standing still here, you know, and
01:01:09 --> 01:01:11 those thoughts weren't constant, but but they
01:01:11 --> 01:01:14 would creep in. And of course, missing people,
01:01:14 --> 01:01:17 you know, and family and girlfriends and, you
01:01:17 --> 01:01:20 know, whatever. And the mental aspect of this
01:01:20 --> 01:01:25 is everything. And the most critical thing is
01:01:25 --> 01:01:29 finding. ways to kind of overcome that, whether
01:01:29 --> 01:01:31 that's, you know, building things, exploring,
01:01:32 --> 01:01:34 you know, whatever it is, it's just you have
01:01:34 --> 01:01:40 to almost constantly be generating ideas or activities
01:01:40 --> 01:01:43 or things to do to kind of keep those demons
01:01:43 --> 01:01:46 at bay. Not as hard to keep at bay in the summer,
01:01:46 --> 01:01:50 you know, you can because there's so many opportunities.
01:01:50 --> 01:01:54 But in the winter, that's a challenge. You know,
01:01:54 --> 01:01:59 it really Yeah, the mental game is huge in this.
01:01:59 --> 01:02:02 Yeah, definitely. You're away from what a lot
01:02:02 --> 01:02:05 of people, a lot of us are addicted to now and
01:02:05 --> 01:02:07 distractions. You had no internet. You couldn't
01:02:07 --> 01:02:10 get on your smartphone. You had no tablets. It
01:02:10 --> 01:02:12 could be beneficial. And like you said, you can
01:02:12 --> 01:02:15 you can maybe pick up some things and start to
01:02:15 --> 01:02:17 work on your craftsmanship or you can get creative.
01:02:17 --> 01:02:21 And in another sense, it can really just wear
01:02:21 --> 01:02:23 and tear and eat you away if you start to entertain
01:02:23 --> 01:02:27 that and just go down that dark, dark hole. Absolutely.
01:02:27 --> 01:02:30 The mental game. is everything not just staying
01:02:30 --> 01:02:33 positive but staying active it was critical you
01:02:33 --> 01:02:36 know that those first four months everything
01:02:36 --> 01:02:40 was so new still to both Scott and I that it
01:02:40 --> 01:02:44 was kind of constantly exciting there was always
01:02:44 --> 01:02:47 some new thing to see or some new thing to learn
01:02:47 --> 01:02:50 there were some repairs that needed to be made
01:02:50 --> 01:02:52 to the cabin so like there were activities and
01:02:52 --> 01:02:55 things like that that made that easier but being
01:02:55 --> 01:02:59 able to kind of keep your your brain from, like
01:02:59 --> 01:03:02 you said, going going into the dark. It came
01:03:02 --> 01:03:05 with challenges, certainly. Yeah. You make it
01:03:05 --> 01:03:09 from those dark times, physical, mental, emotional,
01:03:09 --> 01:03:14 and you finally get to experience the wonderful.
01:03:15 --> 01:03:18 world when things start to open up and things
01:03:18 --> 01:03:20 start to blossom and bloom. And you said it just
01:03:20 --> 01:03:22 had a completely different, it was night and
01:03:22 --> 01:03:24 day. I mean, from winter to summer, where you
01:03:24 --> 01:03:27 were at, it was a completely different world,
01:03:27 --> 01:03:30 different world open. I can remember, you know,
01:03:31 --> 01:03:33 so we're there in the summer. Now we're staying
01:03:33 --> 01:03:38 from June until January. Right. And I can remember
01:03:38 --> 01:03:44 the day that in that time, we started going back
01:03:44 --> 01:03:47 into winter. And I can remember the day that
01:03:47 --> 01:03:50 the ice had kind of taken over the river. So
01:03:50 --> 01:03:54 suddenly, like one day, you can still hear sounds
01:03:54 --> 01:03:57 of water and things. And then the next day, nothing.
01:03:57 --> 01:04:02 Absolute silence. And that was a time of pretty
01:04:02 --> 01:04:06 profound loneliness for me. Like, you know, you
01:04:06 --> 01:04:08 weren't hearing the hustle and bustle of summer.
01:04:09 --> 01:04:13 It was winter. Going back into winter was was
01:04:13 --> 01:04:15 a bit of a challenge because you know summer
01:04:15 --> 01:04:19 was so Powerful. It was it was really what's
01:04:19 --> 01:04:22 the wildlife like out there? I know the winter
01:04:22 --> 01:04:24 is probably quiet There's not much of anything
01:04:24 --> 01:04:27 but or was there there was there there was a
01:04:27 --> 01:04:29 surprising amount, you know Churchill Manitoba,
01:04:29 --> 01:04:33 which is again the town nearest to us They're
01:04:33 --> 01:04:36 known as the polar bear capital of the world.
01:04:36 --> 01:04:38 So we had some concerns about about polar bears
01:04:39 --> 01:04:43 We're right on the tree line, so in this sub
01:04:43 --> 01:04:46 -Arctic environment. So for us, we have black
01:04:46 --> 01:04:49 bears, but there's also polar bears further north.
01:04:50 --> 01:04:53 You have timber wolves and Arctic wolves. This
01:04:53 --> 01:04:56 weird clash, kind of a melting pot of animals.
01:04:57 --> 01:05:01 Most of the animals that we saw were moose. There's
01:05:01 --> 01:05:04 an animal called a marten, which is a member
01:05:04 --> 01:05:09 of the weasel family. Beautiful creatures. They're
01:05:09 --> 01:05:13 very fearless and they're They're quite ferocious
01:05:13 --> 01:05:16 hunters. We Would run into them quite a bit,
01:05:17 --> 01:05:19 you know snowshoe hairs like rabbits and grouse
01:05:19 --> 01:05:22 and things like that We would we would see those
01:05:22 --> 01:05:25 quite often. I thought I would see game running
01:05:25 --> 01:05:28 everywhere just because we're in the middle of
01:05:28 --> 01:05:32 this wild place, but not so much, you know, they,
01:05:32 --> 01:05:36 they, they're still leery of humans and things
01:05:36 --> 01:05:39 like that. So encounters with those things were
01:05:39 --> 01:05:43 pretty rare. For example, we saw one bear and
01:05:43 --> 01:05:46 groups that have gone up for shorter periods
01:05:46 --> 01:05:48 of times have, have just seen bears everywhere.
01:05:49 --> 01:05:51 So you just don't really know exactly what you're,
01:05:52 --> 01:05:54 what you're going to get. Yeah. And summertime,
01:05:55 --> 01:05:58 were you able to fish? Definitely. That was another
01:05:58 --> 01:06:01 important element of this. Like You know, we
01:06:01 --> 01:06:03 couldn't bring in really fresh meat, certainly
01:06:03 --> 01:06:08 in the summer. So any fresh protein was really
01:06:08 --> 01:06:13 a huge boost to our diet and to our health. And
01:06:13 --> 01:06:16 that was a really important part. And we did
01:06:16 --> 01:06:20 a lot of fishing. We were catching mostly pike,
01:06:20 --> 01:06:23 which isn't the most delicious fish, but it does
01:06:23 --> 01:06:26 a good job. But we decided, you know, we had
01:06:26 --> 01:06:30 seen there was a moose that was kind of in our
01:06:30 --> 01:06:34 neighborhood, so to speak, that we had seen several
01:06:34 --> 01:06:38 times. And we decided that we were going to pursue
01:06:38 --> 01:06:42 this as as a means of winter meat. These animals
01:06:42 --> 01:06:45 are seeing one of these animals for the first
01:06:45 --> 01:06:49 time up close. Massive. It's just remarkable.
01:06:49 --> 01:06:51 Yeah, it's staggering how big these things are.
01:06:51 --> 01:06:55 And yet what's really remarkable is watching
01:06:55 --> 01:06:57 them. You know, you could see one, for example,
01:06:57 --> 01:07:00 on the bank of the river. And if you spooked
01:07:00 --> 01:07:03 it, it would turn around and it would run into
01:07:03 --> 01:07:05 the trees. And it's got these antlers that are,
01:07:05 --> 01:07:09 you know, five, six feet wide. And somehow it's
01:07:09 --> 01:07:13 able to run into these. You know, I as a human
01:07:13 --> 01:07:15 can barely make it through the trees without
01:07:15 --> 01:07:18 like fighting my way. And yet these animals can
01:07:18 --> 01:07:22 can do that and they just disappear. It's remarkable
01:07:22 --> 01:07:25 to me, like how something that big can just.
01:07:25 --> 01:07:28 Do that just melt into the trees and just disappear
01:07:28 --> 01:07:32 and it's they're really remarkable So we decided
01:07:32 --> 01:07:36 to do this and it was I think in we're now in
01:07:36 --> 01:07:41 September when we'd had several Opportunities
01:07:41 --> 01:07:45 to shoot a moose prior we missed twice I missed
01:07:45 --> 01:07:48 it twice. I was the one doing the shooting. But
01:07:48 --> 01:07:51 finally, one day Scott came running into the
01:07:51 --> 01:07:54 cabin saying, you know, I see the moose. He's
01:07:54 --> 01:07:58 on the opposite bank of the river. And we paddled
01:07:58 --> 01:08:03 across and Scott essentially pushed the moose.
01:08:03 --> 01:08:07 kind of in my direction. He hiked downstream
01:08:07 --> 01:08:09 and went up into the trees and started walking
01:08:09 --> 01:08:11 to kind of scare the moose over to where I was.
01:08:12 --> 01:08:15 I heard the moose jump into the river. I was
01:08:15 --> 01:08:17 kind of standing on the riverbank, but he was
01:08:17 --> 01:08:19 around the bend, so I couldn't see him. But I
01:08:19 --> 01:08:23 heard him jump into the water. And by the time
01:08:23 --> 01:08:25 I got to where he jumped in the water, he'd already
01:08:25 --> 01:08:30 swam across the river. It's, you know, 50, 60
01:08:30 --> 01:08:33 yards, something like that. And he was standing
01:08:33 --> 01:08:36 diagonal to me. And I lined up and took the shot
01:08:36 --> 01:08:39 and brought this animal down. And it's important
01:08:39 --> 01:08:43 to note this was not about trophy hunting. You
01:08:43 --> 01:08:45 know, we're, again, part of this landscape. So
01:08:45 --> 01:08:49 the life and death struggle is all part of it.
01:08:49 --> 01:08:53 And we had nothing but the highest level of respect
01:08:53 --> 01:08:56 for this animal. We didn't want to let anything
01:08:56 --> 01:08:59 go to waste. We realized what an incredible gift
01:08:59 --> 01:09:03 this was. but now of course we've got to do the
01:09:03 --> 01:09:07 hard work and at first we were just it was this
01:09:07 --> 01:09:09 incredible celebration we were so excited because
01:09:09 --> 01:09:13 like i mean if you're a meat eater imagine not
01:09:13 --> 01:09:16 having meat for months like fresh meat for months
01:09:16 --> 01:09:19 and now you've got this huge store of it and
01:09:19 --> 01:09:22 it's quite good and but we've got a lot of work
01:09:22 --> 01:09:27 to do And we start in and, you know, cleaning
01:09:27 --> 01:09:31 and quartering such a large animal was an incredible
01:09:31 --> 01:09:34 task for two people. You know, a hind quarter,
01:09:34 --> 01:09:37 for example, is a couple hundred pounds. So it's
01:09:37 --> 01:09:41 everything is on this huge, huge scale. So by
01:09:41 --> 01:09:44 the time night rolled around, we had all of the
01:09:44 --> 01:09:48 quarters of meat kind of brought back to the
01:09:48 --> 01:09:51 cabin and. our job that night was essentially
01:09:51 --> 01:09:55 just kind of standing guard, making sure that,
01:09:55 --> 01:09:57 you know, because the animals that I mentioned
01:09:57 --> 01:09:59 earlier, like pine martins, let alone bears.
01:09:59 --> 01:10:01 But I mean, they'll come in and they'll just
01:10:01 --> 01:10:03 go to war. I mean, it's like they couldn't ask
01:10:03 --> 01:10:05 for anything better. Yeah, you put it on a platter
01:10:05 --> 01:10:11 for them. Yeah. And and so we spent we spent
01:10:11 --> 01:10:14 the oh, it was over the course of the next several
01:10:14 --> 01:10:17 days, kind of. preparing this meat and doing
01:10:17 --> 01:10:21 what we needed to do with it. And we also smoked
01:10:21 --> 01:10:25 about maybe 200 pounds of the meat, which really
01:10:25 --> 01:10:30 came in handy just to add to meals or to take
01:10:30 --> 01:10:33 if we were hiking away from the cabin. So it
01:10:33 --> 01:10:38 was a huge valuable. uh resource during that
01:10:38 --> 01:10:41 time you had no animals uh trying their luck
01:10:41 --> 01:10:43 and getting a little bit close and that you know
01:10:43 --> 01:10:47 no no uh we didn't we we didn't it was i was
01:10:47 --> 01:10:50 amazed i thought for sure we would be overrun
01:10:50 --> 01:10:54 with whatever bears um you know you name it you'd
01:10:54 --> 01:10:56 be pick your pick your animal i thought they'd
01:10:56 --> 01:11:00 be everywhere and they you know they So, like,
01:11:00 --> 01:11:03 again, some of the Martins and things like that,
01:11:03 --> 01:11:06 they definitely, they were getting closer, trying
01:11:06 --> 01:11:09 to kind of squeeze in, but we weren't having
01:11:09 --> 01:11:13 it. So we managed to protect that and process
01:11:13 --> 01:11:16 it, for lack of a better word, and keep it really
01:11:16 --> 01:11:21 well. And that first meal that we had was a,
01:11:21 --> 01:11:23 we cut a steak that was essentially as large
01:11:23 --> 01:11:27 as the largest pan that we had and fried this
01:11:27 --> 01:11:32 huge piece of meat up, like a couple of savages
01:11:32 --> 01:11:35 out there. And we mowed this down without really
01:11:35 --> 01:11:38 realizing how much protein was in that. I mean,
01:11:38 --> 01:11:42 it just like, it kind of messed us up. Like we
01:11:42 --> 01:11:45 just gorged ourselves and we were kind of miserable
01:11:45 --> 01:11:49 afterward, but it was delicious. So that was
01:11:49 --> 01:11:52 a good thing. Especially you're going that long
01:11:52 --> 01:11:54 with the, I'm sure that, I mean, you did have
01:11:54 --> 01:11:58 the resources you did have. uh foods and and
01:11:58 --> 01:12:01 you had uh waters and fluids to hold you over
01:12:01 --> 01:12:05 but you're still very I would say you're under
01:12:05 --> 01:12:08 you're you're under under that source of what
01:12:08 --> 01:12:11 you normally would have for protein for your
01:12:11 --> 01:12:13 fats for your carbs and so you get something
01:12:13 --> 01:12:17 so rich that's a huge source of protein and yeah
01:12:17 --> 01:12:19 that digestive track is just a little little
01:12:19 --> 01:12:23 off during that time yeah yeah I'll keep things
01:12:23 --> 01:12:27 decent but let's just say the the gas that you
01:12:27 --> 01:12:30 end up getting from that much protein is pretty,
01:12:30 --> 01:12:34 like that night was, I mean, it was so potent
01:12:34 --> 01:12:38 and awful. It was really, really bad from coming
01:12:38 --> 01:12:41 from both of us. And it just became a joke that
01:12:41 --> 01:12:43 was like, you know, like we just, we couldn't
01:12:43 --> 01:12:46 help it. I mean, it was just very rich protein
01:12:46 --> 01:12:49 meat. So that was one of the side effects of.
01:12:49 --> 01:12:53 of having that much. Was it mostly like up until
01:12:53 --> 01:12:56 then? I mean, you said you had the pikes, you
01:12:56 --> 01:12:59 had certain foods, but was it mostly canned foods?
01:13:00 --> 01:13:04 We brought in a lot of, again, like staples.
01:13:04 --> 01:13:07 So like, you know, the flour, salt, sugar, you
01:13:07 --> 01:13:10 know, those seasonings, those kinds of things.
01:13:10 --> 01:13:13 A lot of pastas, we brought in a lot of pasta.
01:13:14 --> 01:13:17 We brought in a lot of freeze -dried food. which
01:13:17 --> 01:13:21 really was probably the bulk of of a lot of our
01:13:21 --> 01:13:24 meals. But yeah, I mean, a pasta pasta was a
01:13:24 --> 01:13:28 huge like, at this point, we are just on this
01:13:28 --> 01:13:32 high starch diet, you know, just carbs and just
01:13:32 --> 01:13:36 like, so adding fresh meat to that was really
01:13:36 --> 01:13:39 beneficial. Definitely helpful. What is it like
01:13:39 --> 01:13:43 during? Well, you explained that the harsh conditions
01:13:43 --> 01:13:45 during January, during February, summer times
01:13:45 --> 01:13:48 are beautiful. It's a world and life in itself.
01:13:48 --> 01:13:51 How was it around that time in September? What
01:13:51 --> 01:13:53 kind of temperatures or weather are you dealing
01:13:53 --> 01:13:58 with the climate? Well, you know, what was really
01:13:58 --> 01:14:00 interesting to me when that I noticed in the
01:14:00 --> 01:14:03 summer, like when we first got there and I looked
01:14:03 --> 01:14:07 around, you know, I'm used to these places like.
01:14:07 --> 01:14:10 like here in the in where I live in Indiana like
01:14:10 --> 01:14:14 for example the the fall colors and there's all
01:14:14 --> 01:14:18 this your eyes are saturated with with a lot
01:14:18 --> 01:14:21 of vibrancy and up there everything is kind of
01:14:21 --> 01:14:25 boring it's very drab green a lot of rock and
01:14:25 --> 01:14:31 it took me many months to start to see the beauty
01:14:31 --> 01:14:34 of that place kind of coming through. It wasn't,
01:14:34 --> 01:14:36 you know, if you go to a place like the Rocky
01:14:36 --> 01:14:38 Mountains, you're just slapped in the face with
01:14:38 --> 01:14:41 this beauty. It's like, Whoa, you know, up there,
01:14:41 --> 01:14:45 you almost have to earn that appreciation. It
01:14:45 --> 01:14:48 took time. And suddenly in September, you know,
01:14:48 --> 01:14:51 you're starting to see little fall colors, not
01:14:51 --> 01:14:53 in the trees, but on the ground, you know, the
01:14:53 --> 01:14:57 ground started. turn different colors. And September
01:14:57 --> 01:15:02 is a really unpredictable time with regard to
01:15:02 --> 01:15:05 weather. It can either be really nice or it can
01:15:05 --> 01:15:07 just be snowing. You just don't really know.
01:15:08 --> 01:15:12 And it was around this time that Doc was coming
01:15:12 --> 01:15:16 in to bring us another round of food and provisions.
01:15:16 --> 01:15:21 And one thing I was I didn't quite know at the
01:15:21 --> 01:15:24 time, but my dad ended up coming in on this trip
01:15:24 --> 01:15:28 with him. So for this brief two -week period,
01:15:28 --> 01:15:32 I got to share this experience with my dad. I
01:15:32 --> 01:15:34 got to show my dad the bivouac that we made,
01:15:34 --> 01:15:38 where we almost died. I got to show him the moose
01:15:38 --> 01:15:40 hide that we had stretched and we had, you know,
01:15:41 --> 01:15:44 I got to share a part of this and it was... It
01:15:44 --> 01:15:46 meant the world to me because one of the things
01:15:46 --> 01:15:49 frustrating when you come out is you can try
01:15:49 --> 01:15:52 to explain this. And unless you've been there,
01:15:52 --> 01:15:55 it's hard to understand really the magnitude
01:15:55 --> 01:16:01 of it. And I remember one morning waking up and
01:16:01 --> 01:16:05 that first morning when my dad came in, I made
01:16:05 --> 01:16:08 a pot of coffee and he and I walked down to the
01:16:08 --> 01:16:09 riverbank and we were standing there and I was
01:16:09 --> 01:16:13 looking at him. And he was scanning back and
01:16:13 --> 01:16:17 forth this country, right? And he just said,
01:16:17 --> 01:16:20 God, he was like, I had no idea it was this big.
01:16:20 --> 01:16:23 That was the only word he could really use to
01:16:23 --> 01:16:25 describe it was like, I had no idea it was this
01:16:25 --> 01:16:27 big. Because and that's the feeling you get when
01:16:27 --> 01:16:30 you look out, it's just nothing. It's wilderness.
01:16:30 --> 01:16:33 So sharing a bit of that with him was a really
01:16:33 --> 01:16:37 probably a highlight for me of the entire trip,
01:16:37 --> 01:16:40 because, you know, he's he's now one of us. We
01:16:40 --> 01:16:43 can, we can say, Hey, do you remember what this
01:16:43 --> 01:16:45 was? What the, you know, and it was a big deal.
01:16:46 --> 01:16:50 I'm so glad that I got to share that little piece
01:16:50 --> 01:16:53 of this with him. It meant a lot. Certainly.
01:16:53 --> 01:16:57 That's gotta be good for morale to morale booster.
01:16:57 --> 01:17:00 Um, just your whole mental state and, and, uh,
01:17:00 --> 01:17:04 putting some, some fuel back in your tank, so
01:17:04 --> 01:17:07 to speak, you know, to have someone that you're
01:17:07 --> 01:17:09 familiar with the loved one, your father there
01:17:09 --> 01:17:12 with you, like you said, you get to you get to
01:17:12 --> 01:17:16 share some of this experience with him. And just
01:17:16 --> 01:17:18 seeing a familiar face and somebody that you
01:17:18 --> 01:17:21 you of course have a bond with. So that that's
01:17:21 --> 01:17:24 a great thing in itself. It was remarkable. It
01:17:24 --> 01:17:27 really was. It definitely was a morale booster
01:17:27 --> 01:17:31 and something that I reflect on quite a bit,
01:17:31 --> 01:17:34 certainly. I'm curious, how was, at that point,
01:17:35 --> 01:17:38 you're already in September, so you've spent
01:17:38 --> 01:17:43 some time in the wilderness, in the bosom of
01:17:43 --> 01:17:46 Mother Nature and experiencing everything that
01:17:46 --> 01:17:50 you have from the near -death experiences, the
01:17:50 --> 01:17:52 harsh winters, the beautiful summers, the hunting
01:17:52 --> 01:17:56 game, and just everything that came with it.
01:17:56 --> 01:18:00 I wonder how the dynamic was now with your partner.
01:18:00 --> 01:18:04 At this time, were you was there a bond that
01:18:04 --> 01:18:07 because when you go, you hear about this often
01:18:07 --> 01:18:11 with the camaraderie with people that have, let's
01:18:11 --> 01:18:13 just say people that have been to battle together,
01:18:13 --> 01:18:17 people that have experienced even cage fighters,
01:18:17 --> 01:18:20 you know, UFC or MMA. And they say there's a
01:18:20 --> 01:18:22 certain kind of A bond or a relationship that
01:18:22 --> 01:18:24 you might share with someone that you've been
01:18:24 --> 01:18:27 in the ring and you fought with or someone that
01:18:27 --> 01:18:29 you went to war with there's even someone that
01:18:29 --> 01:18:32 you've You've you've been in the er emergency
01:18:32 --> 01:18:35 room as a nurse and the medical staff and you've
01:18:35 --> 01:18:37 been through that So I wonder how that that bond
01:18:37 --> 01:18:40 or that relationship was at that point Yeah,
01:18:40 --> 01:18:43 it you know, I'm sure there's some hard times
01:18:43 --> 01:18:47 testing times. Yeah Yeah, totally. I mean going
01:18:47 --> 01:18:50 through a life or death experience with somebody
01:18:50 --> 01:18:54 that certainly bonds you it just does you You
01:18:54 --> 01:18:56 have a you have a bond either you hear military
01:18:56 --> 01:18:58 people talk about this You know where you're
01:18:58 --> 01:19:01 putting your life on the line for somebody else.
01:19:01 --> 01:19:04 It creates a different dynamic a different relationship
01:19:05 --> 01:19:08 So we both realized how powerful that was. The
01:19:08 --> 01:19:12 other benefit that we had was, and this really
01:19:12 --> 01:19:15 came from Scott, I think Scott really realized
01:19:15 --> 01:19:18 just what an incredible experience we were going
01:19:18 --> 01:19:21 through. And he would often, you know, I'm the
01:19:21 --> 01:19:24 more pragmatic kind of logistical guy, and sometimes
01:19:24 --> 01:19:28 he would almost remind me of like, just look
01:19:28 --> 01:19:30 at where we are. Like this is, you know, and
01:19:30 --> 01:19:33 so that was that was definitely helpful. But
01:19:33 --> 01:19:38 it was around this time that we decided to, and
01:19:38 --> 01:19:41 this is a very kind of organic decision. We decided
01:19:41 --> 01:19:44 to build another log cabin just because why not?
01:19:45 --> 01:19:46 What the hell else are we going to do? We've
01:19:46 --> 01:19:49 got all this time, you know? So that summer,
01:19:49 --> 01:19:53 I think probably starting in maybe August, we
01:19:53 --> 01:19:56 went back to the place where I found those really
01:19:56 --> 01:20:00 tall trees, where I could see that lake. There
01:20:00 --> 01:20:03 was this perfect spot right off the bank of the
01:20:03 --> 01:20:06 river. And we decided, let's build another cabin.
01:20:07 --> 01:20:10 And that project, I think it took us about 19
01:20:10 --> 01:20:13 days to complete. We didn't have really any experience
01:20:13 --> 01:20:15 building a log cabin. I mean, I played with Lincoln
01:20:15 --> 01:20:18 logs as a kid. And that was about the extent
01:20:18 --> 01:20:21 of my log cabin building knowledge. But we said,
01:20:21 --> 01:20:24 the hell with it. Let's just do this. And it
01:20:24 --> 01:20:29 became this passion project, like this. one of
01:20:29 --> 01:20:31 the most exciting jobs I guess I've ever had.
01:20:32 --> 01:20:35 You know, you would wake up really early in the
01:20:35 --> 01:20:38 morning. You would punish yourself all day. I
01:20:38 --> 01:20:40 mean, at the end of the day, you were bleeding
01:20:40 --> 01:20:44 and blistered and covered in bug bites and miserable,
01:20:45 --> 01:20:47 but you couldn't wait to get back up and do it
01:20:47 --> 01:20:49 the next day. You just couldn't. You got so excited.
01:20:49 --> 01:20:52 You look out of... We would camp in a tent next
01:20:52 --> 01:20:55 to the cabin site, and you would look out of
01:20:55 --> 01:20:57 the tent to see the progress that you've made.
01:20:58 --> 01:21:00 And you would just get so stoked to be like,
01:21:00 --> 01:21:04 I can't wait to keep doing this. And the one
01:21:04 --> 01:21:08 benefit of this cabin, this other cabin was if
01:21:08 --> 01:21:11 tensions between Scott and I were getting a little
01:21:11 --> 01:21:14 raspy, we had this opportunity where it's like,
01:21:14 --> 01:21:17 you know, I'm going to go up to this is the cabin
01:21:17 --> 01:21:19 that we call Paradise Creek. I'm going to go
01:21:19 --> 01:21:22 to the Paradise Creek cabin. And you would just
01:21:22 --> 01:21:25 go and you'd spend a week up there by yourself.
01:21:25 --> 01:21:27 And then you'd get bored with your own company
01:21:27 --> 01:21:30 and want to be able to talk to somebody. So then
01:21:30 --> 01:21:33 you come back and everything would be cool. And
01:21:33 --> 01:21:36 it really was a without it being intended for
01:21:36 --> 01:21:40 this. It really, I think, was a huge help to
01:21:40 --> 01:21:43 our relationship and how we work together, because
01:21:43 --> 01:21:47 we could end conflict without having it to be
01:21:47 --> 01:21:48 confrontational. You just say, you know, I'm
01:21:48 --> 01:21:50 going to go ahead up here, hang out for a little
01:21:50 --> 01:21:53 bit. And and that's what you would do. And it
01:21:53 --> 01:21:56 really was a beautiful thing to kind of help
01:21:56 --> 01:22:01 ease that, ease some of those tensions. So it
01:22:01 --> 01:22:05 was a huge benefit. That's cool. You know, that's
01:22:05 --> 01:22:10 probably one of the benefits also of you're in
01:22:10 --> 01:22:13 extreme isolation, but the amount of energy that
01:22:13 --> 01:22:18 you're allowed to afford yourself. to concentrate
01:22:18 --> 01:22:22 and focus on one task. And then seeing this task
01:22:22 --> 01:22:25 being built, this cabin, you both focus, you
01:22:25 --> 01:22:28 have, and what else, like you said, is there
01:22:28 --> 01:22:31 to do. There's no distractions. So now you have
01:22:31 --> 01:22:33 this one goal, this object, and then it becomes
01:22:33 --> 01:22:36 a passion, it becomes a love, and you see that.
01:22:36 --> 01:22:38 It's developing, it's growing like, wow, we're
01:22:38 --> 01:22:40 building this. We're really capable of doing
01:22:40 --> 01:22:42 this. You know, it's something that it's falling
01:22:42 --> 01:22:44 into place now. Of course, you know, you're not
01:22:44 --> 01:22:48 there anymore, but how, once you get back into...
01:22:48 --> 01:22:50 The real world, even though that is as real as
01:22:50 --> 01:22:54 it can get over there, but as far, you know what
01:22:54 --> 01:22:56 I mean? Just modern times where you have, we're
01:22:56 --> 01:22:59 full of, we're surrounded by distractions every,
01:22:59 --> 01:23:02 every minute, every second. We're bombarded with
01:23:02 --> 01:23:06 news headlines or advertisements. And it doesn't
01:23:06 --> 01:23:09 matter if you're on your, if you're doing work
01:23:09 --> 01:23:12 online, some people work online and then you
01:23:12 --> 01:23:14 have a one tab that you open up and another tab
01:23:14 --> 01:23:16 that you open up and it's taking you away from
01:23:16 --> 01:23:20 your, your that hand, but just that time that
01:23:20 --> 01:23:23 you were put in a place, you put yourself in
01:23:23 --> 01:23:26 a place, but you had this opportunity to just
01:23:26 --> 01:23:28 concentrate, to focus, and all of your energy
01:23:28 --> 01:23:31 was expended on one thing and what's capable
01:23:31 --> 01:23:35 of being accomplished when you have that time
01:23:35 --> 01:23:39 and you allow yourself that focus, that energy,
01:23:39 --> 01:23:42 that concentration to just be put on one task
01:23:42 --> 01:23:44 and the things that we're capable of doing with
01:23:44 --> 01:23:48 that. That's powerful. Yeah, it is. And you're
01:23:48 --> 01:23:51 so right. One of the things that I think about
01:23:51 --> 01:23:55 when I look back on this is that benefit of being
01:23:55 --> 01:23:58 in a place where there's still a lot of distractions,
01:23:58 --> 01:24:01 but nothing is fighting for your attention. There's
01:24:01 --> 01:24:03 no social media that's like, oh, look at me,
01:24:03 --> 01:24:08 look at me, look at me. Yeah. Just imagine a
01:24:08 --> 01:24:11 day where you could go out, you could do... kind
01:24:11 --> 01:24:14 of anything that you want and you're liberated
01:24:14 --> 01:24:17 from that, you know, and we had no frame of reference
01:24:17 --> 01:24:19 back then because, you know, the internet wasn't
01:24:19 --> 01:24:22 around. And so, but looking back on it, it's
01:24:22 --> 01:24:25 like, wow, I can remember one day where I got
01:24:25 --> 01:24:27 up and it was this beautiful day. It was one
01:24:27 --> 01:24:31 of these peak moments and I took our canoe out
01:24:31 --> 01:24:34 into the middle of the river. I had a length
01:24:34 --> 01:24:36 of rope that I tied a rock to and I threw it
01:24:36 --> 01:24:39 in the river like an anchor. And I just laid
01:24:39 --> 01:24:44 down on the floor of the canoe, looking up at
01:24:44 --> 01:24:47 the sky. And the canoe was kind of drifting back
01:24:47 --> 01:24:52 and forth as the current rolled past. And I just
01:24:52 --> 01:24:55 kind of laid there. I think I napped for a while,
01:24:55 --> 01:24:58 just kind of watching the clouds. And it sounds
01:24:58 --> 01:25:01 goofy, but that kind of freedom is like, you
01:25:01 --> 01:25:05 can't even fathom that now because you're going
01:25:05 --> 01:25:07 to be distracted. Your phone's going to do something.
01:25:08 --> 01:25:11 It's very hard. I guess I should say it's not
01:25:11 --> 01:25:13 impossible. It's very hard to find that kind
01:25:13 --> 01:25:17 of Freedom where it's just you can just appreciate
01:25:17 --> 01:25:20 What's going on around you? It was it was really
01:25:20 --> 01:25:25 a great one of these great moments. It was Happened
01:25:25 --> 01:25:27 kind of organically that I think that's something
01:25:27 --> 01:25:31 when people hear stories like this or an experience
01:25:31 --> 01:25:34 like this This is something that it beckons to
01:25:34 --> 01:25:37 a lot of us because this is something that we
01:25:37 --> 01:25:40 even though it's hard to get away from it, but
01:25:40 --> 01:25:43 it's something that we deep down in this would
01:25:43 --> 01:25:48 like to have. That space where you feel as if
01:25:48 --> 01:25:52 you're liberated and you're at free to feel be
01:25:52 --> 01:25:55 or just do as you please and you're not tied
01:25:55 --> 01:25:58 to anything or any kind of restraints or you
01:25:58 --> 01:26:03 don't have anything. pulling and tugging at your
01:26:03 --> 01:26:05 attention and taking you away. Some people, they're
01:26:05 --> 01:26:08 even paying money. They have these retreats.
01:26:08 --> 01:26:10 They call them silent retreats and they're paying.
01:26:11 --> 01:26:14 Some of them can be just, I think, ridiculously
01:26:14 --> 01:26:18 outpriced. A thousand or two thousand for a weekend
01:26:18 --> 01:26:22 retreat where you're not going to have any. Um
01:26:22 --> 01:26:25 access to your phone when you can just at home
01:26:25 --> 01:26:29 you can turn the phone And like sure sure you
01:26:29 --> 01:26:31 can do this on your own But yeah that to be in
01:26:31 --> 01:26:35 the space where I mean, it's just you it's nature
01:26:35 --> 01:26:39 and all of her glory and you have your partner
01:26:39 --> 01:26:44 and You're you're really putting uh It's like
01:26:44 --> 01:26:47 all of everything that you were you had developed
01:26:47 --> 01:26:50 as a young child, this is being put to the test.
01:26:51 --> 01:26:53 You're putting it to the test. Yeah, exactly.
01:26:54 --> 01:26:58 I really feel like stories like yours are, you
01:26:58 --> 01:27:00 know, they have a place, especially like we talked
01:27:00 --> 01:27:03 about at a time and age where things that seem
01:27:03 --> 01:27:06 seem to be a bit more chaotic and unrest and
01:27:06 --> 01:27:10 it would be great. for people to start developing
01:27:10 --> 01:27:13 survival skills or just to be more self -sufficient,
01:27:13 --> 01:27:19 self -reliant, and to be able to have the will
01:27:19 --> 01:27:22 and not just the will, but the know -how to know
01:27:22 --> 01:27:26 that they can hold themselves up if things...
01:27:26 --> 01:27:30 Do you know turn completely who knows if there's
01:27:30 --> 01:27:33 if we have supply chains where they're shut down
01:27:33 --> 01:27:35 and now you have no access to food. So how are
01:27:35 --> 01:27:37 people going to react and how are people going
01:27:37 --> 01:27:39 to be able to survive during those times? So
01:27:39 --> 01:27:43 just to hear something like this would is great
01:27:43 --> 01:27:46 and inspiring that like I told you before and
01:27:46 --> 01:27:48 this is something where I feel like that I need
01:27:48 --> 01:27:51 to I would like to work and develop more of.
01:27:51 --> 01:27:53 Like I said, at a younger age, I was busy doing
01:27:53 --> 01:27:58 other things. And so as I grew, I started to
01:27:58 --> 01:28:02 just develop more of a respect, more and more
01:28:02 --> 01:28:05 of an appreciation for nature, for for gardening
01:28:05 --> 01:28:08 and just to be able to learn soft skills and
01:28:08 --> 01:28:10 skills that are more relatable and able to be
01:28:10 --> 01:28:15 used in to sustain oneself. It's a it's a great
01:28:15 --> 01:28:19 point, I think. on a couple of levels. One, the
01:28:19 --> 01:28:21 physical level where it's like learning these
01:28:21 --> 01:28:25 skills could be something that comes in handy
01:28:25 --> 01:28:28 or could be a valuable asset. The other, and
01:28:28 --> 01:28:31 I know like for example, I know that a lot of
01:28:31 --> 01:28:34 the shows that you, the episodes that you have
01:28:34 --> 01:28:36 done, they cover some heavy topics. You know,
01:28:36 --> 01:28:38 there's people that have trauma, there's people
01:28:38 --> 01:28:40 that are overcoming addiction, there's, you know,
01:28:40 --> 01:28:43 all of these things. And that's the other thing
01:28:43 --> 01:28:47 the outdoors is so great at, I think, is that
01:28:47 --> 01:28:50 it's the great leveler, right? You can pretend
01:28:50 --> 01:28:54 all you want on your digital devices. You could
01:28:54 --> 01:28:56 be whoever you want to be. But when you're out
01:28:56 --> 01:29:00 in the wilderness, especially in an extreme situation,
01:29:01 --> 01:29:04 it peels all of that away. Like there's a great
01:29:04 --> 01:29:07 line. Strips you naked. There's a great line.
01:29:07 --> 01:29:12 In fact, I've got it here by this. We read a
01:29:12 --> 01:29:14 lot of this guy's works while we were up there.
01:29:14 --> 01:29:17 His name is Robert Service. He's kind of a poet
01:29:17 --> 01:29:19 who spent a lot of time in Alaska and the Yukon
01:29:19 --> 01:29:22 during the gold rush. One of the things that
01:29:22 --> 01:29:26 he says is, here's just a quick line from that.
01:29:26 --> 01:29:29 He says, have you suffered, starved, and triumphed,
01:29:29 --> 01:29:32 groveled down yet grasped at glory, grown bigger
01:29:32 --> 01:29:35 in the bigness of the whole? done things just
01:29:35 --> 01:29:38 for doing, letting babblers tell their story,
01:29:38 --> 01:29:41 seeing through the nice veneer, the naked soul.
01:29:41 --> 01:29:44 And it's like, yeah, that is what the wilderness
01:29:44 --> 01:29:47 does. You can't pretend out there, you know,
01:29:47 --> 01:29:51 it reveals the true person and it's, it's healing
01:29:51 --> 01:29:55 as well. You know, it's, it's, I believe anyway,
01:29:55 --> 01:29:58 maybe not for everybody, but I think it's, you
01:29:58 --> 01:30:02 know, finding a place that is that is in nature,
01:30:03 --> 01:30:05 that is, you know, quiet and peaceful, that you
01:30:05 --> 01:30:08 can go to and reflect and not be interrupted
01:30:08 --> 01:30:11 by your phone or whatever. Like it is powerful.
01:30:11 --> 01:30:14 It's healing. There's a lot to be learned there
01:30:14 --> 01:30:17 if you can take the time to appreciate and see
01:30:17 --> 01:30:21 it, I think. Yeah. No, I really, I really agree
01:30:21 --> 01:30:23 with you with that. And I'm just speaking from
01:30:23 --> 01:30:25 personal experience, the healing aspect of it.
01:30:26 --> 01:30:29 When we just, like I said, The older that I've
01:30:29 --> 01:30:35 gotten, the more I've appreciated even just to
01:30:35 --> 01:30:39 slow down in the simple things. For instance,
01:30:39 --> 01:30:41 just taking a walk and enjoying the fresh breeze.
01:30:42 --> 01:30:44 And we have a few fields and forests and wood
01:30:44 --> 01:30:46 lines over here where I live at. So we can just
01:30:46 --> 01:30:50 take a walk. We have our dog and then just go
01:30:50 --> 01:30:53 through the woods and you have the way that it
01:30:53 --> 01:30:56 changes. It changes from winter. This is another
01:30:56 --> 01:30:59 thing from being in California, they just say
01:30:59 --> 01:31:01 there's two seasons really just spring and summer.
01:31:01 --> 01:31:04 There's not really a winter. So when you now
01:31:04 --> 01:31:07 in Germany, you see a change in seasons. And
01:31:07 --> 01:31:11 so you these especially you, you grow to appreciate
01:31:11 --> 01:31:13 things that you were once accustomed to always
01:31:13 --> 01:31:16 having. And you take, you could tend to take
01:31:16 --> 01:31:19 for granted. And I'm sure you can, you, you know
01:31:19 --> 01:31:21 exactly where I'm coming from because you spent
01:31:21 --> 01:31:24 a year in the elements. And so a lot of things
01:31:24 --> 01:31:26 that you granted weren't around and within reach
01:31:26 --> 01:31:29 for so long, but just that the sun in the shorter
01:31:29 --> 01:31:32 summer. So now when it, when the sun is out and
01:31:32 --> 01:31:35 we do have longer daylights, you, you really
01:31:35 --> 01:31:38 take a gratitude and appreciation for my goodness.
01:31:38 --> 01:31:40 You're basking in and you're enjoying it and
01:31:40 --> 01:31:42 it's, it's touching your skin a different way.
01:31:43 --> 01:31:47 So, yeah, sure. Sure. It's just powerful, whether
01:31:47 --> 01:31:50 it's winter or summer. I mean, just There's something
01:31:50 --> 01:31:54 healing, I think about the outdoors because it
01:31:54 --> 01:31:57 brings you down to your raw self, you know, and
01:31:57 --> 01:32:00 you can't lie. You can't hide. You know, you're
01:32:00 --> 01:32:03 just you're stripped down raw and it's appealing.
01:32:03 --> 01:32:06 There's something you learn about yourself. You
01:32:06 --> 01:32:09 learn kind of what you're capable of. You learn
01:32:09 --> 01:32:11 kind of where your breaking point might be. I
01:32:11 --> 01:32:13 don't know. To me, it's a fascinating. It's a
01:32:13 --> 01:32:17 fascinating element. Certainly. Right. Yeah.
01:32:17 --> 01:32:21 So you had the I wouldn't say, well, no. You
01:32:21 --> 01:32:23 said there was, of course, trying and testing
01:32:23 --> 01:32:26 moments with the dynamics between you and your
01:32:26 --> 01:32:29 partner and then you with the help of him and
01:32:29 --> 01:32:32 just the concentration, the focus, the passion
01:32:32 --> 01:32:35 project behind it, the urge to want to get up
01:32:35 --> 01:32:39 and go ahead and get at it and build this second
01:32:39 --> 01:32:43 cabin. And it was the cool off cabin, the Paradise
01:32:43 --> 01:32:46 Creek Cabin. It was where you could go and kind
01:32:46 --> 01:32:48 of blow up some steam and then come back when
01:32:48 --> 01:32:50 you had enough of just being by yourself. And
01:32:50 --> 01:32:53 this was getting closer towards the end of the
01:32:53 --> 01:32:55 year. So I think the doc was going to come one
01:32:55 --> 01:32:57 more time to top you guys off. Or did he? So
01:32:57 --> 01:33:01 he came in in April initially. And then in September,
01:33:01 --> 01:33:05 that was his second trip in. And the last trip
01:33:05 --> 01:33:07 was going to be in January. And that was going
01:33:07 --> 01:33:09 to be the trip where he was going to bring us
01:33:09 --> 01:33:11 out. That was going to be the end of it. Well,
01:33:11 --> 01:33:15 when he came in in January, he didn't know that
01:33:15 --> 01:33:18 we were going to be building a cabin. And we
01:33:18 --> 01:33:21 were very excited, obviously, to... show off
01:33:21 --> 01:33:24 our work. And we kind of gifted it to him, even
01:33:24 --> 01:33:27 though for whatever, just as a kind of thank
01:33:27 --> 01:33:30 you, we kind of memorialized that and said, this
01:33:30 --> 01:33:32 is kind of our gift to you for all the great
01:33:32 --> 01:33:35 things, but it was really for whomever was going
01:33:35 --> 01:33:40 up there. And it was just a great moment to share.
01:33:40 --> 01:33:44 You know, Doc has a huge passion for this country,
01:33:44 --> 01:33:48 for its history, for the people that went before,
01:33:48 --> 01:33:50 the trappers, the traitors, the natives. But
01:33:50 --> 01:33:53 he's a doctor. He's a physician. So it's not
01:33:53 --> 01:33:56 like he can break off for a year and go live
01:33:56 --> 01:33:58 in the middle of nowhere. I think he wanted to.
01:33:58 --> 01:34:02 So he was kind of living vicariously through
01:34:02 --> 01:34:04 us. And so there was always great excitement
01:34:04 --> 01:34:07 when he came back and we got to... Share stories
01:34:07 --> 01:34:10 and equally he would share stories with us because
01:34:10 --> 01:34:12 we had no idea what the hell was going on outside
01:34:12 --> 01:34:16 of our little world So the first thing you do
01:34:16 --> 01:34:20 when you meet is you say everyone's okay families.
01:34:20 --> 01:34:23 Okay, everybody's good Then it's on to the news
01:34:23 --> 01:34:26 events, you know, the major breaking stories.
01:34:26 --> 01:34:29 We first hear heard about Magic Johnson having
01:34:29 --> 01:34:32 HIV. We heard about Russia crumbling. We heard
01:34:32 --> 01:34:35 about all these different news events that you're
01:34:35 --> 01:34:38 gone for a year. So like you don't know anything
01:34:38 --> 01:34:41 that's going on. And it's always an exciting
01:34:41 --> 01:34:45 moment, you know, first for for both of you to
01:34:45 --> 01:34:49 realize that, hey, we survived and everyone's
01:34:49 --> 01:34:54 okay. You know, Doc talks about flying into the
01:34:54 --> 01:34:56 cabin when there's people there and really, in
01:34:56 --> 01:34:58 a way, kind of responsible. You know, I mean,
01:34:58 --> 01:35:02 he helps organize and it's his place. And to
01:35:02 --> 01:35:05 me, trying to imagine the pressure of flying
01:35:05 --> 01:35:08 in, for example, and not seeing any signs of
01:35:08 --> 01:35:11 life around the cabin. Like, I can't even imagine
01:35:11 --> 01:35:15 that. what that would feel, because it's ultimately
01:35:15 --> 01:35:17 going to be his responsibility then to go back
01:35:17 --> 01:35:20 to the parents and say, look, I didn't find any
01:35:20 --> 01:35:22 signs of life. I didn't, you know, they must
01:35:22 --> 01:35:25 have died somewhere out there. It's a big deal.
01:35:25 --> 01:35:29 That begs the question, David. I didn't ask you
01:35:29 --> 01:35:31 this in the beginning, and I know this was years
01:35:31 --> 01:35:35 ago. And so now things would probably be completely
01:35:35 --> 01:35:37 different. But did your parents have to sign
01:35:37 --> 01:35:40 off on any kind of waivers or you were already
01:35:40 --> 01:35:42 considered an adult, right? You're 19 years old.
01:35:42 --> 01:35:46 Yeah. Now I will say, um, I know that just so
01:35:46 --> 01:35:48 he can say if something does happen, this was
01:35:48 --> 01:35:52 his, no, he, he never did that or required that.
01:35:52 --> 01:35:55 And you're right. I mean, especially like thinking
01:35:55 --> 01:35:58 of it nowadays. I don't know if, if I were in
01:35:58 --> 01:36:00 his shoes, I would almost want that assurance
01:36:00 --> 01:36:03 where it's like, you know, because there is a
01:36:03 --> 01:36:06 risk, there's a clear risk of going up there.
01:36:06 --> 01:36:10 Scott's parents were not as enthusiastic as mine.
01:36:10 --> 01:36:13 for obvious reasons. I mean, he, he never had
01:36:13 --> 01:36:17 any interest in doing this or had any experience
01:36:17 --> 01:36:19 or interest in doing it. And then all of a sudden
01:36:19 --> 01:36:21 he's like, Hey, I'm going to go live for a year
01:36:21 --> 01:36:24 in the middle of the woods and I won't be able
01:36:24 --> 01:36:26 to talk to you. I mean, it's like, that would
01:36:26 --> 01:36:29 be shocking as I've been into the big league
01:36:29 --> 01:36:31 and thinking of thinking of his experience. Like
01:36:31 --> 01:36:35 I said, the more time that goes by, the more
01:36:35 --> 01:36:38 impressed I am with what he did and how he handled
01:36:38 --> 01:36:41 that. Like he just attacked it with vigor and
01:36:41 --> 01:36:44 enthusiasm and you know and it was hard and it
01:36:44 --> 01:36:47 was there were times where it was miserable and
01:36:47 --> 01:36:52 he came out of it very experienced an expert
01:36:52 --> 01:36:55 woodsman and it's remarkable to me that somebody
01:36:55 --> 01:36:59 could Go into that really without knowing entirely
01:36:59 --> 01:37:01 what they're getting themselves into and come
01:37:01 --> 01:37:04 out of it glowing like that It was it was pretty
01:37:04 --> 01:37:08 impressive. He just went into it totally green
01:37:08 --> 01:37:12 You know well to be young and to have that that
01:37:12 --> 01:37:14 feeling that you can accomplish and tackle anything
01:37:14 --> 01:37:17 you haven't really been too tainted by Experiences
01:37:17 --> 01:37:20 going one way or the other you feel as if you
01:37:20 --> 01:37:23 can just take the the bull by the horn and not
01:37:23 --> 01:37:26 to take away anything that you know, anything
01:37:26 --> 01:37:29 that he did, because there are a lot of, I guess
01:37:29 --> 01:37:30 it could be on account of the parenting, there's
01:37:30 --> 01:37:33 a lot of children that are afraid of their own
01:37:33 --> 01:37:35 shadow and they don't even want to step out into
01:37:35 --> 01:37:37 the unknowns. But he had a completely different
01:37:37 --> 01:37:40 attitude on it. And so did you even with the
01:37:40 --> 01:37:44 experience, but to go ahead, like I mentioned
01:37:44 --> 01:37:47 prior, with the experience, that's one thing,
01:37:47 --> 01:37:52 but to really put it to the test out in no man's
01:37:52 --> 01:37:57 land. Even despite the experience like all of
01:37:57 --> 01:38:01 my experience kind of revolved around Areas like
01:38:01 --> 01:38:05 where I live or areas in the states and going
01:38:05 --> 01:38:08 up there you you quickly realize this this is
01:38:08 --> 01:38:11 an alien Landscape, you know, I mean, it's it's
01:38:11 --> 01:38:14 for example that that hike that I mentioned going
01:38:14 --> 01:38:17 across That three miles from the lake to the
01:38:17 --> 01:38:19 cabin when you do that in the summer you're hiking
01:38:19 --> 01:38:24 across what's called muskeg or muskeg swamp it's
01:38:24 --> 01:38:28 almost identical to if you can imagine trying
01:38:28 --> 01:38:31 to walk on a waterbed. That's what that hike
01:38:31 --> 01:38:36 is like. It's vegetation that's kind of floating.
01:38:37 --> 01:38:39 So, you know, occasionally you can punch through
01:38:39 --> 01:38:42 up to your, you know, like this kind of thing.
01:38:42 --> 01:38:47 But for the most part, it's very spongy and very
01:38:47 --> 01:38:52 weird. And it makes walking really hard. You
01:38:52 --> 01:38:55 know, if you're carrying a pack, And you're hiking
01:38:55 --> 01:39:00 through that. It's incredibly hard. It really
01:39:00 --> 01:39:05 beats you up pretty good. So it's just the weirdest,
01:39:05 --> 01:39:08 most extreme kind of like we saw, for example,
01:39:08 --> 01:39:11 we saw temperatures in the summer go up to 96
01:39:11 --> 01:39:14 degrees. So you're talking almost 100 degrees
01:39:14 --> 01:39:18 difference in temperature. Like it's very extreme.
01:39:19 --> 01:39:23 The bugs, for example, in the summer are... relentless,
01:39:23 --> 01:39:29 like they you have to find ways of managing that.
01:39:29 --> 01:39:32 Like every aspect of it is the land is definitely
01:39:32 --> 01:39:34 not trying to make you more comfortable. It's
01:39:34 --> 01:39:36 trying to beat you down or kill you. And so you
01:39:36 --> 01:39:39 have to figure out like how to kind of navigate
01:39:39 --> 01:39:44 that. And it's a remarkable place. And the thing
01:39:44 --> 01:39:47 that's so funny too is Reflecting on it the only
01:39:47 --> 01:39:50 thing that you think of and maybe this is common
01:39:50 --> 01:39:53 with any big experience but the only thing that
01:39:53 --> 01:39:56 you think of are all the great experiences you
01:39:56 --> 01:40:01 somehow omit or erase. The difficulty or the
01:40:01 --> 01:40:04 misery or the boredom you somehow discount you
01:40:04 --> 01:40:07 just reflect on these. Amazing things and then
01:40:07 --> 01:40:10 when you return you're like, oh shit I forgot
01:40:10 --> 01:40:13 how hard this is or how painful this is or how
01:40:13 --> 01:40:15 difficult, you know You just forget about that
01:40:15 --> 01:40:17 because you think oh, this is the greatest thing
01:40:17 --> 01:40:19 in the world and then you get back up here You're
01:40:19 --> 01:40:22 like this sucks. This is the I'm in pain or yeah,
01:40:22 --> 01:40:25 you know, and it's just this It's a strange thing
01:40:25 --> 01:40:27 that happens to your brain. I think when you
01:40:27 --> 01:40:31 let that happen To be involved in all of that,
01:40:32 --> 01:40:35 the survival, the wear and tear on you emotionally,
01:40:36 --> 01:40:37 physically, but also the wonderful times and
01:40:37 --> 01:40:41 the beautiful experience overall. And to be completely
01:40:41 --> 01:40:44 isolated from what's going on to where you're
01:40:44 --> 01:40:48 just getting news updates on a quarterly basis
01:40:48 --> 01:40:50 throughout the year, maybe two, three times when
01:40:50 --> 01:40:53 you see the doc on what's going on, but to be
01:40:53 --> 01:40:56 removed from everything and then to come back
01:40:56 --> 01:40:59 home. And now you're back with family, you're
01:40:59 --> 01:41:01 back with loved ones, you're back with what's
01:41:01 --> 01:41:04 familiar. Was it a, did it take some time to
01:41:04 --> 01:41:07 readjust and to reacclimate to the way things
01:41:07 --> 01:41:10 were fast paced? Everything is going to be faster
01:41:10 --> 01:41:13 coming from where you came from. So it's such
01:41:13 --> 01:41:16 a good question. I'm so glad you asked it because
01:41:16 --> 01:41:18 there's a couple of challenges that you face
01:41:18 --> 01:41:23 when coming back. And if Any you or any one of
01:41:23 --> 01:41:25 your listeners happens to like follow anybody
01:41:25 --> 01:41:27 that's doing some big event Maybe they're sailing
01:41:27 --> 01:41:30 around the world or doing something like that
01:41:30 --> 01:41:34 pay attention to them after and how they're reacting
01:41:34 --> 01:41:39 because Yes to answer your question The you come
01:41:39 --> 01:41:42 back and suddenly you're in a car going 80 miles
01:41:42 --> 01:41:45 an hour down the expressway and it's noise and
01:41:45 --> 01:41:48 it's speed and it's you know and that's without
01:41:48 --> 01:41:50 the internet you know that's without the insanity
01:41:50 --> 01:41:54 of of social media you're just so you're a bit
01:41:54 --> 01:41:58 on you're a bit kind of the anxiety it's intense
01:41:58 --> 01:42:02 you know and the weird thing about this is after
01:42:02 --> 01:42:05 a big adventure There's a honeymoon period where
01:42:05 --> 01:42:08 everyone wants to hear about your story and you're
01:42:08 --> 01:42:11 excited and you're kind of a small town celebrity
01:42:11 --> 01:42:14 and maybe the newspaper is doing some art, whatever.
01:42:15 --> 01:42:18 But then that goes away. That disappears. And
01:42:18 --> 01:42:21 now you're left with, what do I do now? It's
01:42:21 --> 01:42:24 this weird thing, this post -trip thing. And
01:42:24 --> 01:42:29 I've noticed it across numerous people that do
01:42:29 --> 01:42:32 big adventures like this. Scary feeling of like
01:42:32 --> 01:42:35 a how am I gonna top this or what am I gonna
01:42:35 --> 01:42:37 do next? You're you become a little addicted
01:42:37 --> 01:42:41 to it. Like how can I get that high? Again, you
01:42:41 --> 01:42:43 struggle with it. You also realize like at least
01:42:43 --> 01:42:47 for me This was a the realization of a dream
01:42:47 --> 01:42:50 that came true and it was I believed it was impossible
01:42:50 --> 01:42:53 at the time Well, suddenly I've done something
01:42:53 --> 01:42:56 that I thought was impossible, which means that
01:42:56 --> 01:42:59 Moving forward. I can't lean into that excuse
01:42:59 --> 01:43:01 like oh, I can't do that. It's impossible because
01:43:01 --> 01:43:05 like oh shit I just did this and it was possible
01:43:05 --> 01:43:08 and I made it happen that to me was more difficult
01:43:08 --> 01:43:12 than the immediate reaction I had to coming home
01:43:12 --> 01:43:14 and the the speed and the pace and the noise
01:43:14 --> 01:43:18 this weird thing that just kind of simmers in
01:43:18 --> 01:43:20 you where you're like, well, what are you going
01:43:20 --> 01:43:22 to do now? You know, you want that back. You
01:43:22 --> 01:43:25 want that feeling back and you either have to
01:43:25 --> 01:43:28 find something new or different to do, or, you
01:43:28 --> 01:43:30 know, that's the end of it. You know, you, you
01:43:30 --> 01:43:33 did a big adventure and now you move on. It's
01:43:33 --> 01:43:38 a weird area to navigate. Certainly. That reminds
01:43:38 --> 01:43:40 me when you say that it's um, it's like your
01:43:40 --> 01:43:44 identity. is that for so long? And you hear that
01:43:44 --> 01:43:47 with say, musicians that don't know when to stop
01:43:47 --> 01:43:50 boxers that don't know when to hand that hang
01:43:50 --> 01:43:53 up the gloves, they once they do some they retire,
01:43:53 --> 01:43:56 but then they, they come out of retirement only
01:43:56 --> 01:43:59 to box again, and, and they look terrible. They're
01:43:59 --> 01:44:01 out of their prime, but they want to touch that
01:44:01 --> 01:44:05 peak one more time or they want their hand raised
01:44:05 --> 01:44:08 one more time or just a thriller walking in an
01:44:08 --> 01:44:12 arena and the auditorium going crazy over them.
01:44:12 --> 01:44:14 And once that's gone, once that peak is there,
01:44:15 --> 01:44:18 and for some it can, well, it just seems like
01:44:18 --> 01:44:20 it can only be down from here. Like, what do
01:44:20 --> 01:44:22 I have to look forward to? So that's a weird
01:44:22 --> 01:44:25 place to be in. And some people struggle with
01:44:25 --> 01:44:28 it. And so that's why I was curious how the adjustments,
01:44:28 --> 01:44:31 not just like you mentioned with how the pace
01:44:31 --> 01:44:34 of life was moving. But also you're still young.
01:44:35 --> 01:44:37 There's still a lot of life to live. But like
01:44:37 --> 01:44:39 you said, you touched the tip and you're at the
01:44:39 --> 01:44:42 apex. And now it's like, where do I go from here?
01:44:42 --> 01:44:45 Can I still go further than this? Or is it just
01:44:45 --> 01:44:47 maybe life can feel like a drag after? You know,
01:44:47 --> 01:44:49 it's crazy. One of the things that you you asked
01:44:49 --> 01:44:52 me in your email was about kind of like what
01:44:52 --> 01:44:57 I'm doing now and When I came out of this experience,
01:44:57 --> 01:45:00 if you would have asked me, like, what is it
01:45:00 --> 01:45:02 that you plan on doing, without hesitation, I
01:45:02 --> 01:45:04 would have said, oh, something in the outdoors,
01:45:05 --> 01:45:08 like something. This was everything that I just
01:45:08 --> 01:45:11 lived and breathed the outdoors. And when I came
01:45:11 --> 01:45:15 back from this trip, I found that I wasn't...
01:45:15 --> 01:45:18 Going to the outdoors like and it was disturbing
01:45:18 --> 01:45:21 almost to me. Like I just didn't have a desire
01:45:21 --> 01:45:25 really I of course still loved the outdoors and
01:45:25 --> 01:45:27 So then I thought well, maybe it's because I'm
01:45:27 --> 01:45:29 living in Indiana and it's not quite the hot
01:45:29 --> 01:45:32 spot for outdoor activities So I moved out to
01:45:32 --> 01:45:36 Colorado thinking Foolishly that oh it has to
01:45:36 --> 01:45:39 do with the place which is never the case And
01:45:39 --> 01:45:41 I moved out to Colorado for a year and I did
01:45:41 --> 01:45:44 outdoor things, you know, I I did some climbing
01:45:44 --> 01:45:48 I did some you know whitewater paddling. But
01:45:48 --> 01:45:54 yet, I was trying to rekindle this passion that
01:45:54 --> 01:45:58 I had, and it wasn't there anymore. And for me,
01:45:58 --> 01:46:02 it was almost like losing religion. It was traumatic.
01:46:03 --> 01:46:05 I didn't understand it. I didn't understand it
01:46:05 --> 01:46:08 as a human. It's like you're on a river and it
01:46:08 --> 01:46:12 changes, it moves. And it was around this time
01:46:12 --> 01:46:15 that I became interested in computers. You know,
01:46:15 --> 01:46:17 like the internet was really just starting up.
01:46:17 --> 01:46:22 My dad had used computers for years and I realized
01:46:22 --> 01:46:25 this was an incredible tool for creativity. You
01:46:25 --> 01:46:28 know, I could... you know, for writing, for photography,
01:46:28 --> 01:46:31 for video, for music, for it was just this outlet
01:46:31 --> 01:46:34 for all these things that I was interested in.
01:46:34 --> 01:46:39 And I began doing that. I began I ended up working
01:46:39 --> 01:46:44 at a advertising agency for 20 years and just
01:46:44 --> 01:46:48 loved, you know, creating that mine was a kind
01:46:48 --> 01:46:51 of a creative role. And then after about that
01:46:51 --> 01:46:54 20 years, I started losing interest in that just
01:46:54 --> 01:46:59 as I had in the outdoors. And I found myself
01:46:59 --> 01:47:03 trying to figure out what was wrong. Somehow,
01:47:03 --> 01:47:06 it was right around the time of COVID, I started
01:47:06 --> 01:47:08 woodworking and I started doing like leather
01:47:08 --> 01:47:12 work and making things. With the computer, you're
01:47:12 --> 01:47:14 just, you know, you're... It's ones and zeros.
01:47:15 --> 01:47:16 You're creating these virtual things. But now
01:47:16 --> 01:47:18 I'm making these things that you can hold in
01:47:18 --> 01:47:23 your hand and you can really craft and fine tune.
01:47:24 --> 01:47:28 And it's interesting to me. I feel like almost
01:47:28 --> 01:47:31 I went from one extreme, this primitive living,
01:47:31 --> 01:47:35 to the total opposite extreme, which is computers.
01:47:36 --> 01:47:39 And now I feel like I'm going back toward like,
01:47:39 --> 01:47:42 you know, because the stuff that I build, I just
01:47:42 --> 01:47:45 do it with hand tools, all very kind of traditional
01:47:45 --> 01:47:48 techniques. And it's interesting to me. I've
01:47:48 --> 01:47:51 now just embraced the fact that like, I don't
01:47:51 --> 01:47:53 have control over over this anymore. It's like
01:47:53 --> 01:47:55 I'm just on this river and wherever the hell
01:47:55 --> 01:47:57 it goes, that's where I'm going. You know, if
01:47:57 --> 01:48:00 I try to fight it, then I'm going the wrong way.
01:48:00 --> 01:48:04 And it's just been it's been interesting to me.
01:48:04 --> 01:48:06 I still spend a lot of time in the outdoors.
01:48:06 --> 01:48:12 I still love the outdoors. But it's I think that
01:48:12 --> 01:48:14 that trip for me was almost like my own Mount
01:48:14 --> 01:48:17 Everest. You know, it was like this was as big
01:48:17 --> 01:48:22 as it could be. And and I did that. And I'm I'm
01:48:22 --> 01:48:25 I'm so grateful and proud of it. But yet doesn't
01:48:25 --> 01:48:28 define kind of, you know, it doesn't define.
01:48:28 --> 01:48:33 me necessarily with where my interests lie. So
01:48:33 --> 01:48:38 really odd and interesting path, I guess, that
01:48:38 --> 01:48:44 life tends to take you on. Yeah. And you ultimately
01:48:44 --> 01:48:47 are open to it, open to the changes, open to
01:48:47 --> 01:48:51 explore and not just boxing yourself in. Like
01:48:51 --> 01:48:54 you said, even you not forcing it, but you're
01:48:54 --> 01:48:56 chasing it. And then you're not aware of the
01:48:56 --> 01:48:59 fact like I'm not on that same wavelength anymore.
01:48:59 --> 01:49:02 And so you explored something else and you went
01:49:02 --> 01:49:05 to the digital world and you did that for quite
01:49:05 --> 01:49:07 some time. And it's like we're all we're evolving
01:49:07 --> 01:49:10 creatures like the seasons in nature. It moves
01:49:10 --> 01:49:13 and it has its time and it has its seasons and
01:49:13 --> 01:49:15 its places and and your place at that time was
01:49:15 --> 01:49:18 there. And now you're you're almost like it brought
01:49:18 --> 01:49:21 you back around a full circle to where you're
01:49:21 --> 01:49:23 you're building with your hands again and coming
01:49:23 --> 01:49:27 back to. The roots, I think so. Yeah, that's
01:49:27 --> 01:49:30 kind of how I feel about it. And, you know, Scott
01:49:30 --> 01:49:37 and I, we did in 2000, we went back to the cabin
01:49:37 --> 01:49:42 for a short, a shorter trip. And the last time
01:49:42 --> 01:49:44 that we went, we both went back up there was
01:49:44 --> 01:49:48 in 2014. And, you know, going back up there as
01:49:48 --> 01:49:52 older men with all of the wonderful things that
01:49:52 --> 01:49:54 older bodies kind of throw at you where it's
01:49:54 --> 01:49:57 like. when you're 19 like you know you bounce
01:49:57 --> 01:50:00 around from play if you fell you just spring
01:50:00 --> 01:50:02 back up and now it's like oh my god my why's
01:50:02 --> 01:50:05 my back hurt so much you know like if you sneeze
01:50:05 --> 01:50:08 you risk going paralyzed and and it's like holy
01:50:08 --> 01:50:11 cow like i didn't a i i'd forgotten how hard
01:50:11 --> 01:50:16 this is this is hard this is hard work let alone
01:50:16 --> 01:50:18 all of the stuff that we went through initially
01:50:18 --> 01:50:21 just kind of the day -to -day stuff hard work.
01:50:21 --> 01:50:25 And the last time that we went, the cabins, unfortunately,
01:50:25 --> 01:50:28 both of them, we lost both of them to forest
01:50:28 --> 01:50:33 fires in 2007. And so we went back up in 2014
01:50:33 --> 01:50:39 to kind of see just almost as closure for this.
01:50:39 --> 01:50:43 And A, it was an incredibly hard trip just physically.
01:50:43 --> 01:50:47 And B, it was an incredibly hard trip emotionally
01:50:47 --> 01:50:50 because, you know, all of those things that were
01:50:50 --> 01:50:55 so cherished and sacred are just burned ash now.
01:50:55 --> 01:50:59 They're like minerals. It's just gone. And coming
01:50:59 --> 01:51:02 upon the cabin that you built and seeing it just
01:51:02 --> 01:51:06 as ash, that's an emotional thing. And it was
01:51:06 --> 01:51:08 a challenging trip physically and emotionally
01:51:08 --> 01:51:12 to kind of revisit that. So it was... another
01:51:12 --> 01:51:17 powerful and profound visit, I guess, up there.
01:51:17 --> 01:51:19 It's safe to say you and Scott still keep in
01:51:19 --> 01:51:21 touch. Oh, yeah. We're in touch pretty much every
01:51:21 --> 01:51:23 week. You know, some there have been other groups
01:51:23 --> 01:51:26 that have gone up. And I think the longest trip
01:51:26 --> 01:51:29 was like six months. And of all of those groups,
01:51:30 --> 01:51:33 none of those guys that were that were trip partners
01:51:33 --> 01:51:37 are in communication with each other. And I can't
01:51:37 --> 01:51:40 imagine that. To me, this experience was too
01:51:40 --> 01:51:42 important and being able to reach out to Scott
01:51:42 --> 01:51:44 and say, oh, do you remember this or do you remember
01:51:44 --> 01:51:48 that? That's a critical element of this because
01:51:48 --> 01:51:51 only he and I can know what that was like. And
01:51:51 --> 01:51:54 before this trip took place, my ideal goal was
01:51:54 --> 01:51:57 to go up there solo. That was my I'm like, that's
01:51:57 --> 01:52:00 what I want to do. And man, there's no way in
01:52:00 --> 01:52:02 hell I could I could do that because it would
01:52:02 --> 01:52:06 be too. Tragic almost not to be able to share
01:52:06 --> 01:52:08 some of these incredible things that you see
01:52:08 --> 01:52:10 and experience was with another person It would
01:52:10 --> 01:52:13 it would be that's why it was so great that my
01:52:13 --> 01:52:16 dad came up because I I could share a piece of
01:52:16 --> 01:52:19 that with him I'm so glad that both Scott and
01:52:19 --> 01:52:23 I were up there and he was the perfect trip partner
01:52:23 --> 01:52:25 for this really Yeah, that's one bond that only
01:52:25 --> 01:52:28 you and you and him truly understand You know
01:52:28 --> 01:52:32 as much as you like you now sharing I can imagine
01:52:32 --> 01:52:37 Some of it, the way that you pictured the experience,
01:52:38 --> 01:52:40 you're walking us through it. You did a very
01:52:40 --> 01:52:44 good job of bringing a lot of it to life, but...
01:52:44 --> 01:52:47 Only you and him know what it felt like on your
01:52:47 --> 01:52:53 skin, what it felt like on your mental state,
01:52:53 --> 01:52:57 the trying times and the way that life opened
01:52:57 --> 01:53:00 up and nature presented itself in the summer,
01:53:00 --> 01:53:03 what it did to you during the winter and only
01:53:03 --> 01:53:08 you two know exactly that. that feeling and that's
01:53:08 --> 01:53:11 something that can't be broken. And like you
01:53:11 --> 01:53:13 said, had you experienced it on your loan, you
01:53:13 --> 01:53:15 may have had a journal, you may have took some
01:53:15 --> 01:53:17 pictures, but to have somebody where you can
01:53:17 --> 01:53:21 just sit across from if it's maybe once every
01:53:21 --> 01:53:24 year you get together and have a coffee or however,
01:53:25 --> 01:53:28 or you had these trips back to the cabin. And
01:53:28 --> 01:53:31 so you're both together and you're revisiting
01:53:31 --> 01:53:35 that cabin. So just talk about old times. laugh,
01:53:35 --> 01:53:38 laugh about some of the close calls in the good
01:53:38 --> 01:53:41 times, but that's, that's a truly special bond.
01:53:42 --> 01:53:46 I think we both recognize how important that
01:53:46 --> 01:53:48 is, you know, just being able to do that. Scott
01:53:48 --> 01:53:52 lives in LA. I live in near Chicago. We communicate
01:53:52 --> 01:53:56 at least once a week. We, I think both understand
01:53:56 --> 01:54:00 just how important our friendship is because
01:54:00 --> 01:54:05 that experience is too big for something frivolous
01:54:05 --> 01:54:09 to get in between you know to ruin or to take
01:54:09 --> 01:54:12 away from and Like I said, I can't imagine those
01:54:12 --> 01:54:15 other guys not Communicating after something
01:54:15 --> 01:54:17 I would be tragic, you know not to be able to
01:54:17 --> 01:54:19 to be able to call your friend up and say man
01:54:19 --> 01:54:23 Think of that crap that we survived. It's crazy.
01:54:23 --> 01:54:26 And yeah, so important. Yeah, you you mentioned
01:54:26 --> 01:54:30 this I believe it was before we started recording
01:54:30 --> 01:54:33 and it was about The fact that there's not a
01:54:33 --> 01:54:36 day that goes by since that trip happened that
01:54:36 --> 01:54:40 you don't think about, you know, one particular
01:54:40 --> 01:54:42 moment or one particular day during that one
01:54:42 --> 01:54:45 year expedition. Is there is there that's that
01:54:45 --> 01:54:48 for sure is going to be something that is a lifelong
01:54:48 --> 01:54:53 lasting after effect on your emotion, on your
01:54:53 --> 01:54:56 on your being your entire being. And are there
01:54:56 --> 01:54:59 any? Any specific things that that are really,
01:55:00 --> 01:55:03 really just they had a long lasting effect on
01:55:03 --> 01:55:06 you? Or is it just the overall experience in
01:55:06 --> 01:55:11 general? You know, there's I think the answer
01:55:11 --> 01:55:15 is yes to both of those. So the the overall experience,
01:55:15 --> 01:55:19 I just reflect on it, like I said, probably every
01:55:19 --> 01:55:24 day and not any one particular detail, just the
01:55:24 --> 01:55:29 idea of it. However, there were certainly these
01:55:29 --> 01:55:33 peak moments that really stand out. One of them
01:55:33 --> 01:55:38 was I was at the Paradise Creek cabin, and Scott
01:55:38 --> 01:55:42 was at the other cabin, and it was very cold
01:55:42 --> 01:55:45 outside. I don't recall how cold. I don't remember.
01:55:45 --> 01:55:49 And I stepped outside of the cabin. I can't remember
01:55:49 --> 01:55:51 if I was getting some firewood or if I was going
01:55:51 --> 01:55:52 to the bathroom or whatever the case was. But
01:55:52 --> 01:55:55 the Northern Lights, the Aurora Borealis, they
01:55:55 --> 01:55:58 were out and they were, you know, we see you
01:55:58 --> 01:56:02 would see them all the time up there because
01:56:02 --> 01:56:05 you're so far north. But some shows, we called
01:56:05 --> 01:56:07 them light shows, some light shows were better
01:56:07 --> 01:56:13 than others. And this one was like one of those
01:56:13 --> 01:56:15 moments where it's like you're looking right
01:56:15 --> 01:56:20 into. the soul of God or whatever you want, whatever
01:56:20 --> 01:56:23 name you want to give it. And I was standing
01:56:23 --> 01:56:27 outside of the cabin just looking up and it was
01:56:27 --> 01:56:30 the most incredible thing I'd ever seen before.
01:56:31 --> 01:56:35 And it was a really profound moment, you know,
01:56:35 --> 01:56:38 to just be, A, I was alone, you know, because
01:56:38 --> 01:56:41 we were separated, but just the... the incredible
01:56:41 --> 01:56:45 spectacle that that was. It was remarkable. I
01:56:45 --> 01:56:48 mean, there were numerous times, there were numerous
01:56:48 --> 01:56:51 moments like that, that were just these real...
01:56:52 --> 01:56:55 They were special, you know, so you kind of cling
01:56:55 --> 01:56:58 to those and again Those are the things that
01:56:58 --> 01:57:01 you remember and you easily forget because of
01:57:01 --> 01:57:04 those things you easily forget the bad side that
01:57:04 --> 01:57:07 you know the boredom or the monotony or the the
01:57:07 --> 01:57:10 bugs or the you know You just forget all of that
01:57:10 --> 01:57:12 when you see something like the northern lights.
01:57:12 --> 01:57:16 I like going like that. You just forget all of
01:57:16 --> 01:57:20 it any negative aspect of it you just you dismiss
01:57:20 --> 01:57:22 it you just don't think about it so there were
01:57:22 --> 01:57:25 several moments like that that i will occasionally
01:57:25 --> 01:57:30 think about so i hope you all enjoyed the conversation
01:57:30 --> 01:57:35 as much as i had connecting with david and just
01:57:35 --> 01:57:37 as a side note something that he brought up to
01:57:37 --> 01:57:40 me before we started recording was he said that
01:57:40 --> 01:57:45 he listened to episode 35 which was solitude
01:57:45 --> 01:57:49 and the gold in silence he wanted to gauge the
01:57:49 --> 01:57:53 tempo of how things went with the show and he
01:57:53 --> 01:57:55 said that it would be interesting if people were
01:57:55 --> 01:57:58 to listen to that episode along with this because
01:57:58 --> 01:58:01 they go hand in hand talking about the importance
01:58:01 --> 01:58:05 of solitude of silence of isolating yourself
01:58:05 --> 01:58:09 not to be lonely but to be alone and how powerful
01:58:09 --> 01:58:12 that could be and how important that is especially
01:58:12 --> 01:58:17 in a time of day where We're addicted to distractions
01:58:17 --> 01:58:20 but going back to David's story the Powerful
01:58:20 --> 01:58:23 note of what we are capable of doing with the
01:58:23 --> 01:58:26 experience He had the preparation to planning
01:58:26 --> 01:58:30 his partner not knowing a thing about the outbacks
01:58:30 --> 01:58:33 about the woods about any kind of craftsmanship
01:58:33 --> 01:58:37 Navigational skills nothing, but he came out
01:58:37 --> 01:58:43 an expert a marksman hunting game surviving David
01:58:43 --> 01:58:46 putting everything that he learned as a young
01:58:46 --> 01:58:50 kid up into his later teen years to the test
01:58:50 --> 01:58:55 in the heart of the Canadian wilderness and all
01:58:55 --> 01:58:58 the challenges, all the setbacks. Like I said,
01:58:58 --> 01:59:01 the preparation beforehand, but still things
01:59:01 --> 01:59:04 can go wrong. There are things that are out of
01:59:04 --> 01:59:07 your control and how do you respond to that?
01:59:08 --> 01:59:11 How do you deal with it? The ability to be able
01:59:11 --> 01:59:15 to troubleshoot. that's what problems are they're
01:59:15 --> 01:59:18 just solutions that haven't been found yet and
01:59:18 --> 01:59:21 then even the ability the ability to know sometimes
01:59:21 --> 01:59:24 when there isn't a solution to the problem that
01:59:24 --> 01:59:26 it could just be a truth that needs to be accepted
01:59:26 --> 01:59:30 and then you you move and act accordingly don't
01:59:30 --> 01:59:33 feel as if you're too young to go out and strive
01:59:33 --> 01:59:37 to accomplish something or too old to begin and
01:59:37 --> 01:59:41 learn something new David was only 19 years old
01:59:41 --> 01:59:44 when he went off away from his family all that
01:59:44 --> 01:59:49 was familiar into the wild the wilderness some
01:59:49 --> 01:59:54 extreme temperatures minus 44 degrees and then
01:59:54 --> 01:59:58 in the summertime getting as high as 96 exploring
01:59:58 --> 02:00:03 hunting game building a second cabin the Paradise
02:00:03 --> 02:00:07 Creek cabin putting all of his skills his resources
02:00:07 --> 02:00:11 to the test it was survival you know re -listening
02:00:11 --> 02:00:14 to this I was reminded of some of the initiations
02:00:14 --> 02:00:18 that the younger boys or the younger adolescents
02:00:18 --> 02:00:20 go through in certain tribes where they're left
02:00:20 --> 02:00:23 to go off in the jungle on their own by themselves
02:00:24 --> 02:00:26 to fend for themselves, to navigate for themselves,
02:00:27 --> 02:00:29 to find food for themselves. And whether or not
02:00:29 --> 02:00:32 they survive is whether or not they are accepted
02:00:32 --> 02:00:35 back into the tribe and that community as men.
02:00:35 --> 02:00:38 initiation so to speak and David and his partner
02:00:38 --> 02:00:41 they put it to the test his partner being completely
02:00:41 --> 02:00:46 green but willing to go ahead and immerse himself
02:00:46 --> 02:00:50 in the experience and who he came out as a completely
02:00:50 --> 02:00:54 different person both of them transformed David
02:00:54 --> 02:00:57 said even to this day the experience is imprinted
02:00:57 --> 02:01:01 on his soul on his spirit on his entire being
02:01:01 --> 02:01:03 and I was able to sense that through speaking
02:01:03 --> 02:01:06 with him and appreciation for life, gratitude,
02:01:06 --> 02:01:10 being thankful and even confident in what you're
02:01:10 --> 02:01:13 capable of doing and a reminder to us listening
02:01:13 --> 02:01:17 not to put a limit or a cap on what we can do
02:01:17 --> 02:01:21 if we apply ourselves not just dreaming up and
02:01:21 --> 02:01:24 thinking up but if we're doing things in our
02:01:24 --> 02:01:26 lives we're putting some energy and some effort
02:01:26 --> 02:01:30 into learning a certain skill developing a certain
02:01:30 --> 02:01:34 craft soft skills, hard skills Skills that can
02:01:34 --> 02:01:38 translate into the real world and help us be
02:01:38 --> 02:01:41 more self -sufficient Of course, it's always
02:01:41 --> 02:01:44 great when you have a community of people can't
02:01:44 --> 02:01:46 provide a service that maybe you can't provide,
02:01:47 --> 02:01:50 but you're able to collaborate in that network
02:01:50 --> 02:01:53 of things. You're able to give back in a certain
02:01:53 --> 02:01:56 way to give something of yourself to be of service.
02:01:57 --> 02:01:59 This was all around just something that I thoroughly
02:01:59 --> 02:02:03 enjoyed. And I was reminded of where I lack in,
02:02:03 --> 02:02:05 you know, where I need to pick up some slack.
02:02:05 --> 02:02:09 but I was also inspired to hear how he was living
02:02:09 --> 02:02:11 a dream of his something he dreamed up something
02:02:11 --> 02:02:14 that was at one point just a figment of his imagination
02:02:14 --> 02:02:17 and then he had to pinch himself when he talked
02:02:17 --> 02:02:20 about reflecting at a certain time and realizing
02:02:20 --> 02:02:26 I'm living what I was dreaming about once upon
02:02:26 --> 02:02:30 a time I'm in it I'm in the wilderness in Canada
02:02:30 --> 02:02:32 physically partaking in something that was once
02:02:32 --> 02:02:38 just an imagination that's wild that that is
02:02:38 --> 02:02:42 empowering and that's what hopefully was translated
02:02:42 --> 02:02:44 through this conversation through this talk David
02:02:44 --> 02:02:49 I want to thank you again for taking time out
02:02:49 --> 02:02:53 of your day and sharing this adventure with us
02:02:53 --> 02:02:56 maybe there was something different for each
02:02:56 --> 02:02:59 one of you listening you know the talk of nature
02:02:59 --> 02:03:02 just slowing it down getting away from distractions
02:03:02 --> 02:03:06 allowing yourself that time to be with yourself
02:03:06 --> 02:03:09 alone and reconnecting with yourself, reconnecting
02:03:09 --> 02:03:12 with nature, the good that that can do for you,
02:03:12 --> 02:03:15 the healing power, the creative power that that
02:03:15 --> 02:03:19 could have on one's life. And I think that is
02:03:19 --> 02:03:23 very important, especially at a time where people
02:03:23 --> 02:03:26 are anxious, where people are afraid, where people
02:03:26 --> 02:03:29 are confused, where people are depressed. maybe
02:03:29 --> 02:03:32 this is something that we need more of and it's
02:03:32 --> 02:03:35 up to you ultimately to explore that avenue and
02:03:35 --> 02:03:38 see for yourself to experience it for yourself
02:03:38 --> 02:03:39 because this isn't something you can learn on
02:03:39 --> 02:03:42 a page this isn't something you could watch a
02:03:42 --> 02:03:46 video on and get a tutorial on and then come
02:03:46 --> 02:03:48 to an understanding with this is something that
02:03:48 --> 02:03:51 you have to experience for yourself the creative
02:03:51 --> 02:03:55 imagination the active imagination the ability
02:03:55 --> 02:03:59 to troubleshoot to persevere the resilient spirit
02:03:59 --> 02:04:02 that David showed my best regards to you and
02:04:02 --> 02:04:05 yours David appreciate you your time your words
02:04:05 --> 02:04:11 you are a giant amongst us and of course let
02:04:11 --> 02:04:14 me not forget if there's anybody who was listening
02:04:14 --> 02:04:18 and they want to check out more of the story
02:04:18 --> 02:04:24 the timeline photos and just cool bits of information
02:04:24 --> 02:04:27 about this adventure and this expedition that
02:04:27 --> 02:04:30 David shared with this. I'll leave the link to
02:04:30 --> 02:04:33 the website that he spoke of paradisecreekcabin
02:04:33 --> 02:04:37 .com and you'll find a lot of cool stuff on there
02:04:37 --> 02:04:39 a lot of cool photos and it'll bring this whole
02:04:39 --> 02:04:43 adventure to life as great of a job as he did
02:04:43 --> 02:04:47 with bringing this to life with his words and
02:04:47 --> 02:04:50 the details but I think you would Really enjoy
02:04:50 --> 02:04:53 checking out that website has a lot of a lot
02:04:53 --> 02:04:57 of cool cool stuff on there So that website will
02:04:57 --> 02:05:01 be in the show notes and a big thank you to everybody
02:05:01 --> 02:05:05 listening However, you're listening to the show
02:05:05 --> 02:05:08 wherever you're listening to the show from appreciate
02:05:08 --> 02:05:12 you Spending some of your day with this that
02:05:12 --> 02:05:15 really does mean a lot. Let me know how you feel
02:05:15 --> 02:05:17 about the show let me know if there's anything
02:05:17 --> 02:05:21 in particular that you enjoy something in particular
02:05:21 --> 02:05:24 that you maybe think could be done differently
02:05:24 --> 02:05:28 i'm always open for constructive criticism that's
02:05:28 --> 02:05:31 the only way i'm going to learn on this end it's
02:05:31 --> 02:05:35 still a work in progress but i'm enjoying the
02:05:35 --> 02:05:38 ride and i hope you are as well you know how
02:05:38 --> 02:05:40 to reach out to us you know how to get in contact
02:05:40 --> 02:05:42 with us the links are going to be in the show
02:05:42 --> 02:05:45 notes I want to wish you all a great rest of
02:05:45 --> 02:05:50 the week and remember we're truly truly capable
02:05:50 --> 02:05:53 of some great things and sometimes those challenges
02:05:53 --> 02:05:57 and those struggles are the perfect opportunity
02:05:57 --> 02:06:02 to grow to learn new skills to develop new traits
02:06:02 --> 02:06:06 that are going to help you not just survive but
02:06:06 --> 02:06:10 thrive and not just stay afloat but to transcend
02:06:10 --> 02:06:14 that's to go beyond what they say you're capable
02:06:14 --> 02:06:17 of doing breaking those barriers tearing down
02:06:17 --> 02:06:21 those walls that negative self -talk the limiting
02:06:21 --> 02:06:25 beliefs there's a giant within all of us and
02:06:25 --> 02:06:29 it's going to be up to us up to you to actualize
02:06:29 --> 02:06:33 that to realize that and to become that in the
02:06:33 --> 02:06:36 flesh till next time we're gonna catch up and
02:06:36 --> 02:06:40 do this again real soon you be safe out there
02:06:40 --> 02:06:45 you be sane be the change you wish to see before
02:06:45 --> 02:06:50 I go I'd like to remind you that if you would
02:06:50 --> 02:06:53 like to be a part of the show and share your
02:06:53 --> 02:06:56 story or even a story of someone in your life
02:06:56 --> 02:06:59 that has impacted you in a positive way you could
02:06:59 --> 02:07:03 always reach out to us via email I'd be happy
02:07:03 --> 02:07:10 to connect. Until next time, and very soon. Peace.
02:07:30 --> 02:07:36 Ain't seen no sun since Jericho