Winter RV Camping In Alaska Part 1
keep [Music] [Music] go on our P will return off the SLE sign when it's safe to get up I'm in Alaska finally here and it's cold I've got uber coming need to get to the hotel and I've been traveling so far for about 35 hours I'm exhausted well this is it I'm in Alaska I'm in Anchorage holy moly it's cold and there is just ice everywhere and I'm actually standing next to the Sea now and it is frozen let me show you look at that it's like an ice desert unbelievable these chunks of ice just the water's going to be coming in here completely frozen over you can see Denali and I'm assuming that's Denali in the background there beautiful but it is cold so after coming here from New Zealand summer it's what 20 20 f here might not be that cold for most people who from here but it's cold for me look at this and there's warnings everywhere about uh floods of ice I'm not going to walk out on this but I can see big chunks of ice coming past I'll see if I can zoom in and show you okay so this is all the thick ice here definitely don't want to fall down these ridges and then if you look in the distance on the sea I don't know if this is going to pick it up but you can see ice flows moving past can you see that that is ice big big chunks of ice on the sea just flowing past crazy this is brutal but beautiful got to be careful where you walk cuz there's holes holes everywhere lead down into well not sure what okay it's cold so I got here 2:00 a.m. this morning it took about 30 hours I'll have to uh put a little time lapse together now of the journey and how long it took but I've been traveling for a long time to get here this is a bucket list item so I've got today in Anchorage um had a haircut had a massage going into the gym have some good food then tomorrow we pick up the van and we drive up north and I've got some activities planned I can't wait this is going to be fantastic uh the northern lights are happening at the moment I can barely hold my is cold um Northern Lights I'm going to Camp under those out in the open as well under the stars I've got my camping gear with me can't wait this is going to be great I'm really looking forward to it all right everyone so I'm going to bring you back tomorrow after I've had a good rest tonight a good meal this is nuts I can't believe I'm in Alaska and I'll bring you back tomorrow when I pick up the van welcome back everybody good morning to a very cold uh day in Anchorage I am with my van so let me give you a little bit of a tour uh so you can see what it's like so it is a a Dodge I guess it's a Ram 3500 Pro Master it's I think it's 26 ft long and yeah it's from Wild River camper van uh this one's the kunu which is an arctic fox apparently so I'm at their Depot now and I've just been handed the keys and everything so I mean I'll give you a full tour later when we get to where we're going first I got to get some groceries but this is what it's like in inside let me just pan out for you it's lovely made of cedar uh done locally a local Builder and some artwork in here from a local Artist as well so yeah not bad I'll give you a full run through later but there's a very big comfy bed in the back and all my gear is stored under here in The Little Garage it's a tiny little toilet there and yeah I've got a big fridge freezer under here and then storage here got full heating just in case anyone's wondering it's got heating it's got all the power I could need I think we're good to go I think we're good to go camping so I got to go to a local uh Supermarket uh first to get some supplies they give you some basic stuff here coffee little bit of coffee in there chips and stuff but I've got to get proper supplies I'm going to be doing this mainly carnivore so I'm going to get a whole bunch of steaks and stuff um maybe some bacon lots of eggs I've got to fill fill up this fridge freezer and then we can get going we're going up to a place called tala which is very difficult for most people to pronounce I keep calling it talcon powder um hey look they've even given me uh where is it I think it's got a oh yeah so got jet boil in here all camping supplies everything I need it's going to take me a while to go through everything and work out where everything is but should be cool you know I got to go to Tel now and then tomorrow got a lot of activ planned so uh bring you back I'm going to go and find a grocery store and uh get some Provisions all right we are off so got to remember drive on the right I'm from New Zealand we drive on the other side this feels pretty big this van [Music] hope I'm coming out of this place the right way I don't think I am I think I was going to go out that way oops I've already made a mistake so this van is nowhere near as big as the one that I had in Canada last year so so if you want to check that out that was a great trip H South then turn right all right so I'm going to bring you back from getting some [Music] Provisions just making the coffee important right let's get all this unpacked this is going to take ages all right I've got a freezer and I've got a fridge so I got to get all this loaded up all right we are off now that was a lot of shopping but uh Carolyn at Wild River said to get maybe a couple of week a week's worth of supplies um because I'm going to be boondocking as they call it here or wild camping as we call it in New Zealand all right everyone so I'm going to drive that's right I'm going to talner or talcum powder as we all call it I'm sure no one will take offense now you might be thinking this is Alaska uh there doesn't seem to be a lot of snow um okay there's a there's a pile of it there we're going past so unfortunately Alaska hasn't had or Anchorage at least hasn't had a good snow dump turn right onto Independence Drive since Halloween on road and we're towards the end of February now so it hasn't had a dump a decent dump of snow for 3 months and it dis starts soon and the which is the sled the world champions sled race and there's no snow so yeah it's weird there's snow on the ground you can see they've had a few inches couple of inches maybe that's it um but it's just because it's it's cold it doesn't melt so yeah quite disappointing that there's not loads of snow here hopefully there's going to be more snow the further north we go it was just lightly slowing a minute ago uh I'm hoping I get a lot more of that all right everyone uh I've got 2 hours 118 mil to tala and I'll bring you back on Route all right we're about uh 13 miles from TL Kea turned off the highway uh I say that cuz it wasn't a very big highway I think it's at number four or number three something like that where I've turned off uh I'm going to find out where I've got to go tomorrow uh to do this uh snowmo building that I'm doing and then I'm going to find a place to Camp uh and I need to get a coffee on urgently cuz I'm suddenly so tired so first I've got to find yeah this snowmobile place and then we got to look for a place to Camp just drive off anywhere now there's a lot more snow up here than there was in Anchorage I'd say there's a foot of snow on the ground looks like it's been here a while but yeah interesting okay so this place is somewhere around here all right I'll find it and then we'll go and find a camp spot bring you back for a cup of coffee welcome back everybody okay so I finally found somewhere I got to I got to admit that was very stressful so if you've ever Boondock as they call it here uh in Alaska in winter you'll find that a lot of the forest the trail heads you can't get to CU they plowed and the snow is blocking it now I had this same problem in Canada they just don't clear them because they've got priorities so actually finding somewhere is really difficult and this town uh tala I think it's called um wow just everywhere has no parking no camping not allowed now that's the exact opposite of what I've been told I was told that you could pretty much go anywhere but I think in Winter they're super strict about it um I wanted to park on the main street but I don't know it just it all felt just a bit odd so I've come and pulled up to a trail head we'll see I might get kicked out of here I'm not 100% sure um but it's late it took me I was driving around for a couple of hours looking for a spot to to just Camp up but this area there's just houses everywhere every drive you go up that's plowed there's a house every road you go up there's another house there that's the only reason they're plowed so it's just too built up this area to uh to really Boondock properly uh especially in winter so you know I'm just here to do the snowbo snowmobiling sledding I asked the people there they didn't even know where to go uh to just park up cuz they'd never done it so it's It's Tricky this area Tao is tricky um but you know I'm only 100 and something miles from Anchorage so I guess that's why all right what I desperately need to do is get a coffee on cuz I'm so thirsty and in desperate need of a coffee um so they' given me some coffee I might give this a try and then and W it smells good actually so I've brought my aerop press go system with me so yeah I'm kind of stressed about that now is this going to be a problem everywhere I go I hope not because it was the one thing that I really didn't like about doing this in Canada was it was just so difficult to find spots to camp in Winter and um I ended up having to use whatever RV park was open which was rare um but yeah I just it just annoyed me it was difficult it was really difficult it's not set up for it so I'm hoping Alaska will be a bit different we'll see you know I'm I'm first day in so it's not a good start but we will see okay so they've given me I think a jet boil yeah jet boil is good nice and quick so the sink here um is just you just push on this lever like pump and you pump pump this water in gosh I hope you're never in a hurry my the last van I had it was all electric this is very different sort of back to basic all right that's enough okay now I'm going to have to crack a window to light this uh so it comes with these magnetic clips for all of the the windows which is kind of Handy okay I need to work out which way this door opens is is not that obvious here we go okay all right so that's cracked it's light this bad boy yeah I'm a bit stressed out now that was not that did not go according to plan okay okay let's I've done this back up now let's put some coffee in let's just let's just relax now I didn't bring the Aero pressed cup spoon will be fine M this coffee smells delicious actually she said that it was fresh NY all right bring you back for coffee that was quick okay huh ah it's interesting that is there you go that's it oh so jet boil leaks when you pour it's annoying I'm not winning at the moment did you get that sense I'm just not winning I think I just need to have a good day tomorrow and then everything will get better from there but right now it just feels like everything's conspiring against me it's one of those negative feelings at the moment now in Canada my first night I booked in I think I booked into a ski resort in Whistler into an RV park but I did get stressed there as well same reasons couldn't find anywhere to park in Winter was a bit of a nightmare but I've got apps and I'll try it it's just the apps are not correct either they're telling me that these places are open when they're not so right I'm going to sit I'm going to chill I'm going to have a coffee I'm going to work out what I'm going to do whether I'm going to stay in this spot which seems okay I just don't know if I'm allowed to stay here overnight um I guess if someone comes uh I'll just say okay where do you want me to go go back in town I don't know um but we'll see what time is it it's now it's it's already 5:00 all right we'll see right I'm going to have this coffee and then I'm going to chill just relax a bit and um see if I can just start enjoying my evening all right bring you back everybody okay I've relaxed chilled out a bit so I've decided I'm going to stay here if I get kicked out I get kicked out I'll move on um it just is what it is I've double checked with uh Caroline at uh River Wild and she just parks on the Main Street in town so next time I might just do that you never know but what we're going to do is cuz I'm starving so the fridge it's under here I'm going to get the steak out cuz I am starving and I'm going to cook up a piece of steak and everything will feel better now I'm on the carnivore diet so it's just going to be one big Angus beef this is a $20 steak um this is a sirine strip strip sirine so here's the deal with the van you don't cook stinky stuff in it the other big van I had had an extractor fan it had everything this doesn't so we have to cook outside so I've got to go and set up by the door here put the cooker out and uh we'll cook out the door so I'm just in a a pulling area here all by myself there's a trail head there's a trail just over there some people walking maybe not sure and I'm just by a road here see a truck go past look at this mountain of snow so up here they did have quite a bit of snow right so I'm to get the uh get the cooking gear out set the table up what I think I might do is try and do it here these are my big arctic boots put it here cook here so this is where all the magic happens bedding is up there all of my electronics and stuff controlling the van are in there so this is my case and I've got a whole bunch of camping here i b along with me uh so what I might do is just put all this in this case and all of this stuff that I bought is so I can do a wild Camp because I figured the wild Camp would be cool I've even bought with me my snowshoes okay now excuse the ass shot I do this okay so they give us pots and pans so I'm going to do my steak in that um see what else we got here okay there's a cooker and gas for it as well they giving me a bunch of spare gas too and then in here there's a kettle uh wipes there's a top uh shovel snow shovel Hatchet stuff like that pretty cool now they do give you a table and a chair so I could use this to cook on oh I could use this to click on and then I've got a camp chair as well right so let's get it all set up wow and just like that the temperature has absolutely plummeted it suddenly feels very cold all right how does this work who's ever set one of these up before Oh hey that's easy cool oh I'm going to have to put my jumper on Marino wool for the win I should probably put a beanie on as well wow just suddenly got cold that was crazy I guess the sun has now gone in it's fiveish it's half five February it's Alaska what more would you expect all right I'll bring you back when I've got everything set up and ready to go okay tongs I need a zesty drink as well did you know you can't get fanter no sugar in New Zealand all right let's get this cranking so okay doesn't want to spark we're not off to a great start you know if it was easy everyone would do it there we go okay oh man this just should be easier right now I brought some butter to cook it in as well and I need to salt and season the steak as as well be a lot easier if I could cook this inside but then it wouldn't feel the same okay right oh this steak looks amazing so we got a bit of everything here we got some garlic rub and some salt the salt will steak up nicely put some of this garlic rub on push that in okay oh it just about fits in the pan this is a big steak might to turn this down a bit this is a very big steak how big is this this is a pound it's a one lb steak okay salt the other side lashings of salt lashings of garlic and herb all right we're in business right that's going to cook nicely sesty drink and just sit here and wait cheers everybody thanks for coming on this I'm very excited about the rest of this trip ah now if my feet get cold I can move to these and when I think about it my feet are getting a bit cold so I'm going to put these on these are bin uh control Max I think they're called These are Arctic boots rated for Arctic usage oh man wow though that feels amazing oh that can't explain it instant warmth instant you don't have to do these right up either just leave these loose so yeah bath in and then you might be thinking well your jeans will be cold these jeans are insulated they got a thick lining so actually now I am really quite toasty it should be cold These Boots wow so warm all right everyone bring you back for dinner all right steak is ready I'm going to let that sit for a couple of minutes and then we'll do the washing up I have to use some hot water to clean that out from the jet boil cool can keep this outside for now it's so cold it won't uh doesn't need to go in the fridge right so I won't be using the cooker again tonight I'll probably be using it for breakfast but we'll put it all away because I'd rather not have any animals now I got a lot of comments I posted a picture uh of me in Alaska and everyone's saying be careful of bears the thing is they're asleep it's winter middle of winter here so don't worry it's okay might be wolves come know okay and then I can eat on the table all right bring you back in a minute pretty much all tied it up now I'm managed to find in the supermarket in Alaska Coleman's English mustard can you believe it I can't if you know me to Camp with me to eat with me you know I got to have this uh doesn't just doesn't feel right eating on a table but I'll try usually I eat on my lap all right let's see how the steak is oh it looks good inside it's is perfect oh look at that marbling oh wow oh this Angus beef M oh absolutely superb the seasoning is lovely as well mhm I was so hungry cuz I didn't have breakfast didn't have lunch had a protein bar and that's it and was driving around for ages looking for a spot okay bring back for thear time thanks againin everyone for ah I feel good oh man that was a great dinner that steak was superb oh welcome back everybody to Cigar time I've got something special now I am on the wagon I was on the wagon uh for my last few videos but I got some Captain Morgan spice rum just to have with my cigars on this trip as a special treat so I went to Tamper uh with Anne and brandom bits of cigar and we went to what turns out to be a cigar Factory called JC Newman cigars and I bought the special box and this is their um it's almost like a Churchill I bought this box uh supporting American cigars look at that beautiful beautiful cigars so I'm want to try them all on this trip there's two of each so I can't wait so thanks again everyone for coming with me on these and uh thank you to all of our subscribers and likes and members and people who have bought us coffees on buy me a coffee and all the treats thank you so much gosh it takes a lot longer in these cold conditions this light is cold um I wish I had my big lighter with me a bunson burner I might have to try and find one on this trip I didn't bring it just because well you're not allowed it in check L check luggage wow so smooth gosh so smooth that is lovely if you get a chance JC Newman cigars J Newman Cigar Company in Tampa it's got a great history as well now what I might do is just turn the brightness up a bit don't know how there you go I've closed the door because I don't want cigar smoke going inside that is very nice I might have just taken the wrapper off slightly there didn't think I punched that too hard let me just take this bit of wrapper off the side M there you go yeah I punched it too hard okay so cigar time um look I need to say first so my Mars video is coming out tomorrow and it was Bernie's first time on Mars so that's coming out tomorrow so the sequence of these these videos is is kind of it's delayed but I did a video before that cheers everyone oh cheers it's no cracken but it'll hit the spot that's smooth as well so I did a video before Mars and I uh where did I camp I can't remember oh by a river it's a car Camp by a river in an elevated tent yes and I said some things on there uh because people ask me what's your genuine op opinion about what had happened in the election everything and so I gave my genuine opinion and oh the barage of abuse from people who didn't like that opinion so they love me while they agree with me and then hate me when they don't or I don't I think it's more that I don't agree with them and they're disappointed look it just is what it is okay if you don't know what people are going through at any given time what they what their needs and requirements are so just relax uh to hate on someone when you don't even know them it's crazy crazy anyway just stop with the hate all right let people just have opinions have debate and conversation and stop with the hate because it's just so dared it doesn't get you anywhere you still will wake up in the same situation the next day feeling exactly the same way about absolutely everything so it doesn't help but you'll just have one less person that you can talk to that's literally what what ends up happening is I just don't want to ever hear from that person again okay whether it's a viewer or not if they say some things like look that's the way you feel about it goodbye okay that's it but if you want to have a chat I'm still here but they won't they'll go CU they're so angry I get it it's not nice to lose so yeah Jason you're in Tampa go and check it out right so the situation at the moment and you got to cut me some big slack here because this video won't be coming out for over a week so this probably won't be coming out until March right now it's February late February so situation is uh Russia and Ukraine look I don't care to be honest about Putin I think he's a scumbag um I don't care about zalinski I think he's a corrupt G honestly you got to look in the history of both these guys and for that matter I don't really care about uh any of the other politicians or leaders including Trump who's trying to solve it all um I don't care I don't care who who are the people who are the protagonists I don't care what I want is for war to stop just stop and it isn't that oh that's simple to say it isn't stop antagonizing everybody and the Wars Will Stop but we prod we push we poke we do it to China we do it to Russia we do it to everyone it's deliberate Europe pushed and pushed NATO pushed and pushed and this is what happens you end up pushing them so far that they go for it and that's what Putin did who's next China is is China going to try and take Taiwan I don't know so stop it just all needs to stop if Trump can get peace by being Trump okay then back it no matter what it doesn't matter if if Ukraine has to give up territory to be honest because at this point now so many people are dying that you you're talking about Pride that's stopping a a peace resolution just pride and it's always politicians Pride that causes young men to have to go and die I'm sick of it I'm sick sick of watching this waste of life it's pathetic it really is and it just makes me so angry and if we don't stop where does it end where does it end what's the what's the the end game here nuclear oh you see these brave souls commenting just nuke them nuke Russia nuke them they use this term nuke them just nuke them listen it's the dumbest it's the dumbest saying there ever was there's a book by Annie Jacobson called nuclear war I think it's a scenario and it spells out what happens in the first few minutes of a nuclear launch and how it escalates how quickly it escalates to basically the annihilation of the entire planet and you're talking couple of hours couple of hours and everyone's launched everything they got and everyone's dead and dead for thousands and thousands of years uh and the planet will take tens of thousands of years to fix itself a nuclear bomb a one Megaton nuclear bomb produces 100 million degrees C Celsius heat 100 million degrees it's the Sun it's got winds going 750 m an hour nothing escapes it it destroys everything and there are thousands of these nuclear weapons on the planet you launch one just cuz you're bit cocky the everyone retaliates so stop with all of that as well the warmongering is ridiculous we don't need it we just want peace I want peace because I'm sick of it I'm sick of seeing people dying I just want peace um War what is it good for seriously that song it means a lot it it's just it's got to stop it's crazy what's going on right now and I hope that they do find peace and I hope all wars stop you got to stop Israel and Iran and everyone else everyone's got to stop stop prodding stop poking stop winding people up just stop the mechanism the industrial complex will end this planet if we don't do something about it and I don't think the people the actual people Americans Brits Europeans Russians everyone who's not a politician not a soldier whatever just people that go about their day-to-day life I don't think they want War I don't think anyone wants War I think they want peace Harmony prosperity and health that's what I think so this is all going on now I don't know what's going to happen by the time this video comes out it could be over the War I don't know so cut me some slack so I just checked the thermometer it's now minus 2 celius I don't know what that is in fite um I think it's about is it 30 I don't know but it's- 2 C it's been very mild in Alaska now I'm driving to it should be getting closer to minus 20 C and my intention is to go out camping so moving scar time on um I'm going to keep this one short so I'm not going to discuss anything else TV shows or anything that I've been watching I'll do that on the next one so I just want to talk about what I'm going to do on this trip so I'm going to head north I'm going to head to the Arctic Circle I want to get a photo of me with the Arctic Circle sign cheers I want to see the aurora the northern lights and I want to camp under them with no tent I've got no tent with me and no TP go can't feel this hand anymore I've got a sleeping bag sleeping pad and a bivvy bag a military bivvy bag so I've got my snowshoes I want to hike out into the trees and just camping it now it's going to be frigid I'm hoping I can get a fire going um I i' one thing I've noticed here is there's so many softwood trees and so many dead trees it's incredible we don't get anything like this in New Zealand everything is hardwood and healthy it's not dead it's so difficult getting firewood in New Zealand so I want to have a nice big roaring fire just like Luke on outdoor boys he always has these enormous fires oh if we could have that in New Zealand it would be Heaven it really would but we just can't there's just not enough firewood it would take too long to S the wood down it would be exhausted because it's hardwood it takes five times longer to cut that that wood up than it does with soft wood your sore goes blunt so quickly so tomorrow so I'm going to do this in a series of videos um not to do with each other just I'm going to do a bunch of videos in Alaska um so this video is obviously me getting here as you've seen uh getting a bit stressed out earlier this is probably just going to be a couple of days so tomorrow we've got snowmobiling and dog sledding we're going to meet some puppies uh which I can't wait to see uh I want to do the snowmobiling I can't wait to do that and then I'm staying in this area and the next day we're doing a flight a Scenic flight around Denali Mountain uh which will be fantastic so I'm going to put all of that into one video uh hopefully that's the plan anyway so I'm going to sit here a bit longer it is cold have a couple more sips of my rum only with cigar that's the deal that is the deal on this trip otherwise no alcohol I've got no treats uh in the sugary sense anyway I've got plain popcorn um I'll have to show you what I got but it's honestly quite boring it's mainly meat and eggs lots of eggs it took me a long time to get my fitness back to where it to is now and uh to cut fat as I have done so I want to maintain that I don't want to screw that up for this right everyone bring you back at bedtime cheers everybody [Music] oh man w oh it's cold in here cuz I've had the heating off so heating is simple wow it's 8° celsus in here that got cold quickly let's turn it on all right should get cranking in no time and get toasty in here and then I can have a cup of tea let's put some more Lighting on that's cold oh so let me tell you about my van cuz I haven't really discussed anything about it yet so so it's fully insulated the reason it's so cold in here at the moment is cuz I had the door open and the heating off for so long oh man that's cold oh I need to I need that to I need to warm up look at my jeans got insulated lining so I'm going to sleep up here this big thick uh duvet it comes with quilt and there's a blanket uh but I've got heating I've got covers on all the windows this has got power sockets everywhere I've got my starlink running up the top there's no mobile signal here uh so I brought my starlink mini with me I've got plenty of gear this is a comfy van it is comfy now I'm having to make some sacrifices here with space versus the one I had in Canada but the one in Canada was so enormous it was literally having an apartment this feels like a tiny little wooden cabin it's very cozy loads of room for storage in the garage under here got this cool little um if I do want to eat in here got this cool table comes out like that comes all the way out look at that so if I want to work cuz I've got to do video editing I'll have to do that on the road as well I can do that here can eat breakfast here not that I eat breakfast but I might have some oats have my drinks here and just relax watch a movie and chill so the heating it takes a few minutes to to get cranking it runs off of the gas so this is um unleaded gas just regular I've got plenty of fuel um it's I I clocked I reckon it's got about a 400 mile range maybe if you drive conservatively I don't think there's anything else to really explain uh I'm going to chill I'm going to have a cup of tea herbal tea watch a movie talk to Anne back in New Zealand and then uh bring you back for bedtime oh right time to get into bed comfy comfy mattress I can already tell it so because it's just me I'm rocking the a ow I'm rocking the ab camping pajamas cuz they're warm and lovely perfect for winter oh W chilly because it's just me I can use side of the bed for clothes stuff like that so this has got a blanket she did say I could have another blanket if I needed it but I didn't see the point because I've got the T heating on the heating set to 18° C not very warm just enough to take the chill off that's all I need a comfy oh I tell you what this is a vast Improvement in feeling to what I was earlier so I can just maybe I can't I'm going to have to lie at a slight angle here or I could put my feet through the window bit oh works but then they'll get a bit cold don't know I've got to work this out my feet overhang the bed so it will get cold over there I'll work it out it's cuz it's sideways I'm just a bit too tall but I do fit just actually it feels exactly like I does on the top of Buddy my camper van at home except this has got a lot more room [Music] right well I haven't been kicked out yet and it's late so what I'll do is I'll get up early in the morning because I've Got a Feeling people are going to come to use the trail head maybe to walk their dogs or go skiing [Music] um that seems to be what this Trail is about there's a lot of cross country skiing I've seen so I think it gets light sort of seven sevenish 7:30 something like that maybe 8 so I need to be up before that so maybe get up at 7 yeah and then take my time chill out I've tidied everything up then we can get coffee on and just relax I don't have to be at this place until 10:00 a.m. so I've got loads of time all right everyone unless something Mega happens in middle night which I really hope it doesn't cuz I just want to have a nice sleep tonight oh and the temperature outside isus 3 now cels so it's it's not not that bad at all unless anything Mega happens I'll bring you back good night everybody morning everybody 7 a.m. and it's still dark outside but it's time to get up right we need a coffee on there we go lights on right let's get up excuse the crotch shot oh it's turn the heating up okay think need to change wet wipe a bit because there's no shower in here and then we'll get coffee on for it's a chilly one let's see what the temperature says uh minus three okay not so bad all right let's get the coffee on [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Applause] oh oh I tell you one nice thing about this van is the passenger seat flips around I don't think the driver seat does no but this is nice because this is comfy yeah this is much more comfortable than sitting over there just need something to put my feet up on oh it was a good night's sleep yep slept well comfy bed very comfy bed I just had to get my feet sorted so they weren't touching the end so much but I in the end I ended up sleeping diagonally and had a great sleep I went out to pee in the middle of the night and there was a moose just on the other side of this snow bank and I freaked it out must have scared it it been trotting off through the bush making such a noise uh I hope to see one on get one on film while I'm here I mean there should be moose everywhere so shouldn't be difficult but yeah it was right here by the vanan oh okay so today this morning it's just coffees and then dog sledding I'm not sure if I can be bothered to have breakfast that was such a huge meal last night um but I'll bring you back when we got to go dog sledding and snowb mealing it's snowmobiling it's going to be a good day cheers everybody actually for breakfast I'm going to have a protein shake because I need to take my vitamins so I've got some in the supermarket yesterday got some whey protein isolate so I'll take that a few times a day 100% whe protein nicely got some creatine as well I just take big scoop it that like like that 15 20 milligrams take that every day as well that's just my thing and I I have protein bars that take as well but this is a good way to get that extra protein that you need uh-oh I've got no water ah tap that's why I thought i' have Frozen there that can't be right yep so I'll have protein shake and then I'll take you for a walk actually I was going to bring you back for the snowmobile but I'm going to take you for a walk there's a Lake just here we'll go for a walk on the uh trail head right let's go out let's have a walk up the trail head that's nippy oh I've put a thermometer out here let's have a look see what the temperature is it is -6 - 6 C it's not too bad yes so the moose was over here just behind that mound I spooked it last night when I opened the door okay so apparently there's a lake on this trail head now I'm not wearing my big boots I'm just wearing my shoes my trainers my hookers um okay where do I walk straight wow what will be cool is if I see a moose on this Trail let's walk to the lake this must be this is it is this the lake oh yeah this is it oh oh wow this is the lake oh check it [Applause] out frozen lake this is a bucket list item as well I am on a frozen lake in Alaska with absolutely no one around Epic so there's no snowmobiles allowed on here no nothing machined I see people have been cycling on here though this ice look at this I wonder how thick this is I mean it's obviously safe to walk on I think it's this is very very thick ice this is so cool I'm sure I'm going to see a lot of these it reminds me of when I was in Canada and I walked across the lake Emerald Lake that was spectacular probably one my most favorite memory from Canada and I love Canada I do love Canada I think Trump should stop trolling Canada and leave him alone he's he's taking it far enough now I know it was a joke I know he hates Trudeau but I do love Canada I don't want to see it as part of America I'm sure he's just trolling having a bit of fun oh what the hell has someone been ice fishing on there I can't some looks like they have oh yeah these are ice fishing holes look at that [Applause] oh there's even someone's left a hook here that's a bit bit rude but yeah they drilled here must have set a tent up here and uh been fishing on it that's my first time I've ever seen that and I am going to do ice fishing while I'm here all right everyone I'm going to walk around this Lake and then we'll go off and do snowmobile oh I think it's colder here on the lake than it is by the van think this is more like - 8- 9 something like that should have bought my gloves I've only got fingerless gloves on but I've got my hoodie and my hood up so my body's warm fingers not so much my feet are okay cuz I'm moving but if you were to if I was to stop I think my feet would freeze very quickly should have bought my gloves left them in the van all right next time I'll bring gloves I'm about halfway around now woo that was [Applause] cold I can hear my [Applause] heater oh be nice and warm in there so says minus - 6.2 I think it's colder than that it's just that this is right on the van so one thing about this van is that it's got studded tires studded winter tires you see that to cut through the ice these studs they're quite worn down now though but these are designed for ice and snow it's front wheeel drive though it's not four-wheel drive which is a shame not as confident because of that but look they're worn down they're barely sticking out now so it needs restudding it's good van though yeah I just wish it was either rear wheel drive or or four-wheel drive that would give me a bit more confidence okay it's cold I need to go and have another coffee oh I'm actually my hands are pretty cold now it's going to be like walking into a furnace oh that's nice okay coffee time and then what I'll do is I'll bring you back for snowmobiling just stepped out just to check the temperature gauge because I'm sure it was colder than - 6 ah you see now I've moved it it's actually minus 8 basically okay that makes more sense it feels like it and I'm heading up to minus 20 something should be fun but yeah - 8 that makes more sense okay time to head off got to take the starlink down stillus 7.9 starc mini for the win if you've never used starlink before it's a LIF saav it really is bring our little teeny teeny tiny table in all right and we can head off all right we're here Alaska wild guides I've been in my guy Derek is going to take me out it's just me today no one else so we're going to go and uh play on the snowmobiles have a lot of fun and then we're going to go out and check out this battle dogs which are these sled dogs and it's a charity for I didn't realize uh for a vets uh for military um so let's get this I've got to go and get into all my gear and then we'll get out there here we go okay I'm all suited and booted this is my toy for the day it's a Skidoo Renegade and Derek is going out on this big boy and then we're going to head off into the trails and it is just me this is going to be good fun so I've got a helmet gloves I'm going to film some footage on the trail I've got my Mount all set up ready to go I can't wait oh this place unbelievable I think I'm actually more excited about seeing the dogs though yeah so this place gives you all the gear you need stay warm big thick gloves I think the handle bars might be heated and you got to have the helmet as well so all right we're off woohoo for [Music] what was your name again sir Shantel Shantel okay no good go for it so this is a kind of like a camp living room it's we hang out here and um where everybody kind of just sits around after we do our so they hang out in here they live how long do they stay in these chalets these cabins um so the our camps are about seven eight days long okay um the there's like a queen-sized bed and a closet in there and it's always single soldiers or do they ever come with their spouses we've never done a spouse Camp never okay it's always single so they come here they've come back they got PTSD and yeah we specialize Inc and traumatic Rin injury wow so those are the silent the silent injuries that people don't and they play with the dogs yep yep yeah um so we have a big inch we call it that did camp and they'll they'll essentially they'll just work with the dogs every single day like feed and then we take them mushing and teach them how to run and um use the dogs as therapy so yeah great that's awesome and they what a view they got Denali right in the background there a little big oh look at that with the American flag right there as well a cool it's a beautiful Camp I'd like to come here I don't have PTSD but I'd like to come here where you are here I am here I need to hang out here oh wow oh this is lovely nice see I could camp in this yeah the L that's pretty cool I know this is really nice who built the Y uh so everything up here is built built by veterans for veterans oh we bu well we purchased the Y kit and then um yeah then it's just all volunteers everything that we do is all volunteer oh I see and here these the guys that did it yeah yeah yeah work parties wow and they're just all all vets yeah and like we have like um the bar okay we do allow them to drink but we limit it alcohol kind of the object I like the upside down a lot of a lot of our camps like working camps are past veterans that have already come up gone through a program and they want to give back somehow and maybe they're not ready to run a camp themselves but they might have like construction or they might be good at um cutting trees or something like that so they come up and um give back practical skills yeah yes I'm assuming that's for the Buddies Fallen absolutely okay yeah amazing wow it's great all right well you can show me more I'm going to turn this off I tried to put snow over it try to cover it up but I did your oh wow look at them can I go and say hi Oh one of them's Maga hey puppies Maga Patriot and Leo on hey how you doing hey puppies hey little puppies so these are Alaskan huskys these are Alaskan huskys he hey pups they are their own stink bre oh you're lovely aren't you look at your big pors hey you want to go running what have you bought me a stick hey oh you're lovely I love puppies that big one is the one we call Shrek Shrek Shrek and then that's donkey donkey and then the little one is Fiona a hey Fiona there you guys are lovely look at that coats hi body a sweet hello hello cool they're about 3 months old now 3 months oh they're beautiful oh then we got the big guys we got some of the litter there's one uh one of these dogs is blind and has like a oh a guide dog for the blind dog oh okay yeah stays with seeing eye dog for for the dog a seeing eye dog for the dog yes okay Echo hey oh they're so excited they know someone's going out but we're not going out with these guys no no no the working is down oh okay I'm assuming they're going to get very excited now yeah we're going to get really L yeah I figured the reason why a lot of people wonder about the tethers over pins yeah so tethers allow them so they each each tether is 5 ft right okay and it allows them to run and stretch out their legs on a on their Pace they can do a full Sprint around there as a kenri so so they can run around round round y you see how they they spin like it just allows them to be able to keep the lactic acid from building up in their muscles and stuff so how many do you have uh there's 33 working 33 yeah wow y did you have to pee just as I came up hello who are you Casey Casey casing hey oh yes hello hello who gets chosen you coming out K oh K's coming out you're coming out hey pilot jealous much friends for life huh are you jealous excellent and here's the sled hey yes you're coming out until I come down cool lots of wagging Tails hey pilot this pilot he's retired oh the wagging Tails everybody wants to come out only take a few of them all right so we're going to hook him up you put the harness on so is this your lead dog yep he's going to run lead for us today chasing you're going to lead beautiful color but he knows this that he's he's got this look on his face like yeah I'm cool now he's calmed right down now he knows he's going out y you're the boss all right casing boss dog always like you'll see some some dogs are just really hyper wild you'll see mushers that carry them like this you know it doesn't hurt them it just um help control and they bounce along we just all of ours are super mellow we just walk them come on buddy it's okay everybody wants to go oh got wolf eyes oh you're excited where you going you excited hey wanting to go with them oh yeah very loud okay it's okay guys so excited they are so excited to go that's why they're all barking and Howling they just want to go so we're going to put $7 on which means it's going to be very fast it's so loud okay so we're going to get on now I'm going to stand at the back yeah and we don't have to do it too much we a lot of dog so it's going to be a while I'm going to have you while I'm Hing up the leaders just kind of put just like just a second see how they so it's just going to give a second okay all right I'll bring you back in a minute they're really pulling I can feel the break walk over with the harness and they just like leap into the harness yeah so excited they're pulling so hard I can feel it yeah this is going to be nuts all right here we go ready no I am ready I'm try to stay out of your way I in front of you just to leave but once we get out there I can stand off that's okay all right kick it up okay here we go brace yourself oh so peaceful yeah technically we probably one extra dog that we probably need but don't worry about that speed is good have you ever been mushing before I have well I have I've satined but not done it myself okay not standing did it in Canada so what are your commands to the dogs we use all right as our Mo um so if I want them to go faster I just Chang the of all right yeah and then he and ha and wo okay do they like to Woe I bet they don't no not at all so so the reason why they stop is that I put pressure on that bridge right so the less pressure they have the faster they go here I'm letting up y see how much yeah if we were to fall off oh no they won't stop no so what do you do not until you take oh no yeah all right I'll hold on properly then we just stopped to give the puppies a break but they just do not want stop pulling what's who's this one Boomer Boomer Boomer calm down son it's okay it's okay you're doing a great job yeah you are man they are pulling they love their job you know yeah nobody's out in front with a leash dragging them down the trail we're holding them back pretty good so foot firmly on The Brak yeah yeah loving it cool [Music] wow that was amazing that was amazing all right you guys you got to come here tell Kea and do the battle dogs dog sledding so I'm going to go back now on the snowmobile this was cool you guys did a good job someone's tired who's this one that's W hog War hog you tired hot got yeah he looks hot come here good job guys lead dogs good job guys oh know where are you going he likes what are you doing come here baby girl come here you did a great job yeah yes you did great job all right okay so what's the plan back where we came we're going to we're going to start riding the trails okay [Music] [Music] I'm [Music] wow it's got a cool shot so in the last couple weeks we've seen moose Prince and moose Caribou or Lynx Fox coyote hair okay and then now there's a wolf oh yeah that's been on the property wow just one well the big Prince would be the male there'll be smaller prints that are the females okay but I've seen wolf prints that are as big as my entire hand but not here interesting so this is like a a medium medium size yeah heading in that direction but he's been cruising around down here in the swamps so is that is that female next to it there seem to be two two sets or is that a dog they they typically run in packs yeah actually that looks like it's running yeah that's a big stride yeah there's a lot of Critters around here for them to hunt yeah this is a beautiful spot is this swampy in summer yeah yeah yeah a lot of Alaska's lowlands and areas like that are kind of Swampy you can't access them in the summer right getting around in the wilderness is difficult inide you got this little window where the snow melts off before it just completely overgrows well it's like the Ice Road Truckers isn't it it's their life is much easier in Winter yeah I mean in Winter you can really go places in this state yeah awesome well let's see if we can see a moose I know I saw one a couple couple days ago that would be cool yeah [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] I [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] we're just having a Break by Montana Creek wow it's beautiful so what's under here this is the main channel that we're about to step on to is it safe solid it's solid oh yeah you can feel it lots of moous prints there were some fresh moous prints there were yeah I thought oh man this can't because this kind of been to like might been today there's been a a mama with a calf and then a two or three-year-old that I've seen on the property I'd love to see that cuz there's a young oh no these are rabbits or something here and then you got moose here yeah beautiful and what is this that's dragging its belly so that would be a river otter no really yeah look at this it's just dragging its tummy along the ground I'd love to see that beautiful so this whole thing is a creek yeah and this is all the water that's left this is about typical of how much water is in it in the winter time this is where the OTA came out this is beautiful what a sound the Rushing Water lovely ah all right we're back in the van just leaving Derek and Amanda and shantala there and they just let me take some firewood they've shown me a great place to go and camp for the night where I can have a fire and cook up so that was brilliant I'll have to put links in the description um I paid for it all myself but uh it was a great time Alaska wild guides and and the do the definitely do the dog sledding as well as the snowmobile and the money from the dog sledding all of it goes to the battle Dogs Foundation which helps uh you know returning vets wounded vets PTSD things like that um so a great cause as well all right everyone got to go and find this spot and then we can uh Camp up for the evening ah okay I'm at my spot so I'm by a trail head um I'll take you for a Wonder in a bit I need to just have some food I'm starving I haven't eaten all day and then I've got firewood for a fire tonight the Derek assures me no one will care I can have a fire right here by the van won't be a problem and I'll just sit out the outside the van if I get enough coals I can throw the steak on um but we'll see but right now I'm just going to have something to eat I'm going to have a coffee and I'm just going to relax that was a great day really loved it I'm exhausted now um but I'm going to chill out a bit and then I'll take you for a walk to go and look at the river I'm just by a river um there are some people around their trucks around because they're they're off on their snowmobiles but I'm assuming they'll be done by the time it gets dark uh and then we'll have to play to ourselves right right so we're here at the lman trail and there's a waterfall 4 and 1/2 miles away I don't think I'm going to be walking on that cuz look at it even with snowshoes 4 and 1/2 miles take hours definitely need a snow machine snowmobile Like These Guys these guys have got snowmobile so I am camped here here by the road but it's okay it's a very very quiet Road look at this he says it's very quiet and now there's a car coming check this out I'm right by this bridge Sun's still up look at this River look at the layers of ice in this thing now I don't think the camera is going to put this into perspective but that ice is that ice there is a meter thick it's slabs of it this slab of ice here if I can zoom in let's see if I can okay that slab of ice that you're looking at right there that is 2 feet thick 2T thick look at it stunning what a beautiful place a the water's so clear there's no way down there unfortunately I could probably get to that side if I put my snowshoes on and walk down there but there's really not much need look at that this water is crystal clear lovely what a spot I'm quite happy here I know I'm by the side of the road but look how quiet this is and Derek at Alaska wild guid assures me I can just have a fire right there on the side of the road and no one will care it absolutely no one will care so that's what we're going to do I'll probably light it when these guys leave just as it's getting dusk I could put the snowshoes on and go for a walk but I'm pretty tired after today it was a long day so what I'm going to do is have the fire right here yeah that would be awesome all right everyone I'll bring you back later for that for fire and dinner and then cigar time okay what I want to do before it gets dark in preparation for basically having a fire is I'm going to be sitting here in front of door so I want the fire to be sort of there so I'm going to dig a bit of a pit to have the fire in okay so this is pretty much the same as the one I've got it's okay they're not bad um right so yeah I want a kind of a pit now I don't know how deep this goes here but look it's ice so what happened was few weeks ago they had 10 in of rain and then that froze and then it snowed on top that's not Road that's just solid ice so nothing I do is going to shift it yeah look at that big chunks of ice that's so deep oh well that's all going to melt I just wanted to establish a little ring for my fire it will all melt anyway I was hoping it would just reflect some of the heat back [Applause] all right that'll do so I figure think could put my fire here it's far enough away from the van won't have any impact on it that should be quite nice the fuel tanks on the other side got my chair here H actually maybe I better push it back a bit further actually this bang forms quite a fire pit sort of all by itself reflector [Music] oh that works okay so I've going to pop I'm going to do my fire here Perfect Right Next we need to go and collect some dead sticks and things just to start the fire with oh I couldn't find any wood everything around here believe it or not is Young and has is is still alive so I've got some wood from Derek and what I'm going to do is Baton this up and I've got my fir lighting kit here so yeah I just need to bat on this stuff and we're good so take a small bit like that and then bash it this will work just something to get it going yes lovely all right that should be enough to get this going I could try and split some of these a bit more might help just to make slightly smaller pieces just to help it along now I think there is actually a hatchet in the back so I
2025-03-06 15:34
