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00:00Expedition Overland's Pan American Series is presented by General Tire. Anywhere is possible.
00:44Alaska, first sighted in 1741 by Vetus Bering during a voyage from Siberia. In 1867, it was purchased from Russia
00:53for a whopping $7,200,000, or the equivalent of two cents per acre.
01:01They couldn't have known that Alaska's waters were some of the most abundant fisheries in the northern hemisphere, or that
01:07its ground held an exuberant cache of economy boosting oil, natural gas, and gold.
01:13Having the lowest population density in the nation and very remote roadways, Alaska is perfect for the traveler looking to
01:20explore a vast and diverse land.
01:25The trucks have transported us to our first campsite on Alaskan soil, just south of the town of Tok.
01:30The truck broke.
01:30What did you do?
01:31I'm going to bend my lip.
01:33How?
01:33Chewing gum.
01:34Why?
01:36I was hungry.
01:37My mouth.
01:38It was really fun to watch.
01:47Victory!
01:48This is dry, kinda.
01:51This is nipple-y.
01:54This isn't that kind of show.
01:56Oh.
01:57I am from California, so this is the California show.
01:59Take it down.
02:01Michelle's been cutting my hair for almost 15 years.
02:05She was 15 when she cut my hair the first time.
02:10She's been cutting it ever since.
02:11We met at Clyder's Christian Ranch and I was with my friend.
02:16When we came into the dining hall, first day of camp, I walked in there and I looked across the
02:21room and I saw Rochelle sitting there in her 1999 overalls.
02:26I turned to my friend Roger and I said, that's the woman I'm going to marry.
02:31Kid came in here with red hair and freckles and he was wearing army combat boots laced up to here
02:38with his camel pants tucked into them.
02:40That's not true.
02:41Yes, it is true.
02:42His hair.
02:44I was not looking for boys that summer.
02:48At all.
02:50Made it more of a challenge, really.
02:52And I kind of like that.
02:54Rochelle was my first kiss.
02:58The log cabin in the woods of Montana.
03:03Front porch?
03:04It was.
03:05It was on the front porch.
03:06The front porch of the log cabin was my first kiss.
03:09When we got married, we definitely had a pretty strong adventure mindset.
03:15We weren't going to have kids for five years.
03:17We're going to go travel the world and spend a year in Europe.
03:21We've been married for like eight months and we got pregnant with Cyrus.
03:27So, that five year plan went out the window pretty fast.
03:31But now we're to the point obviously where we can start pursuing adventure again.
03:38So, you know, for a couple more years our kids will kind of be with grandmas and stuff as we
03:43do this.
03:44But, from time to time, but I can't wait for them to be on these journeys as well.
03:50That's probably the next stage of our life is traveling a lot with family.
03:56So, we could drop down into here and go into McCarthy and go down into Valdez.
04:02We took a minute to discuss our plan and line out the places we would like to see.
04:06We decided to continue south nearing the coast of Alaska, but leave a little room in case there was something
04:11that we couldn't have planned for.
04:16Tonight, we're going to head south down to Gokona today, about 80 miles from here.
04:21From there, we're going to ask the locals on the McCarthy Road to make a couple decisions from where we
04:27want to go.
04:29Roger that.
04:34Well, I honestly didn't talk to him first, but we pulled off at a...
04:40Gokona Junction.
04:41Yeah.
04:41And we decided we'd stop at the first place to figure out the rest of our route, because we had
04:46a couple options.
04:47And Clay sat down and had a conversation with Alan, who was sitting on the front porch just enjoying the
04:53Alaska life.
04:53At the end of the road, what happened?
04:55He just started telling us where to go.
04:58And then he's like, you know what, just let me make some phone calls.
05:00And calls up his buddy that owned the tour company that takes you into these glaciers.
05:08Cruise company.
05:09Sets us up.
05:10We're going to go do that.
05:10Beautiful.
05:11And on Thursday, which is three days from now.
05:13You're on.
05:14We wouldn't have done this on our own to plan this.
05:16So the fact that he just made the phone call and got us on the boat is really cool.
05:19One of the big things about traveling is to not overschedule.
05:23Leave room for the unexpected and the unknown to happen.
05:27And that's just what happened right now.
05:28And by the way, it's pronounced route.
05:32I knew you didn't say that.
05:33I knew it.
05:34Did I say root?
05:35Yes.
05:35When?
05:36When you said root.
05:37When you said root.
05:42McCarthy was an area that came up several times during our research and the locals confirmed
05:47the reasons to our intrigue.
05:54We rolled down the historic 60 mile dirt road.
05:57Doing good.
05:58Keep on going.
05:59Crossing the Cuscolana River Canyon over the former railroad bridge constructed over a hundred
06:03years ago.
06:05The enjoy of it.
06:13How are you feeling?
06:15Good.
06:16Yeah, I'm very happy right now.
06:20I'm falling more and more in love with this track.
06:23and I'm loving driving on this tight little road.
06:29We're on McCarthy Road right now, head into Nashville Forest.
06:34It's pretty fun.
06:39We clocked 8 hours of travel time and 265 miles from Toke to McCarthy.
06:46Camp was a welcome sight.
06:48Morale was high and set up routine was effortless.
06:52And our day came to a close.
06:59I'm tired.
07:01Still wide.
07:03What?
07:04Still wide.
07:06Go to bed at 1.30 but it's as bright as if it's noon and it's messing with our minds.
07:19The zombie awakes.
07:23It just keeps going.
07:27Thankfully these tents are dark so once you're inside it really really helps.
07:30It's just getting ourselves to bed that's the hard part.
07:34Well, when we left, we're like, Toby, do you need a sleeping bag?
07:41And he's like, yeah, I need a sleeping bag.
07:42Okay.
07:43Well, yeah, just come up to Montana and we'll get you a sleeping bag.
07:46So that's what we did.
07:47We got in the car, we got on our way and Paul is back the first night.
07:56What is this?
07:57Smells terrible.
07:59And I was like, oh yeah, sorry.
08:02My oldest son might have peed in that one.
08:07And I forgot to clean it.
08:11Is it bad?
08:13It's extra bad.
08:18I think it got, I got warm enough to sweat and it released and then, yeah.
08:26Well, it won't be any big deal.
08:28We'll just change it out when we get the anchorage in a few days.
08:30Well, then we, we just redirected and we're not going to be in the anchorage for like another
08:36four days.
08:38So.
08:39You're going to be the stinky kid.
08:42I choose joy.
08:43Pig kid over here.
08:45Peabody.
08:47Rocking that hard.
08:49Look at that.
08:52She goes big or she goes home.
08:54She has a wobble.
08:57You look like a rock star when you wake up and I look like a drug addict.
09:00Both do drugs, but one's hot and one's not, so.
09:03Right.
09:04You got the hot.
09:05Okay, thanks for making me feel better.
09:07It's a true story.
09:08I don't think it's a mystery.
09:10Can I have a mirror?
09:11Check.
09:12Check.
09:13We stretched the morning to ensure proper caffeination, if that's a word.
09:21But the glaciers and the smell of history prodded our curiosity and pushed us toward the mining
09:26town of Kinnacott, the only non-native town left within a national park.
09:34I'm pretty excited.
09:35We're going to go figure out the history of this place and find out the history of the
09:40mine, too.
09:41Our first interaction with the locals was a good indicator that this place had stories
09:44to tell.
09:45What's the craziest thing you've ever seen here?
09:49Not saying.
09:50Aw, come on.
09:53In summer, the Kinnacott River swells from the melting of the Kinnacott Glacier upstream.
09:58Its water is densely silted with glacier flour, turning its clarity to a milky, churning force
10:04of nature.
10:06A footbridge spans the river where, on the other bank, you find the twin towns of Kinnacott
10:11and McCarthy just up the way.
10:15Kinnacott was booming at the start of the 20th century.
10:18Copper had been discovered, and a young 28-year-old mining engineer by the name of Stephen Birch
10:23from New York have been tasked with extracting the precious metal for Kinnacott's investors.
10:29Everything revolved around the mine.
10:30Pretty sweet, huh?
10:32Sweet mine.
10:33Oh my gosh.
10:33Or, what is this?
10:34This is actually not a mine.
10:35This is the mill.
10:36This is a mill.
10:37I think this is the mill.
10:39This is the old mill.
10:42The light mill.
10:46Oh my gosh, this is incredible.
10:48I'm not like an old revolver.
10:52The mill was equipped with a massive roller plant.
10:55The amount of work that something like that could do.
10:58Yeah.
10:59A lot of, like, man labor too.
11:01I mean, it wasn't just...
11:02Yeah, yeah.
11:02It was a lot of machine, but I bet it was a lot of hard work.
11:05Yeah.
11:06In all, it crushed the ore to produce an incredible $200 million in copper.
11:13In 1938, the ore ran thin, and the town was abandoned.
11:17Almost overnight, the town was left vacant.
11:20Plates remained on tables.
11:22Machines stopped in mid-stride.
11:24Cool.
11:25And then this quote,
11:26Any place is comfortable if you make it that way.
11:29It's just amazing to think, like, of all the work that went into building this,
11:33in the era that it happened, you know?
11:35And it's still standing.
11:36Like, it was good construction.
11:38Yeah.
11:38It's amazing.
11:39And it's cool to see that they're keeping it up.
11:41Like, they're trying to restore all of this stuff and not just let it go to waste.
11:45Mm-hmm.
11:47Okay.
11:47Well, what's your name?
11:48I'm Diane Malick.
11:49Diane, I'm Rhonda.
11:50Nice to meet you.
11:51Nice to meet you.
11:52Yep.
11:52So, how long have you lived up here?
11:54Um, 29 years.
11:55Oh, my gosh.
11:56Long time.
11:57So, you live up here?
11:58I lived a couple miles up.
11:59Oh, you live further up here?
12:01Above Kennecock.
12:02Wow.
12:03Okay.
12:03So, you have to tell me.
12:05First off, what brought you here?
12:07I've been in Alaska about five years and I heard about McCarthy and that they said there's
12:11a lot of music and people living off the land, kind of.
12:14Yeah.
12:15So, I came out in 84 and met some wonderful people and eventually bought a parcel on the
12:22other side and bought another one up here and it's been wonderful.
12:26So, like, what do you do for full time?
12:28How do you sustain life here?
12:29Um, we started this project about 14 years ago with Kennecott.
12:34So, work every summer for four and a half, five months and that gets us through the year.
12:39So, is the project restoring the mill?
12:41Yeah.
12:41Restoring the whole town.
12:43Restoration.
12:43You're going to restore the whole thing.
12:44Well, we've been doing it and now we're kind of coming to a close pretty soon.
12:47But we've done it for 14 or 15 years.
12:50Oh, my word.
12:50So, a lot of roofs and foundations and just all kinds of work.
12:54Just enough so that the structures stay up?
12:55Or are you wanting to, okay.
12:56So, what do the winters look like?
12:58Yeah.
12:58How much snowfall do you get?
12:59Down here about maybe three feet.
13:02And we get four or five up on the hill.
13:03And I haven't wintered here in maybe seven or eight years.
13:06Okay.
13:06But I did for maybe 20 or so.
13:08So, what was the trip like when you had to get groceries?
13:11It was just quiet.
13:11You got it in September.
13:13All of it?
13:14It filled up for the winter.
13:15Yeah.
13:15Didn't go out again until about May.
13:17So, that was very common.
13:21Whoa.
13:21So, we all have roots.
13:22You're my new hero.
13:23I thought I lived out of town.
13:25If you need a hand in any way, your neighbors are all there.
13:28Yeah.
13:28You know your neighbors, of course.
13:29You're in it together.
13:30Yeah.
13:30You're in it together.
13:31And we've all kind of grown up together at this point.
13:36Tourism has now recovered the area and significant strides have been made to protect its rich heritage.
13:44Led by our nose, we sought out the warm smell of pizza and found it here.
13:49A former Anchorage transport bus.
13:52Its fuselage lugged, metal tarnished, wheels mooned, and shiny.
13:58Its engine swapped for ovens.
14:00Only piping pizzas come from the back of this bus now.
14:04In the city, I got burned out living in the city.
14:07I lived in Fairbanks for quite a few years.
14:09In an acreage.
14:11And it was just so busy and hectic.
14:14And everybody's always in a hurry.
14:17I just got tired of it.
14:23What's the best part about living here?
14:25Winters.
14:27Honestly.
14:28It's quiet.
14:31Like sometimes, my husband and I are the only people for 20 miles.
14:36You can actually hear yourself limp in the winter.
14:38It's so quiet.
14:44The pizza was ready.
14:46And after a hard eight days of travel, Rochelle found heaven in a fine art mix of dough, sauce, and
14:51cheese.
14:55This overdramatization is only a reflection of its amazing flavor.
15:12All right.
15:12So Clay comes out and says, how well do you guys do in small planes?
15:15And I said, I don't know.
15:16I've never been in one.
15:17So we're both really wanting to go in this small plane.
15:19There's room for two.
15:20And there's three of us.
15:23So we're flipping a coin.
15:25What did you call?
15:29Heads I win.
15:30Tails you lose.
15:33What did you say?
15:36We need to review tape.
15:38I won either way.
15:40Heads I win.
15:41Tails you lose.
15:44Well, I wasn't paying much attention to that.
15:46All right.
15:47Okay.
15:47Heads your tails.
15:48Ready?
15:50And...
15:52You win.
15:54Woo!
15:55You're going on a plane.
15:56A little tiny plane.
15:57It's Scott's first time filming from an airplane.
16:01Let's see if he pukes.
16:04Bush pilots generally only have a few rules.
16:06Gas or beer.
16:07No one rides for free.
16:08And if you puke it's your plane to clean.
16:23Immediately after liftoff we were able to get the full scope of this place.
16:27The mining site is nested high on the mountain.
16:30And to this day I have no idea how they did this.
16:37The glaciers below are some of the most unique in the world.
16:43Huge rivers flow across its face in striking patterns.
16:49Pools deep, blue and clear.
16:52Towering over the glacier is Mount Blackburn at 16,286 feet.
16:58Blackburn was first climbed by a woman, Dora Keane, in 1912.
17:02It's forward relief is 11,000 feet to the bottom.
17:12Can't even see the sky.
17:17It's a super high wind.
17:18Can't it get me to the water?
17:23Can't it get me down here?
17:34We've got a little bit of a storm?
17:35It's so cold!
17:39No, but I am gonna drink it.
17:42Rhonda's gonna lay in the water.
17:44Toby's gonna...
17:46Oh, we had to do a push-up.
17:49I'm not gonna do it.
17:50I think I got a little dirt.
17:54Yeah, Rhonda!
17:57Just do it!
18:02Got it.
18:04Now she can't stop.
18:06I can tell.
18:14On the ground, we headed back to the others.
18:17So how was the line? You didn't get sick?
18:19No, that was good.
18:22In fact, that was flipping all over the back seat.
18:25It was out one side, then it was out the next side.
18:31McCarthy was established to supply the Dry Company town of Kennecott
18:34with what it was missing.
18:36Women and booze.
18:38Today, it's a thriving social community.
18:40In fact, Outside Magazine gave it the number two spot
18:43for best kickback towns in America.
18:45I think it's the last non-native community inside a national park in North America.
18:52It is fun, and it's the neighbors that make it fun.
18:55I used to think it was the buildings and all the old stuff, and that is part of it.
18:58But it's really just a lot of cool people.
19:00They're so self-reliant out here.
19:02They're not like, have something over on you,
19:04or you don't feel like they've got their hand in your pocket because they need your help.
19:09It's more like, it is a kind of a stewardship thing.
19:13We care about this town.
19:14We care about where we live.
19:15We care about the people here.
19:17It's a real sense of community.
19:19There's only a couple dozen of us that live here.
19:23The saloon is nothing short of what it should be.
19:25Tons of character, spirited patrons, and a sense of place.
19:30The saloon has been featured in foodie magazines for its top-notch service,
19:34wine selections, and of course, entrees.
19:38With our salver glands redlining, the restaurant's eclectic decor spurred curiosity,
19:43with rock collections and one-of-a-kind paintings.
19:46Just behind us sat those paintings master, Bill Brody,
19:49who is quietly working on his latest watercolor, companioned with his evening beer.
19:54Come to find out, the owner trades him food and lodging for his art.
20:00I found myself very inspired by his passion.
20:03How far off is this one?
20:05I don't know.
20:06I don't know.
20:07You just paint until you have the right feeling about it.
20:11Yeah.
20:12And I'm just kind of excited about the tiny little details that are happening in there.
20:18Because this was a place that really came alive for me.
20:22You keep painting.
20:24Oh yeah.
20:25Yeah.
20:26I'm trying to paint until they pack me off to the dumpster.
20:33It's really cool, isn't it?
20:37I'm kind of in awe of being able to fly on a plane today instead of sitting behind a desk
20:43working on a computer all day long.
20:46Yeah.
20:47So that was kind of neat.
20:48Hey, what did you do today?
20:49I flew over a glacier.
20:51I flew over a glacier.
20:52I climbed down the glacier and drank the water.
20:54Yeah.
20:57You just never know what you'll find at the end of a road.
21:01They just seem to be collecting points for true characters.
21:05The only thing you have to do is seek them out.
21:08I never would have known this life until this trip.
21:12And now I feel like I can't ever be the same person.
21:15I can't ever just go back to being comfortable and settling down.
21:20Now it's about chasing dreams.
21:22It's about living your life to the fullest and loving well.
21:27общie gera, personal bene to fall off you lot.
22:11We'll see you next time.
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