In 1987, I had this idea that a great way to teach wilderness survival would be to head out into the woods and do exactly that.

Survive.

Now I need the skills because I'd be filming myself alone.

And you, the viewer, would be made aware of that.

And I thought, what a great way to make these skills more relatable to you.

Problem was, the technology was not available for me to film myself beyond the old grainy camcorders as we used to call them.

Well, fast forward to the year 2000, 13 years and indeed the technology became available.

the take home information.

And the skills that you would learn from this series would make you more confident in nature.

You'd stay warm, dry and safe, and therefore you'd be able to reconnect to the natural world.

What you're about to watch is raw and real, and not to be confused with reality television.

These are my journeys into the world of survival and around the planet.

These are the skills that can keep you alive and open the doors to nature.

The only reality that matters.

Holy crap.

(suspenseful tribal music) - I just heard something big crack.

The Canadian boreal forest, put simply, will always be my home.

Now, I wasn't raised there, but once I got the love of canoeing in my bones, well, that's where I spent all my time.

15 years solid of being an outdoor guide, I guided winter camping, dog sledding, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, all of that in the winter, obviously, but then also canoeing, hiking, sea kayaking.

So it only made sense that sooner or later for survivor man, I would want to base a story on being a stranded canoeist.

The Canadian North is one of the most vast areas of wilderness on the planet.

The forest here, reaching from Newfoundland to the Rocky Mountains, is the largest track of unbroken forest in the world.

Every year, nearly 2000 people are lost out here and have to face dangers ranging from the biting cold, exposure, starvation, and even predators.

This week, I'm stranded here miles from the closest human being.

I have seven days to not only survive, but find my own way out, all without shelter, or water, and with only one match.

Woo.

Oh.

Canadian North is magnificent this time of year.

Nights are clear and cold, and the bugs are all gone.

And if you're lucky, you get to experience the first winter snowfall.

Love to reward myself with a late fall canoe trip.

Problem is, when you're completely alone, if something does go wrong, that's serious.

All right, here we go.

(energetic rock music) Even the most experienced paddlers can be hit with it can't happen to me syndrome.

(water splashing) In most cases, on a river like this, a canoe can be gone for days downstream.

Camera crew leaves me alone now, completely alone.

I'm soaked to the bone.

It looks like it's gonna rain and sun's about to set.

Seven more days.

The first thing I have to assess, is my situation, and get my head straight.

The decisions made after an accident like this often define whether you're gonna survive or not.

(Upbeat music) It's the hikers that often, or lost hunters that often, have panic set in.

They don't think about making a shelter, they don't think about sitting down and staying calm.

Often, what happens is they just take off and they start going pretty much as fast as they can to try and get out because they're certain that just around the corner is gonna be the trail that they lost, or the road, or their car, or wherever, the parking lot, wherever it was they left to go on that hike.

Generally speaking though, they never find it.

Just to see what's in the pack.

All right.

Camera, camera gear, cheated a little.

There's the camera I'm using right now, and there's another tripod and a case, but, inside I have a rain pants, spare fleece, that's gonna help.

Oh yeah, my hat, a handful of cashews, and there's a little bit of beef jerky in there, one match, and a Swiss army knife.

We've got a great discovery over here on this side of the river.

This big flat rock is gonna be a great spot for me to get a huge fire going to try and dry out.

The good news is that it's not raining yet.

The bad news is, that it's snowing.

Not very much, but it's snowing.

I better get the fire going soon.

This big rock area in here, might make for a great shelter area if I can build a big fire all along here and reflect the heat back to me later in the night.

This guy's a little bit in the way.

Would've helped a lot more if I'd had an ax.

Gathering firewood without an ax, is not easy.

You're reduced to pretty much a lot of small wood.

That's a lot of gathering.

(branch cracking) Okay, time to use up my one match 'cause I gotta get dry, and I gotta get dry, quick.

Success with my one and only match.

It's been over an hour since I fell in the water, and I've remained soaked for the skin ever since, on this cool autumn day in great danger of hypothermia.

You know, it took me probably nearly two hours to get those clothes dry.

Now my job is just to keep that fire goin' as long and as hot as possible.

But night is coming in on me quick.

It's not gonna be a warm one.

In a couple hours, or at least when this fire dies down, I'll just sit here and wait for it.

I'll then push all the coals up against the big rock, take all these bows, put them down, and sleep on top with a nice warm bed.

Basically all the heat from the rock coming up through the bows.

I call it my Jeremiah Johnson shelter.

Now, actually, it's not a shelter at all.

If the wind picks up, or if the rain comes down heavy, or wet snow, I have a long wet night.

Hypothermia could chill me to the bone, and kill me quickly.

But it isn't the only danger I'm faced with in this remote Canadian wilderness.

(deep foreboding music) Most times, hypothermia doesn't occur in the winter.

It happens now, in the fall of the year, when the snow and the freezing rain can catch you by surprise.

But there's more.

This is the rutting season for the bull moose.

At this time of year, it's the most dangerous animal in North America.

Okay.

This is pretty much how I spent my night, like this.

Actually, the boughs in the, on the ground, and heating the rock up like that worked really well.

There's that, the rock is actually still warm to the touch.

And so I was pretty warm for about the first three hours maybe or something after that, though, even with the warmer ground, without having anything over top of me, it just started getting pretty cold.

Fortunately, it didn't rain it... I just heard something big crack.

Holy crap.

What an incredible sight.

I'm actually, I'm trembling.

I'm completely trembling right now.

I feel a lot better now that I saw that it was a cow moose.

I'm trembling because had that been a male, bull moose, in the rutting season, of which we are in the height of, and I'm in major moose territory, is hands down the most dangerous animal in Canada.

Bar none.

They're absolutely an insane creature during this time of year.

1500 pounds of absolute rage.

And I have been chased and put up a tree before, by a huge bull moose during this season.

I mean, she's past my camp, but now I'm gonna be wondering who's on her trail, because I'm sure she's got a bull or two not too far behind her.

I'm trying to get myself further up from the water's edge and I can, I can feel it getting warmer even right now, just coming up about 20 feet or so up the hill.

You can just feel the temperature difference as you go up in grades.

And that's good.

So I'm looking for a good shelter spot.

I think something's over here.

Yeah, it's up here.

Check this out.

That's not bad.

Not bad at all.

It does feel warmer up here, there's rocks there, there's sand.

It's a little damp here.

It's not gonna be comfortable, but it's gonna work.

I'm gonna put all these rocks, make a fire pit, so I have a bit of warmth.

That's under the assumption of course, that I can make a fire without matches.

And I'm up for the challenge.

Every location is different, but if I'm to survive seven days in Canada's north in the fall, shelter is a high priority.

Probably by far the safest way to break a branch is like this.

(branch snaps) You're protected from getting hit with the branch as it breaks.

A lot better than jumping on it.

It in the north, an ax holds the same importance as a machete does in the jungle.

Without one, survival is extremely difficult.

These spruce bows actually shed the rain really nicely.

I'm not gonna be super dry in this thing, but I'll be a heck of heck of a lot drier than I was last night, that's for sure.

And I didn't get rained on, but I was wide open.

At least this way.

I've got some protection.

I like to actually kind of poke the, the branches in so that they're nice and smooth like this.

You don't really have to, you can just throw them on.

But this way, all the rain sort of goes with the flow of the boughs.

Even if I can't get my fire going tonight, at least I'll be a little more comfortable in here.

A little more protected if not warmer.

Sometimes the only way to get yourself a nice sharp edge is to smash a rock.

This is dangerous though.

End up getting it hit back up in your eye or something.

Well, let's see how this goes.

(rocks crashing) Nope.

(rocks crashing) There we go.

That's what I'm looking for.

I figure, I might as well use my rock and I split open here because, it'll extend the life of my knife and not dull the blade.

That's why I also, you can get fires going without matches.

Even when you have matches, means you'll have matches for that much longer.

All I want is this fluffy, fluffy cedar bark here.

It's good fire starting tinder.

(deep whirring) In the fall in the Canadian wilderness, fire is a major priority.

My one match was gone long ago, leaving me to start a fire the way it's been done since the dawn of man, by rubbing two sticks together.

These guys here are nicknamed tinder fungus.

Let's find out why.

Well, I hope I didn't do something stupid here because, I've never tried this using this fungus method before and it's starting to get already, but dusk on me.

I made a decision, it was either add a lot more onto the shelter so I'm protected from the rain, which looks like might be coming in, or get a fire going.

And I opted to try for a fire.

Let's see.

So I've got my fire bow.

Which is just the bow, and this boot lace, and the spindle, straight and dead and dry, and then to push it all down, I've got this bearing block.

It's just a piece of wood and I've gouged out a hole to hold it all down.

And then the bottom end are the, are these funguses here, Let's give them a shot.

Ah, man.

Guess I should have practiced this one at home.

Only ever seen this done.

Oh man, this is useless.

Okay, I know somewhere out there, there's some wise bush guy who's saying, "Ah, come on.

It's easy."

(Wood rubbing) You know this is working, but it's killing my toes.

Ah, I'm gonna grab some cedar.

Now, this method I'm more familiar with.

So let's try it.

Put a little hole in here to start off.

It spins pretty good.

(wood rubbing) Oh, that's better.

Okay.

Oh, that's nice.

That's a good, good sign.

But you see it just gathers all around the top here and it's gotta have a place to go.

All that dust has to have a place to collect and form like a little ember.

So I'm gonna cut a notch in the side, sort of v. Here we go.

Now, hopefully that little notch there will give it a place, all the ash a place to fall.

Come on.

I probably should have just kept going on the shelter, covered it all in so I don't get rained on.

I'd be cold, but at least I'll be dry.

If I don't get the, and, that way I start the fire in the morning and put all the materials aside.

But I'm a get this fire going now.

Aye-yi-yi-yi.

Once I see smoke, it's my signal to keep going, not to quit.

And I have to remember to breathe.

I've got to give it all I can and then carefully stop so I don't knock everything flying.

I don't think there's anything more important than getting my fire going during this damp cold season.

(quiet breathing) This looks good.

This looks good.

Oh yeah.

Oh yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Ooh.

Better move the spindles outta the way.

Oh crap.

Shoot, shoot, shoot.

Talk about panic, I got no wood ready.

That's about as stupid as it gets.

All right, well, there's enough here from the other fire.

I'm gonna build it up nice and high, and then I'll take it into the shelter with me.

So I've got it there for the night.

(quiet jazz music) Carrying the fire more than a hundred yards through the thick bush is a lot easier said than done.

All right.

Here's what I got.

Now I gotta get my way all the way to the other shelter.

(grunting) I'm not gonna make it.

That was interesting.

I tried to make myself a torch to take to the shelter.

Got to be a little too much.

I'm gonna have to try that again as I gotta get a fire over to the shelter somehow.

(fire crackling) Sorry I didn't bring you with me on that one, it's just too much work trying to carry the fire and the camera at the same time.

Before it gets too dark, all I'm gonna do now is gather some firewood.

Lots of it.

(deep urgent music) The rule of thumb is look at your firewood pile.

When you first think you have enough, then make it five times bigger, if you want to make it through the night.

There's nothing worse than running out in the dark.

(hopeful music) Well, I made it through the night all right.

It's a lot better being protected with this shelter.

It got too dark on me too quick, and I ran out of time to cover over the shelter more, but it only rained just a little bit, so I wasn't too bad off.

And even with my feet getting pretty cold, just being able to warm my face and hands up by the fire or turn around and put my feet by the fire, made a big difference.

Now I better get this shelter covered over some more.

So, in case any foul weather does come in, I'll be protected.

I have to start thinking about food.

In Northern Canada, there's about an eight week window to gather wild edible plants.

After that, if you don't hunt or fish, you'll starve.

Any bit of extra little, bit of sustenance I can get is gonna be helpful.

And here's some yellow wood sorrel.

Hmm.

Gotta lemony taste to it.

It's just a delicate little plant, grows around wet areas, like beaver dams and swamps and moist woods.

Not a lot of calories, but at least it's got some vitamins to it.

I don't know if this is true, but I've always done it.

I drink a lot of water and mark my territory all around my camp, and hopefully it'll serve as a signal to bears passing by that they shouldn't come in this area.

I could be fooling myself though.

(spring bouncing) Finding a piece of birch bark like this is great.

If you just cut down the center of it, you can take it out, open it up, and you've got yourself a nice shingle, which is gonna help to get some of the, keep you from getting wet.

This is actually a good place to find grubs, and worms, and things that you can throw in the stew pot, if you want.

But maybe you can also find grubs and things for bait, carpenter ants, and big juicy creepy crawlies.

Cook 'em all up in a nice pot of water.

And you've got some sustenance there.

(wood rustling) Oh.

Well, there's something I wasn't counting on, while I left to get some more bows and some more firewood, I came back and all the underside of the tree roots here were on fire.

They were all, there was flames coming up and I had to quickly grab a rock and scrape 'em all down to put out the fire.

Well, that's the last thing I want here.

Even though I want to be warm tonight.

That's not the kind of warm I'm talking about.

So I'm gonna have to make use of some of the dirt that's here and pack this in and put some, a bigger rock, couple big rocks there, to protect this whole underside from catchin' on fire again.

Gotta remember that.

Man, what I'm making here is one big gigantic tinder bundle.

Just staying alive can be dangerous.

(drum music) Ever since I got here, there's been a couple of red squirrels chattering around me all day long.

And what I'm making here, well, it's called a figure four dead fall.

If there's squirrels or rodents, like rats or mice around, it works just about on any location to help up the odds of getting some sustenance.

And, you know, a little bit of meat in my belly tonight would go a long way towards making me a warmer.

I'm sure.

If I can get this to hold.

It's like a little hairpin trigger.

Ah.

Damn.

Okay, so this part's a little too big.

Try that again.

Come on.

Ah.

Decided to make a whole new set, smaller and I grabbed a different rock too.

Ow!

Ow.

Ah.

Ow.

(frustrated groaning) Ow!

Ah.

Ow.

Last thing I wanna do is break a finger.

Ow!

Ugh.

Let's try this again.

See if I can get this one to work.

I don't know what's up today.

And I definitely pinched my thumb.

You know, it's only a pinched thumb, but out here every injury is magnified.

Because it's just that much more discomfort you gotta go through when you're out here.

Oh.

I forget to put the bait right on the stick before I lay the trap.

So now I have to lay it all around.

This could turn out to be a foolish waste of my only food.

I don't know if this is even worth it.

Oh god, that's horrible.

I hate that feeling like you've lost your sense of direction.

Finally, some meat.

Escargot, anybody?

Well, it probably doesn't look all that bad on camera, but trust me, it's a downpour.

How appetizing is that?

How appetizing is that?

I really need food so I can function.

Well, what goes down must come up.

It was just too much and too bitter for my stomach to handle.

And I hate being sick in the bush.

Directly inspired by his own survival expeditions, journeys and challenges.

World renowned survival instructor Les Stroud brings you survive, essential skills and tactics to get you out of anywhere alive.

Available for 19.99.

In addition, the book will to live Dispatches from the Edge of Survival is available, featuring Les Stroud's own top ten survival stories of all time.

21.99.

To order, please go to lesstroud.ca, and click on shop