Manistee National Forest in 4K | Hiking, Camping and Canoeing Disaster on the Manistee River

Description

Big thanks to ~Pine River Paddlesports~ for delivering and picking up the canoes for us! Their canoes are fantastic, we just messed up :) Check out their website: http://www.thepineriver.com/

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Tags: bushcraft,backpacking,hiking,camping,wilderness,survival,outdoors,travel,outdoor recreation,prepping,nature,4k,wild,survival skills,ray mears,les stroud,Michigan,Huron,Manistee,Canoeing,Camping,Hiking,Capsize,Panasonic GH5,Sony A7sii,manistee river trail

Video Transcription

[Music]

after a night spent in the woods we awoke to sights and sounds of a serene woodland landscape

[Music]

Boston mushrooms covered every stone and logged and the canopy flowed in the late summer breeze

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it was good to be back on the trail for our first backpacking outing since the road trip we chose to hike through this beautiful landscape on the Manistee river trip

and with all the water we found plenty of mush from sprouting from the ground ok so there's these mushrooms on the ground this one has been plucked already and eaten by slugs and there's another one hiding in here this is in the genus lactulose which basically just means like a milky cap and the reason is because when you cut the gills this sort of milky white substance comes out milky cap mushrooms in the genus lacked if loose in lactarius often to have a vase shaped cap where the center is sunken in I'm just going to leave the trail went down into gulches and back up along hillsides every time revealing a spectacular view of the river to the west

[Music]

and on the opposite side mushrooms like this bowl eat hidden the foliage seeing a few puff balls over our time but this one is called the gem studded puff ball also just called the common puff ball it's got these tiny little prickles or little studs on it but these are actually edible and when you cut it in half if it's pure white on the inside like that then it's good to eat we donned our rain jackets as it started drizzling from the overcast skies in love and along the way we saw one of the cliffside campsites this trail has to offer so this is one of the designated campsites that you'll run along to on the Manistee River Trail and when I was here with Nicole we actually stopped by a really great one further up and I'm hoping we'll stay at that ones at night because you walked in towards the river and had a great overlook of the river but we'll see if that one's gonna be available tonight gonna be good just being next to the big river with that open view it's like super calming and it's kind of a relaxing feeling right now but I'm also really excited to look at how beautiful that river is for reasons that I will not see right now the one good thing about the rain is that it's cooled off the weather substantially it definitely feels like it's about to start coming down pretty hard

[Music]

[Applause]

we wandered through a stand of white pines and I spotted some medicinal inedible plants so as I'm walking I see this arrow plant sticking out over here but also all along this hillside are these three leaf plants which to an untrained eye it might actually look like poison ivy but this actually is a plant in the pea family called groundnut but it also has a name called hog peanut is it sort of a name that people gave to it to sort of shame Native Americans who were eating this plant they basically said well this is food that only a hog would eat and that's why they called it man groundnut has edible legumes that grow both above ground and underground we also saw this interesting painted rock hidden away in some tree roots we continued on the trail came to another overlook that provided an amazing view of the river we were finally back in nature on our own feet breathing in the open air there were no walls separating us from the wilderness being this exposed to the wild can be an ecstatic experience but it can also cause all sorts of unwanted trouble

[Music]

[Music]

in the midst of a thunderstorm we continued hiking the weather had is a bit nervous but there was nothing we could do about that right now we passed by some turkey tail fungi stop for lunch and I spotted some signs of a certain tree on the ground I found this peculiar looking seed thing was actually belongs to the American linden tree or basket tree and this tree actually it's got leaves are edible in the springtime when they're just first forming and the kind of light green and tender and these seed pods when they're still green they're actually a good medicine to brew a tea in and you can also extract the nuts from these little bits here obviously this one's a little past the prime but you take the nuts out of there and eat those too the leaf looks and nothing like this on the tree but yeah it's seed pod just looks so weird

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was it Granny Smiths that we had in the Smokies it might have been I bring them out every time now just for a nostalgia sake birth week eating it like corn on the cob

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so these are Ganoderma Apple madam the artist conk you can draw on the floor surface and you can make some nice pretty pictures some mountains I don't know whatever you know a little bird up here but it's pretty satisfying to just do that the poor surface will grow back when it's on the tree every year and you can sort of keep rubbing it off [Music]

along with artists comp we also saw some crowded parchment fungi and some false turkey tales as the rain continued falling the path led us down into the forest where we crossed a bubbling brook [Music]

then we climbed a small hill and entered a section of the forest that was covered in an expanse of ferns despite the rain I keep taking my hood off because it's so warm that I just am sweating from the inside out so it's like if comfort is the issue I might as well just have my hood down I will say after having experienced big surf I'm not as afraid of this type of weather anymore I'm coming into it with the right expectations so even if we get wet I feel like it'll be much more manageable than big surf you go out and you backpack for the first time then awful experience everything that's out of your control happens and that just makes you be more prepared for your next backpacking trip that's true isn't it so I always talking about is the bullet ant love there's a tribe of people in South America who live in the jungle and they construct a glove out of leaves and they put a bunch of bullet ants stinger side in and you have to stick your hand in there for like hours multiple times as a coming-of-age ritual and I'm pretty sure after that nothing in the jungle faces things I think there's a lot of things in life that play hidden among the foliage was a small amphibious friend this it looks like Bufo american-us the American toad there's a similar one called Bufo FAL Larry but the way you tells that it's bumps are surrounded by these dark spots and on the American toad there's only like one or two bumps in each spot and on the other toad the fowleri toad or whatever it's going there's multiple bumps in a black spot also sometimes when you try to pick these toads up they'll uh pee right in your hand and that's sort of a defense mechanism it's not very pleasant but it's probably better than what they're experiencing we came across yet another campsite right it is one of the campsite huh like if this is an official campsite foot

it's really interesting cuz they just have the slab of concrete nearly all of food we are on the lost island yeah there's a hatch underneath here this is such a cool place really cool before moving on

we enjoyed another view of the river Bert's flew along the River Valley and down below some other outdoor enthusiasts paddled downstream as for us we continued on our feet down into another gully which opened up into a flat swampy expanse we passed by some interesting pine trees before entering a wetland area full of golden rods rushes and willows we hiked on in the rain and though it wasn't the best of conditions we did find some fantastic treasures because of the damp weather

all right bees aren't the biggest balls I've seen but these are some giant puff balls and there are lots of them coming tender that they're all over - like it's like we've just stumbled across the seven dragonballs kill this tell me this does not feel just like a baseball or something whoa Wow doesn't that feel like does it pop so later on when it gets older it'll turn yellow inside and all the spores will release when it like falls apart but I think we're gonna collect some buddies and eat them up at some point it's perfectly white inside which means that it's good to eat I gotta find a place to store these puff balls can get much bigger than this bigger than your head even but these were good enough for us we came across some old worn-out trees full of holes and cracks Johnny and then continued on [Music]

I think the rain is letting up I just want to continue my jinxing throughout the day every now and then tempt fate just kidding I'm not whatever you give us is good it's probably one of the Midwest's more interesting looking plants but this is a seed pod of a jack in the pulpit and especially with the rain where everything's like this vibrant green the Reds berries just like stick out so vibrantly it's got these characteristic three leaves and earlier in the season before these were berries it was more like this pitcher plant flower kind of thing this was a really interesting with the plant and we also saw some beautiful grass of Parnassus flowers

[Music]

further along the trail were some more fungi like white coral fungus [Music]

we also saw another toad and some interesting acorns these acorns look like those uh what are those called caltrops breasts yeah the defense's that they use in World War two what are those called it is caltrops okay and then in a stretch of pine forests we found some more exciting mushrooms okay so this is super exciting for me this is the first time I've seen these mushrooms these are called lobster mushrooms and they've got this like distinct red almost powdery look and he's like not very distinct ridges and what this actually is is a pair of study of fungi taking over another mushroom but it is inedible it's considered a choice edible unfortunately the insides were a little too buggy and run so he didn't bother picking any mushrooms [Music]

we also saw some yellow feathers possibly belonging to an American Goldfinch

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eventually the trail intersected with the road where we stopped to take a look at the met this is where we are right now Cottage Road looks like those campsite 7a just a pebble we could sit down and have a bite but 3b is where Nicole and I took our first break it was right in front of that big u-turn on the river and that's a great campsite but I'd like to get up to 3a which is also a really good campaign it puts us much closer to the dam for tomorrow morning we've been hiking north on the Manistee River Trail and would continue north from here we would hike parallel to the river heading upstream the entire time along the way we'd be camping at campsite 3a for the night once we reach the northern terminus at the Houghton Pihl damn we had some other things in mind for the rest of the trip but we talked about that later [Music]

we came across some edible Partridge berries and the trail again led onto a foggy gully where we crossed Cedar Creek [Music]

the haze gave the whole area beautiful mysterious appearance

[Music]

back on top of the hill I found some more mushrooms it's tiny orange mushroom in the ground here it's so small that you may not even notice it's just walking around but this is Cantor Ellis Minor which is a species of chanterelle that's really tiny usually it's got a much more distinctly bright orange color compared to the common chanterelles that you're used to finding but it does have the same characteristics where instead of gills it just has ridges on the bottom also equally tasty and then the trail led to another intersection with a road the same road Nicole and I started hiking on our last time here back in the woods we were surrounded by pines and we saw some under-ripe false Solomon's seal berries which are edible once they're a solid red color so I have actually never seen this plant before but I'm pretty sure it is in the milkweed genus you've got pods here that resemble very much the swampy milkweed that grows back home the leaves look really different when I used to though there are a lot like thinner and more delicate I guess but this broken leaf you can actually see some of the milk seeping out of it so it's definitely got to be something in that genus as it turns out this was a butterfly milkweed which is usually found in more open meadows and has brilliant orange flowers in the summertime the trail led us down a hill once again where he had crossed a sturdy bridge

once we cross the stream andrew spotted some signs of a treat hidden in the soil so one thing that a lot of people like looking for in the springtime are ramps or wild leeks but around this time of year the leaves are long gone and so that's usually the easiest way to identify them but if you look carefully you can find these stalks with all these seeds the seed pods will be these green like sort of three bump things and the seeds are these like dark black almost pearly looking spheres if you see one of these you can just pull it up from the ground just kind of got a work at it and then then you just peel this outer layer off to get to the garlicky good stuff inside

although ramps are particularly popular in the spring they're a delicious treat to find an autumn but I never take more than a few when I'm using the bulbs and I scatter the seeds on the stalk so no more ramps will continue to grow are you guys hanging the rain had died down but the weather still seemed testy the trail once again opened up and meadow way plants grew from the sandy soil

we looked across the river at the peculiar juniper trees on the opposite bank and then decided to try a tart treat growing nearby when actually not sure what species of cherry this is but uh I do know it is the cari tree and like you're not gonna get poisoned by a cherry it's gonna be really sour though most likely the darker the berry is probably the sweeter very sour yeah like makes me want to spit it out immediately yeah it's actually a little bitter that ones that I had so so it does taste like a cherry yeah you can have that like cherry essence in it but uh super bitter too it's like a tiny grape and then we were off aspen trees stood tall above an open expanse of ferns deeper in the woods we wandered along old moss covered tangles of roots

and growing nearby was the poisonous dolls I plan the sharp twists and turns of the river became even more visible from this spot along the trail we decided to sit down and have a snack off in the distance we saw some dogs who had excitedly scrambled down the steep riverbank but we're now struggling to get up luckily they eventually found their way back up now that the dogs were safe we felt we could move on grassy open forests grew on our right and the river flowed rapidly to our left we now entered another section of pines where ferns spanned across the forest floor [Applause]

whether it was out in the open or deep in the woods this whole landscape was absolutely beautiful and it was teeming with life like this huge mushroom [Music]

we need some flowing creeks and came across a strange omen someone not make it through the night I don't know why someone would just leave this whole thing here there's somebody abandoned their entire tent setup it's got to be like a hundred dollars right moved onward hiking into a section of the woods that was flooded with pools of glass of water [Applause]

[Music]

orange coral fungi sprouted from the surrounding damp leaf litter [Music]

sections of the trail went right along the river bank where the flowing waters had massively eroded the sandy cliffs away

broy nearby was blue cohosh a traditional medicinal plant one really good thing about today is that we're actually gonna get to our campsite before it gets dark yeah Thomas has been uh kind of pushing us along but it'd be good to get there because we never know when the rain might hit again and setting up in the dark is bad enough yeah plus we've got some mushrooms to cook up tonight did you ever get a second wind when hiking like especially when you get close to a campsite it's like when we were eating lunch I was like man I'm really tired I would love to just stop right here it's like when you know that you're about to hit something good you just get that burst of energy cuz why wouldn't you you know yeah you might as well make it to that spot it also helps that like the weather actually cleared up I think I gave us a nice that you win - yeah sure I was gonna say maybe it's good to front-load the rain so that the rest of the trip seems easy by comparison but I don't know if I actually think that cuz if you have rain at the end you can just be like well at least we get to leave and have a post like man ok so there's some ground here and this is very bizarre look at this what yeah between the strange muddy ground and the alien looking green elf cup fungi and the uncertainty of the weather this hike had a beautiful but bizarre feeling we made our way towards our campsite and saw another bizarre sight it's a big pile of trash there

it's always frustrating seeing litter left behind by other people especially when it's so much that we can't hike it out ourselves but nonetheless we were feeling pretty happy as we hiked into our campsite for the night just a great view or what a good campsite we relieved our shoulders of our bags and sat down to rest a bit we had actually hiked a decent amount in dealing with the rain earlier had been fairly exhausting but we soon had to set up our camp because we didn't know how long the good weather would hold up I am thinking my sweet sweet time with this [Music]

as we were setting up some other campers told us they were heading out and that we could take their spot which was a bit more centrally located that's how armed you guys but that rain is rain was falling and I hardly set up a large tarp so that we could all take refuge ok so I'm gonna use Thomas's hiking poles to sort of hang up the rest of them as if it's a tree and the tension is what will keep everything up as Andrew set up the tarp we began transferring all our gear underneath to keep it relatively dry [Music]

this is a gonna be a vast improvement from Big Sur we moved all our shelters together forming one big rain proof floor I don't feel right on me what about you

I think this is great this is Thomas was saying this is the most prepared we've ever been

I wish the tour could be a little more taught everywhere but uh no this is nice so this is uh Josh Laurie who sent it to us yeah the red line we were gonna bring it out to Big Sur but totally brain farted and gonna bring it it would have been really not gonna totally use that in Big Sur yeah yeah every time we are expecting rain I've wanted to have just like a little setup where we had it's hard to take shelter under on and finally we're doing it and it's actually really nice

like I said it's not gonna be raining all night so we're experiencing I'm pretty sure this is nice as I've ever felt in the rain won't you be my neighbor good luck guys this is what we call decadent living well at least that's what I call it it's like the opposite of big serve and like Big Sur we're cramped in these little plenty tents like just like miserable and this one I like only once shame on you fool me twice what we want can't get fooled again it was really peaceful under our big shelter but the rain kept coming down and pulling up in the saggy parts of the tarp the storm picked up and we added some fortifications to our tarp shelter we started this wall over here there's still another gap between these two tarps but we felt some of the myths flowing in so I think it'll help a little bit

we're getting misted from this side now oh well we were able to take a look at the weather radar and it looks like it's gonna be gone within an hour but right now I think we're right in the heart of the biggest part of the rain [Applause]

eventually the rain subsided we wandered out from underneath the tarp we snagged a bit hung up some clothes to dry and got out the puffballs for dinner did they get us pigs your head it's actually you can do it Oh after a few party tricks I peeled the latex like skin off the puff balls this part of the mushroom is perfectly edible but ours had gotten dirty and we didn't want to waste any drinking water cleaning them off you know sometimes I think that people litter because just humans aren't meant to think in that way because they found like archeological piles of shells and like discarded bones and stuff called mitten piles where people would just like eat mussels on the beach and then throw it behind really but it makes sense because like this stuff is all biodegradable I mean yeah maybe as we sat there the Sun finally peered through the clouds and the golden light shine on our campsite so it's moments like these where like I hate kind of think that existence is a balance between pain and pleasure but I kind of think that it's like slightly biased towards pleasure it definitely is and it's moments like these that really make me think that like we endured the rain but it really wasn't that bad and now this moment is just like so sublime it's like peeling oranges these puff balls that the sunshine I think in general you can count on the universe to be like 60 to 70% good in the rest bed hmm yeah so like whenever you're experiencing bad you just wait a little bit and then get that creamy 60 to 70 you kind of need that to understand what it is to be good oh yeah I don't know there's something about just like being wet and then drying off outdoors that's like that is the height of existence right or a human at least there's also something really like therapeutic about simple tasks like this oh yeah you know how that people say like nobody's snaps green beans with Grandma anymore

there's beautiful whites in puffballs to add some flavor to our puffballs our wild garlic bulbs so these puff balls have both a very mushroomy aroma and kind of a mushroomy taste usually when I find these and I'm not camping well first of all they'll be like this big and I'll usually keep the skin on just cut it in slices dip it in egg and fry it in a pan it's really good rummage around in that cotton bag and see if there's any thing we could throw in to spice it up we decided to throw in some sriracha peanut butter to add a bit more flavor to our dish and after simmering for a while it was time to give these puff balls a taste it's actually really got like a texture of tofu or something hmm not bad pretty pleasing yeah yeah yeah it looks terrible

but the texture is almost like a firmer tofu yeah yeah hmm run a good flavor you can taste that garlic Wow wild garlic is ma intensity and you can taste some of the that mushroom a flavor too I don't have your gain that mmm that's good it had like a more flavor than you would give it credit for and not even just like the sriracha peanut butter and stuff but the mushroom flavor is almost more of an aromatic sort of thing like yeah it's juicy too yeah yeah Wow why does fungus taste good now we got the spider-man's Uncle Ben with great power comes great responsibility for our main course we would be preparing some small tacos first we needed some Spanish rice after heating up the rice we added our next ingredient this is Tony Packo's Chile which i think is like a Toledo brand nice so there's already meat in there a lot of spice this place that makes it nice add the rice [Music]

then we heated up some corn tortillas and melted slices of cheese on them that's nice and melty I'll have to cut them a little thinner next time but that's I mean I don't think I was gonna claim about that and then we added some chili on top and indulged hmmm from the first bite man for once your bachelor cooking has really come in handy this is great this is my idea oh good job it's got everything you need cheese meat carbs good look at that cheese right there

we had cheese the world was a better place it finally felt like things were really coming together we had hot food in our bellies the rain had dissipated and the Sun was finally out [Music]

and the only thing more beautiful than the sky was the mist rising up off the river surface

[Music]

misty clouds rolled past a Golden Sun soaked backdrop

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before long this hazy evening turned a dusk and we all hope this moment of peace would last for the rest of the trip so let me ask you this do you think when you're outside in rough weather like this are some people inherently better at roughing it or you kind of have to like break your bones it's a service being practice practice to get better at this I was gonna say the same thing yeah it's practice because every successive trip where we've had to deal with bad weather it's gotten a little bit easier and then we had Big Sur and that was an anomaly it's funny because like every time I go home after a camping trip I can feel myself just like withering away back into my civilized mode and I just feel like I need to get out more and like learn to endure it more we start to Pat our existence with convenience and the ability to not face adversity and inconvenience and so when you're sitting there and you're trying to say do I want to go hiking or backpacking this weekend well it looks like it might rain for a few hours that's gonna be really uncomfortable I better call it off but once you're out here you realize it's really not that bad and like you sort of get into the groove of things not only is it not that bad you miss out on all the good stuff like what we got right now if you aren't willing to deal with the bad part dealing with problems in making like that struggle and is something that you look forward to and actually like take head-on makes life a lot more satisfying yeah yeah adventure is such a funny word because you think that it's much more grandiose than it is it's like a small adventure but it's still so much fun no I mean like even when we were kids we would like go to the fast food place at 7 a.m. or something like that it's important to take all the moments in life and see the bright spots in them to enjoy the drama and adventure of the rougher bumps and to live in the moment when the good times roll around later that night we found a weighted sandbag someone had abandoned at the campsite which we used to hang up our food for the night

and then we drifted off to sleep [Applause]

the next day we awoke to overcast skies flies an equipment that was not particularly dry

in the river below we spotted some common mergansers swimming around and diving underwater to catch fish [Music]

some of the more successful ones had to fend off would-be thieves [Music]

eventually the clouds rolled away to reveal a beautiful blue sky above [Music]

we had high hopes for the rest of the day with the sun shining we got our gear packed and headed out [Music]

we walked by some parasitic Beach drop plants and hiked on through the woods [Music]

as we peered out from the forest we saw bright sunshine and more blue skies and our spirits were high and growing on some damp logs were some witches butter fungi tiny oyster mushrooms and some sort of pluteus mushroom

[Music]

super foggy River here and I think this is a perfect spot on philip water [Music]

a calm flowing stream we had filled up at was the stark contrast to what we saw next looks like it's even real it's kind of like when you went to all those putt-putt golf courses when you're a kid and someone just lazily made a waterfall yeah that's what it looks like and then we came across the campsite Nicole and I had stayed that during the spring we've stopped here because we thought would be prudent to be closer to the dam for the hike the next day the only disadvantage was that it's like right next to the trail so we continued hiking on with what we had planned it wasn't quite time to settle down at a campsite yet further up the trail diverged into different paths there's a little trail leading up here we're gonna find out what's up here turns out like the rest of this trail it led to another incredible overlook of the Manistee River below after enjoying the view we continued on [Music]

the views from the trail continue to impress and as we hiked we kept going from one distinct environment to another [Music]

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soon we solve suspension bridge in the distance which meant we were getting to the trails northern terminus but before continuing on I spotted a wild edible to try alright so this is the fruit of a staghorn sumac and you can actually suck on these little red berries that kind of got like this fuzzy texture but they look like really tiny fuzzy strawberries get the ones on the bottom that might have more flavor but it's got like this lemony sourness yeah I wouldn't say it's that great though well so the vein is when you forage these you want to make sure it hasn't rained recently which obviously has because that actually tends to wash all the flavor away hmm but it's like really good if you mix it in water and like you can create your own lemonade which is citrus face so we got an apple tree here but unfortunately all the apples are too high to reach yeah you can get one of those there's a good one all right yeah you know you can call me Tommy Appleseed oh oh [Music]

[Music]

that one's really good hmm Wow maybe gain apples indeed Wow hmm that is delicious I was expecting to be really sour mm-hmm yeah I was just about to ask you guys after that disappointing berry that we just had what's your favorite thing you found in the trail I think I just found mine little did Thomas know you'd feel even more disappointment in just a few minutes so where are the canoes supposed to be well I'm just hoping that we'll see them somewhere near the shore of the dam I might have to have a look around a bit though and they had it going on the other side well I'm just trying to we arrived at the dam and as cool as it was to see it from our vantage point we were supposed to be heading off the trail and taking canoes back down the river but there was no clear spot to launch a canoe so as near as we can tell the canoe there's no good place for it to land this side of the river but there's a parking lot over there and at the bottom there's an actual canoe launch point so I think our best bet is to go back cross the suspension bridge and then head over there and hopefully the canoe is somewhere up in that market our tired feet yearned for the river and it was a bit of a hike back to the wobbly suspension bridge is a little wobbly whoa

let's not linger too long on the other side of the river we pass by some more staghorn sumac and emerged at a parking area

[Music]

[Applause]

from there we followed a stretch of dirt road to the other side of the dam [Music]

and finally we found some hope see anything good Pine River watercraft this is it ladies and gentlemen we got it that was my fault actually I just kind of assumed the canoes would be dropped off on the east side of the river so we had to do a little extra walking but got our canoes the confusion in the extra hiking seemed annoying in the moment but it only made us appreciate getting out on the water that much more he secured our bags to the thoughts and glided out onto the river I could never overstate how much I loved doing and especially after like hiking miles through the rain to be able to get our packs off and just glide on the water it's like so liberating yeah this is quite nice no complaints for me Oh oh man this is the life right this is sublime that's what this is beautiful River news oh it's so cold dude we gotta go son [Music]

it felt so amazing to be flowing down the water such ease even if it meant getting pushed around by the currents a little bit in just a couple of minutes we paddled under the suspension bridge that we had trudged across earlier it was amazing how fast we were going back down the river speeding past sections of the trail that took us so much longer to hike up ahead there was a split with a bit of choppier water on the left Anders very confident in his paddling abilities Oh big rock right there Andrew Andrew we got a big branch up ahead

Andrew Andrew okay we cleared that a lot faster than they do I don't I don't even see them yet okay so we're in some shallow water let's get ourselves out looks like the right path is untraceable

okay here we go [Applause]

we were pushed along by the fast river currents which was quite a bit of fun [Music]

working hard

the river was absolutely beautiful with vegetation and wildlife surrounding us on all sides but there were moments where our peaceful Glide became a bit more of a hectic ride across Rapids but either way one thing seemed for sure paddling sure beat - do you guys remember when we had to walk around hauling our packs like suckers the vague distant memory now you guys remember when you had to paddle for yourself either Thomas mentioned that I enjoyed paddling as much as he enjoys driving that only works though if we're not driving through the Midwest as if you put me in a car full of cornfields for hours I can't do that it ain't about hiking it ain't about paddling neither you got to find that balance Thomas's Matthew McConaughey impression was just the thing to put us into his end state of mind for the rest of our River journey

[Music]

as we paddle down the river the Sun came out and a cool breeze rolled by if there is any greater peace than canoeing in the wilderness i certainly have an experienced [Music]

see you later [Music]

it's impossible to convey the feelings you get as you flow along the river if someone asked me to tell them what select canoe I don't think I could put together all the right words to really convey that's what it's like to be out here because you can see things like relaxing calming peaceful but it it's more than that it's just a feeling I can hear a cat bird in the distance kind of just mewing as the cat Birds called and stopped along the way for a bite of lunch we have some snacks from one of our viewers Jen Potts please enjoy some trail snacks thanks for making such great content and for keeping me inspired year-round

July 10th through 14th I'll be on the Mount Whitney trail and hear episodes have been so helpful as well as Thomas thanks for chatting with me happy trails and lots of new adventures Jen puns she got all the way to Lone Pine drove across the country and there's a fire and the road was closed oh she really couldn't even go up but they went to Joshua Tree and said and I think they had a good time that's good all right so I'm sorry Jen try again but thank you so we've got these honeys honey stinger protein bars and this other bar there were stroopwafels included but those all got eaten before we had coconut and we got caffeine coffee huh this one's coconut almond

thank you so much sand pots follow her check the description below for her in strength

Thank You Jen then it was time to relive our college days with some instant Mac and thank you to all our patrons you helped make the upgrade from 25 cent robin to 50 cent robin [Music]

you look like a Japanese like malchemia mochi maker

hola man la school see kata mom are you dick denier ah Monsieur walk a night but our flavor is still one point crunchy for a walk tonkotsu ramen this the only simulator Toki me so no Sukhoi ramen yes on my shield day Tomkins Rama not a bad day for Allah Oh aah stole you ramen John itis whatever yes sir you're robbing this it's really good we just wish the bull was bigger right now there is such a noticeable difference between cheap ramen and slightly less cheap ramen now I know they say to wait however long after eating to swim what I'm such a bad swimmer anyway I don't think it'll make a difference this is like the perfect weather for this Matt clay a hot tub in Louisiana but just as nice

I dare have to stick my head under what did ya like seek opportunities like this out one thing is for damn sure is that everyday life will not give me stuff like this unless you make an effort there go with it you have to like work your way I like it legitimately trying not to get no no what's a call nirvana Satori I have achieved Satori of your cheats pretty guys up to after goofing around like fools on land we got back in our canoes and proceeded to goof around like a bunch of fools on the water

[Music]

doing pretty good all right let's go over there let's go over there let's go over there

[Music]

we passed by fallen logs resembling giant bones and all around us the first signs of autumn we're showing it feels like just yesterday we were in Point Reyes talking about the beginning of summer yeah and now the leaves are already starting to change up here I think being out here kind of reminds me of the importance of like just living with sort of an awareness of life living mindfully because it's so easy to just go week to week kind of like an autopilot and I do that a lot but when you're out here and you have to like hike every mile or paddle down a river and you're just observing everything going on around you you're kind of a lot more aware of your surroundings and it actually makes time pass a little slower [Music]

Thomas dead long stretches of serenity we're occasionally interrupted by brief moments of panic there's a shipwrecked canoe below us yeah yeah more so than Mammoth Green River as we paddled and spotted a potential camping spot yeah here the site looks pretty flat not too much high grass could be an ideal spot to camp so we're gonna look for a spot to uh we got the boat stocked and began setting up camp I had apparently misplaced my tent poles and had to improvise a shelter with some hiking poles and speaking of improvisation

so Thomas reminded us that we had these really convenient paddles which you can use as a way to set up your tarp as well when you don't have any extra hiking sticks or just any sticks at all and as is common with our luck before we could make any finessed adjustments to our shelters the rain started coming down once again we turned the canoes over and began shoving our gear on our Anders hastily set up tarp as the afternoon ruled by the rain developed from a light sprinkling into a significant drizzle tarp is holding up for now but the weather gets really bad we might have all four of us in Thomas's tent or under the canoes this is like the type of weather where suddenly lightning strikes five feet away like some in fate poles and no trees around us hmm I really wish you would have stayed at the campsite and then the next moment it's weather is a huge tease like rain Sun rain more rain it's going that way so looks terrible over there I'm hoping we only got like the very edge of it look at that over there if it's going away from us and we definitely miss the thunders just barely the rain had cleared away and the Sun was shining but in the distance towering thunder clouds roiled and churned in the sky

[Music]

for now the Evening Sun warmed everything up around us and we all relaxed about the camp I decided to take another dip into the river to escape the heat while the Sun was out and back on land I had some palak paneer cooking for dinner and the reason why I got this is because when Andrew and I were in the Smokies and we were at a campsite and had barely any food and there was these two other dudes and one of them had like a dehydrated like Indian meal what he was done eating is like here I'm too full did one of you guys want this and he gave that to us and it was just like the best tasting food was like I want to relive that experience and have the nostalgia so I got this it looks and smells good that we'll see it wasn't clearance after actually pretty tasty

not quite as good as what you'd get at a restaurant but out here I think the scenery makes up for the lack of refinement it's how you get home sitting in my underwear yeah pretty much everybody here Harrison and I happen to have some naan which would be the perfect complement to this dinner at the cartoon character drifting towards a pie on a windowsill the rest of our evening was filled with laughter I had some dehydrated mashed potatoes and chicken I wanted to prepare for dinner as well and while we were waiting for it to cook I spotted a bald eagle perched on a tree just down the river as if a harbinger of storms as soon as the Eagle flew off thunder and rain began rolling in and we started scrambling to make sure our equipment was dry just like that our brief moment of peace was snatched away so this is not really the greatest campsite because a little bit open yeah there is lightning out there should we actually think about moving into the force now there's one big tree over there I'd say worst-case scenario we just go in there and we wait till the lightning stops maybe our stuff here want to do that I don't know I just know being in a big open field is not the best thing to be in a storm the rain is definitely coming down

it is thundering as you can clearly hear a little upset with out of the end of this turned out but I don't know as long as it doesn't rain the whole night should we see that lightning is getting kinda strong everybody just get your jackets on and we'll just make a break for it we're gonna get to the forest just in case we're gonna leave our tents up and then just bring our rain jackets and a tarp because we would much rather be safe than sorry you guys ready let's go yeah let's go [Music]

no map

yo man

[Music]

okay

very good yeah I don't know I think this is just the safer route for now I mean we're like right out in an open field out there that lightnings like right above us we grabbed our spare tarp and set it up as we watch the lightning flash above

[Music]

I definitely know it's not good to like stand in the middle of a meadow during like it's one but yeah you don't want to stand under a tree if you're in a field because then you're just making yourself putting yourself under a taller target good news is we got some mashed potatoes we just Hazzard Lee put this tarp up get a little more rain off of us well right now it sounds like the Thunder is going away from us and it's dying down I feel like we'll be clear to go back to our campsites within an hour so but maybe we could leave this up all night just in case we have to do another retreat though I'd be okay with moving everything here eventually when the rain clears up

remember window is just beautiful and sunny and yeah meadow there wasn't wasn't that long ago this kind of a fun in its own right though this is an adventure no doubt about that I'm just a little nervous for my life like there's part of me that actually likes this it's exciting yeah like the thrill it makes feel alive so I'm gonna put my phone in and say that the rain died down we moved stuff here I like I feel like I could fall asleep right now just sitting up it's just like dealing with all this the whole trip is kind of exhausting yeah as we ran over here we each grabbed one additional item besides her raincoat Brian got the hello for himself I got a packet of food Robbie I got the camera you're looking at right now as you're one to do it Andrew would you get grab nothing this explains everything there's one clip to exemplify what our characters are that's it the Lightning is 17 seconds away now and it looks like it's all pretty much gone still the rain hasn't abated at all while we're considering now is just going back out there and having this tarp ready in case lightning starts up again okay we're going for it [Music]

can't see anything without the lights when we got back to camp we realized our tarp shelter had partially collapsed and a pool of water had formed in the middle of it

we set the shelter back up so our equipment didn't get any wetter at this point I wanted to move our tarp to the trees or we could have a more sturdy setup safe from the wind and rain so we began gathering up our things putting some of it under the canoes and packing some of it into our bags it's like maybe SEALs training they probably have it a lot tougher be honest yeah we found our way back to the woods and set all our gear under the backup tarp it found a good spot for the night and then went back to camp to get the bigger tarp and I grabbed some life jackets to use as a pillow tonight [Music]

back in the forest Andrew and Brian began setting up the tarp in the rain [Music]

it was pretty rough setting up in the rain at the dark of night and grown over uneven around

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

we place the smaller tarp underneath for an extra layer off the ground before settling into our damp shelter home sweet home I guess at this point it's like you got a channel your indoor Aquaman communicate with the animals up you've ever endured anything in life worse than this I'm very sorry what we've got bearable I know that once I lied down I'm just gonna like I'm not even gonna care yeah this is gonna be like well I'm lying down that's good enough we all sprayed our ankles with bug spray we just walked through knee-high meadows where ticks might roam yeah good luck all right buenos noches given our current situation we'll be okay

it won't be great won't be the best night ever probably be the worst night ever don't we'll be okay all things considered we're okay yeah this is definitely not bad at all we have nothing to complain about hopefully brining in you're alive by morning although if it starts thundering again they're gonna be out there with them they're gonna be the ones laughing we'll all be crying together under that tarp just cried I'm flooded with guilt because if he planned that I planned this no because most of this trip has been awesome and even this is kind of interesting I will say that when we were sitting under that tarp waiting for the Thunder I was just like my thoughts were just going a mile a minute like what if it just keeps the understory at your local night and like that's something you shouldn't have to deal with on a camping trip I got to admit whatever things get so bad like that it's a perfect storm I just start cracking up like this is so that's all you can do at that point what are the chances that this can get even worse and it does well thank you for testing Paige it had been a really rough night rather than cook breakfast like we had planned we just wanted to get out of there

get back on the water well one thing I'm glad that I didn't know until this morning

because it would have made last night even more ominous was that there uh or some bones lying around just like ten feet from where we slept probably would have conjured up some thoughts of like scary predators but now we're getting the hell out of here so it's just kind of cool

how was your night not terrible but also not exactly great so I take it you slept some Brian said he only slept like an hour oh yeah I think I slept more than that but it was really hard to fall asleep for variety reasons the peaceful river seemed so far from a night of lying awake listening to the rain pelting nster tarp trying to calm your racing mind eventually we got all our gear loaded up and got back on the water after a night of storms tall grass and rain and mud it was so great to get back into the canoes and paddle gracefully across the water it felt amazing maneuvering skillfully around the logs gliding along the river surface letting the water carry us downstream it was a feeling of absolute effortlessness serenity and peace things had been rough last night but at least now there was no way they could possibly get worse turns out things got worse maybe it was the fact that I had only an hour of sleep or maybe it was the fast current but our canoe had gotten snagged by a small log and in a matter of seconds it flipped over completely Robbie and Bryan's bags were completely soaked lenses that we had been actively using were lost as was the drone which got detached from the packs I can't see anything well they might be advanced archives biggest yes so as we're paddling long lost the drone I think we lost two lenses the drone and the tripod Brian had eventually floated to shore while Andrew and Thomas pulled me in our canoe to the bank I had jumped into shoulder deep water to try and help push the water Locke's canoe onto land for a second there I was panicking I was lucky cuz I got tangled on his stick oh but I was able to stand my stuff up on it and get untangled also you guys need to clip these to the port yeah you know it's so funny I before we left I was like man I really should clip it do you think it's worth trying to paddle up there a little bit and look there some stuff all right well in that case why don't you two stay here I'll do the paddle no no no there should be two of you one two one two paddle one two one day we'll retreat you know it's right here yeah yeah get somebody else we paddled around trying to retrieve some of the stuff that we had lost but alas we couldn't see a thing it's probably just down at the bottom there and it's probably not too deep but I don't think it worth trying to swim under there like deep-sea divers to get it out so we're going to abandon the drone in two lenses okay let's get out of here

[Music]

being this exposed to the wild can be an ecstatic experience but it can also cause all sorts of unwanted trouble buddy now every single branch looks like a branch the branch is traumatized I don't want a trip over there's a stick right here there's a log right here we drop over here we got sticks up ahead there's kind of a hidden stick here be careful

[Music]

and as soon as we clear this there's gonna be a couple logging things on either side so that's existence balance of chaos and order good and bad light and dark call it whatever you want the life always seems to be a swirl of opposing forces

[Music]

and sometimes the pain is what's more noticeable it almost seemed like some sort of divine mockery that after one of our roughest nights just hours before the whole trip is over this disaster happened [Applause]

[Music]

[Laughter]

yes I did okay please get us out of here I'm gonna put them all around us the wilderness just continued on existing unaware of our recent tragedy and in such a beautiful setting even we started to forget about it - you're talking two days ago about how existence is kind of this balance between like pain and pleasure or ever you want to put it if we both think that it kind of beers a little more towards the pleasure aspects but there are definitely moments about her it takes a darker turn but I think these are moments where like you just have to use these to like reflect on yourself and your life what there is anything and maybe think about how you could not make the same mistake at least the Sun is out now right as you said and there is it super cheesy saying that says it's always darkest right before Dawn's which I don't think that's true I think its darkest in the middle of the night what do I know unavoidable tragedies happen all the time in life but we still believe that on the whole the universe is skewed towards benevolence we were talking about the war things that go wrong the more prepared you are for the future we were prepared for anything like a series of unfortunate events to the T we were upset about just how wrong things went on this last morning but we were also laughing about it basking in the sunlight making the best of things we suffered trauma from hurting other people not from helping them our memories always seem rosier and happier than reality even after losing the expensive equipment that we were rely on to make these videos we were able to get over the initial shock and frustration focus on what we hadn't lost and laugh about the absurdity of the situation regardless of what life throws at us we still choose to believe that existence people and all the things around us are ultimately good and maybe that in itself is evidence enough I got like an hour of sleep last night I've been reading a book on sleep and about the detriment that you suffer from not getting enough sleep we left port and for like 40 seconds before we capsized and I can imagine Brian in his head save Robbie you gotta help out I'm not gonna be able to do this but just like the brain mill so you just like crap but Herman's lunch specials from noon to thirty people all be good coffee is instant happiness I business school I've been having three cups a day [Music]

I'm just getting it over with once I got up to the soup table this is the clear choice

[Music]

lingonberry slinging bears in the same [Music]

sometimes we pick post sight meals just kind of randomly and haphazardly this is one of those times and it works out sometimes it doesn't the others I'm happy to say this is a complete success [Music]

Val D decadent very good about that right amount of tartness mmm but super green like a bunch of piranhas going in for the kill ring I've got expedition research LLC on the phone he needs our best agent stat come on I'm pulling up one agent capable of this mission in Russia he's noticed - you cook milk in France he's known as Eric Locker in America he's known as John Truitt but we know him as its crew it James

Pruett also special shout-out to his kids gage Lisa and Logan say my name I know you you're Norman Mountjoy Anik bride no Charlie Joe no oh look it's Jim Jim Potts

oh yeah Jim Potts [Music]

aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper oh the helmet I'm Jason bourgeois I've got your tuck-in coupe unit I'm here with cheap price Ryan he's on the Apple trail it's one of the trails we hike you're who see Bryce Ryan where is he okay Robbie literally just went waist-deep into the water because the camera started rolling down the hill and deep chased after it and I should be helping but I think we need to capture this for posterity see we need like a bag of rice