luke here with the outdoor boys youtube channel and it is a beautifully sunny day here in the alaskan bush it's about 25 degrees fahrenheit so it is just absolutely perfect weather and a gorgeous day to do some bushcraft and survival camping.

Look at these fox tracks right here got this fresh gift of snow here from last night and look at it there's probably three sets of tracks right on here oh it's so nice to get out and about on sunny days like this but it comes with its own set of problems you can actually go snow blind out here.

It's so sunny and there's so much snow so you get two or three nice days in a row you'll get sunburned on your eyeballs hurts like the devil oh there's a little red squirrel right there could have shot the guy but man i've eaten them before they're not very good.

Alaskan squirrels are not like the ones down the lower 48 they're scrawny and stringy and don't taste very good we must be near a frozen river look at the size of these cottonwood trees you only get big cottonwood trees near water oh here's the river yeah see all the snow machine tracks.

These frozen rivers become our highways in the wintertime i'm gonna walk along this river a little bit i might find a little log jam would give me a lot of firewood i might find a gravel bar to build my shelter maybe some open water so i got nice easy.

Water sources but look at that view huh yeah alaska does not disappoint we'll take it out this dark dry exposed rock on the side of the riverbank so much warmer than just a few feet over there in the snow bank it's early morning but still.

Just that little bit of sunlight we've gotten so far has warmed this up a lot by the end of the day this is going to be really really pleasant i'd really like to find a flat dry spot to build a shelter for tonight but i wanted to be near some dead wood so i don't have to hike forever to get my firewood and materials for my shelter.

Check this out see all of this see every one of these willow trees has the bark stripped off it this inner layer of the bark of the willow tree is edible and it's one of the only food sources you can find here in the wintertime so all the animals that don't hibernate or migrate out they eat these.

Willow trees and this is all done by moose you can see how high up the tree it is but this is what the snowshoe hares eat as well when you get a big patch of willows like this you're gonna find moose and you're gonna find snowshoe hair and you're gonna find the predators that feed off of the inner bark of these will trees also.

Contains aspirin especially if you get a nice green shoot you scrape off all that green bitter inner bark you can suck on it if you have a headache and it's supposed to help a little bit it takes a lot of willow bark to equal one aspirin tablet so you gotta hear some moderately old moose prints big pile of moose poop if you ask most.

Alaskans which animal they're most afraid of it's not the bears it's the moose they can be so nasty and they're just massive animals and they don't mind being really close to humans grizzly bears usually just run away as soon as they smell or hear you moose will sit there and pick a fight with you.

Yeah let's check it out we got some dead wood here might be able to do something with this i'll tell you what this might not be a bad place to sleep for the night it's got a flat sandy bit right there got some water some dead wood we're obviously way too close to the river to build a permanent structure but.

I think this might be perfect for just a night or two looks pretty nice i'm gonna drop my pack and explore a little bit oh now that's a big fresh moose print right there yeah you know shotguns are a great survival gun because they're so versatile you can.

Use them for different things depending on which bullets you use this is a number six shot two three quarter inch bullet great for rabbits and small birds and squirrels this is a three inch one ounce slug you from grizzly bears moose you can use it to kill deer just gonna throw that in here since.

We're seeing all this moose sign just in case in a few months this spot i'm walking is going to be under about four or five feet of water and this is going to be a fast moving 30 foot wide river when the water all freezes a lot of these rivers dry right up plenty of fuel.

There's some good dead trees right there as well tell you what it's so nice to not need my snowshoes clear days like this the temperature fluctuations get huge it's really beautiful in the daytime gets bitterly cold in the night so i got to make sure i build a good.

Shelter while the weather's nice some more moose prints see how deep they are moves are like 2 000 pounds so when they step in the snow they sink right to the bottom it makes it so hard for them to walk in this deep snow they really like walking along those river banks because it's just so much less energy there's so many willows around it's a.

Really good chance moose will come wandering up the riverbank at night check it out we're starting to get willow buds on the willow trees oh the snow's starting to thaw out oh snow is starting to thaw out and i'm starting to sink a little bit let's get out of the sun.

Oh so you stand on the stuff that's in the shadows it's solid stand on the snow in the sunlight you sink stuck the barrel of my gun in the snow what's nice about a brake action you can clear it out so easy nice little trail snack this is a.

Cornish pasty traditional pastry in southwest england they're a great trail snack because you can eat them cold and with dirty hands this is like a pork and raisin one a little non-traditional   ugh.

Uh come check this out that is the first butterfly of the year uh this is anata it's a traditional japanese hatchet i bought it in kyoto in 2018 when we did our world tour video um oh.

Oh it's like a greenhouse underneath this tarp it is so warm in here man it feels so good and warm here on this gravel bar i can't even begin to describe it here i need to bust out my thermometer and show you guys so i've got two thermometers and you can see right here the ambient.

Air temperature is about 34 degrees fahrenheit so just slightly above freezing but i put another thermometer here in the sunlight over here on the rocks check this out look at this on the gravel bar it is 80 degrees 80 degrees fahrenheit there's a 46 degree difference between.

The temperature of the air and the temperature of this riverbank that is massive i'll tell you what it feels pretty amazing on this riverbank right now but all that's going to change tonight when the sun sets it's supposed to get down to about 14 degrees fahrenheit so we need to store as much of this heat as we can and store it in.

Our shelter i'm going to show you how to do that really easy  all right we need to get a fire started i'm going to do it with a piece of steel and a flint rock here got my char cloth to catch the spark and turn it into an ember i've got some shredded up jute to turn that ember into a flame.

So i'm going to do is i'm going to build up a nice big bonfire right there where i'm going to sleep it's going to heat up the ground store a lot of energy down in the rocks it's also going to dry out the ground and it's gonna make it really warm inside the shelter plus i'm gonna boil some water to drink because i forgot to bring.

Any i leaned over and put that pot on the fire the gust of wind blew the flames up in my face there i think i burned some of my bangs smells like it well i got a nice fire going and plenty of room to burn it i'm going to throw whole logs on there.

And let the fire cut my logs up for me save me some energy that's good water this is one of the prettiest spots i've camped in a long time the lovely weather that's burning pretty good some people will tell you that if you use river rocks for your campfire ring.

The rocks will explode we're gonna put that to the test today aren't we there we go just move the fire over a little bit buried the coals with a little bit of dry sand and we're going to have a really hot foundation to put our shelter on top of if you guys want to see more about this.

Trick i did a video where i slept out in the snow with only a wool blanket using this trick so  thank uh well looks like the sun's about to disappear over the mountains i've got a nice pile of firewood over by.

The fire just need to get a big pile of tinder so i can start my fire in the morning without having to go look for firewood but i think after that we're ready to get some dinner and i'm hungry the only thing worse than having to get out of your bed in the morning is having to get out of your bed and go look for.

Firewood in the morning alaska has the best tasting water i swear  all right i think it's time to go start dinner and i need a steak stick well i have brought a ton of food for dinner i've got a massive seasoned steak got a sweet potato with marshmallows.

Brown sugar and butter and cinnamon and it's all wrapped up in tin foil and i've got a bunch of bread dough here and i've got some honey butter  got some honey butter here i'll loosen the lid a little bit and just sit it by the fire like so.

Uh all righty um well that is good all right ah seasoned meat honey butter fresh bread these are good things oh.

That was pretty good i think i might need another piece of bread there we go that's looking good there you go campfire version of sweet potato casserole with the melted marshmallows and butter and cinnamon it's fabulous just gotta let this cool down oh.

Well that's nice bread steak and potatoes i think i need to wash my hands it's my japanese hunting knife it was a gift from a friend when i was in kyushu there's a real shark skin on the handle it's like sandpaper excellent grip love this knife tell you what guys it is warm in here my.

Legs are cooking this sand is just hot with the coals underneath it and i've got the heat of the fire and then it's just not that cold out here because i'm sitting on this baked sand bar it's just absolutely great ah i can't believe how light it is it's.

8 30 and i can still see outside just changes so quick this time of year two months ago sun was setting at four o'clock in a couple months the sun's going to be setting at 11 o'clock oh my goodness i am tired my socks are dry i'm full i'm warm i'm.

Just going to go ahead and get my sleeping bag here it's been a really nice day oh i'll tell you what guys i think i might be getting a little bit of a cold my nose is stuffy my throat's scratchy and i'm just really really tired i think i'm just gonna hang out here and watch the fire just relax a little bit.

Well guys it's gotten late and properly cold but it is really warm in here between the heat coming up through the ground and the fire and the heat reflector stone wall i made i mean it's just it's really cozy in here and i was originally planning on on sealing this up on both sides like a little tent and then just pulling the.

Hot rocks inside to warm things up but it's i don't think it's going to be necessary so i'm just going to go to bed and i'm going to run a little time lapse and i'll see you guys  up  uh.

Tell you what i slept really warm last night the air is pretty darn cold but the ground is it's just not bad the coals i buried have really gone out but it still it's just not that cold it's like a 40 degree ground instead of a 14 degree ground.

The rocks just hold the heat really well and just getting a thought out warm spot to set up a shelter makes all the difference in the world i never pulled down the side of my tarp and the fire went out and i was just really good last night it was it was really nice i'll tell you what though i am.

Definitely sick my throat hurts so bad and i'm so stuffy and i'm really tired i need a sick day i don't feel good i'm gonna make some breakfast so i don't have much of an appetite and.

We're just going to try to build up some strength for the hike home uh oh looks like we got a snowstorm coming in oh fried smoked pork jowls wrapped in bread smothered in honey butter i could eat that every day oh that's so.

Good yeah i better pack up my sleeping bag i don't want to get snow on it   that fierce little cold bit of a hike ahead of me i'm gonna have some herbal tea well i used river rocks around my.

Campfire and i lived to tell the tale none of them exploded certain rocks will pop or explode if you put them in a fire but it has more to do with what the stone is made out of and less about whether you pulled them out of a river or or whatever all right uh.

Oh there we go that was a good campsite one of the warmest winter shelters i've ever slept in i got a lot of hiking to do and not a lot of energy to do it with so i better get going uh without the sunshine that open water is freezing up one thing that can get you stranded in.

The springtime is you go hiking in the morning when the snow is hard and it's really easy to walk and then by the afternoon the snow softens up and you start sinking down in it and then you can't get back you hike out in the morning.

Hike back in the morning i think those are some fresh coyote tracks since this morning well i'm gonna go home and take large quantities of cold medicine and get some rest and hopefully you guys enjoyed this video if you guys want to see more videos from the outdoor boys.

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