On a beautiful warm day in June 2003, Blake Stanfield decided to take his father, Neil, on a trip into the Alaskan wilderness. On their first morning, they set off together down the Koyukuk River on their raft. They had only travelled a few miles down the river when, to their horror, they saw a huge wall of ice in front of them! Their raft crashed into the ice and the men fell into the freezing cold water. If the water hadn't been so fast-flowing, they would have been able to crawl onto the ice, but instead it quickly sucked them under and swept them along. "What have I done?" Blake thought at that point. But just then, he surfaced and saw his father holding onto an oar. Freezing cold and with Neil suffering from hypothermia, the two men made their way to the shore. Blake quickly lit a fire. He knew his father would die from the cold if he didn't get warm soon. The next morning, Blake knew that he had to get help as they had lost all their supplies - their food, tent and clothes. He left his father and made his way towards a town 104 km away, singing loudly to scare off bears. He even caught and ate ants and spiders to give him strength. But there was a problem. Meanwhile, Neil was also fighting to stay alive. One time, he fell asleep and woke up just in time to keep his fire alight. By Monday, both men were getting weaker and weaker from lack of food. "If only I hadn't left my father!" Blake thought. But then, he had an idea. If he built a signal fire, any planes flying overhead would hopefully see him. On Tuesday evening, a pilot finally spotted Blake. After a short while, a rescue helicopter picked him up. They quickly found Neil. "You don't look so great yourself," Neil replied. The two men promised each other they would go on another trip together, but definitely without any swimming under ice!

Dag18y5557hvvhi    1   12.05.2021 20:49    6