.
- I'm Bear Grylls, and you've seen me
take some of the biggest celebrities
and athletes in the world out into the wild.
But tonight on this historic
special edition of "Running Wild,"
you won't believe who's joining me
for an adventure.
- I don't claim remarkable survival skills.
I'm sure that Bear's
gonna give me some tips.
- Oh, look here we go. That is bear fur.
- So what do you do if you confront a bear?
- You'll want to make lots of noise,
show you're not worth the fight.
Yo, bear!
The president and I will be journeying
through the Alaskan w.
- I think it's fair to say that I'm not
in as good shape as you.
Hopefully I'll be able to keep up.
- Wow, check that out.
- Unbelievable.
- Where we'll see the effects of climate change firsthand.
When you took over as president,
that glacier was here.
The wild doesn't care who you are...
I found this on the riverbank.
This is half-eaten by a bear.
- The fact that he told me that this was
a leftover fish from a bear,
he couldn't have just left that out?
- Even if you're the commander in chief.
- Put me to work, man.
- You're about to see a side of President Obama...
- I made you a s'more.
- Great president but a lousy cook.
- I promise you; that's better than anything
that you've ever had on this show.
- You've never seen before.
We've got to get a selfie up here.
This'll be the best view of the lot.
- For security reasons, I can't have a smartphone;
I had to borrow one from my staff.
Hey, Joe, what's the code?
It-- I need a pass code.
It's possible you guys could edit that out.
Maybe not.
[dramatic music]
[helicopter rotors whirring]
¶ ¶
- As president, I am
in what's called "the bubble."
And the Secret Service makes sure that
I'm always out of danger,
for which I very much appreciate.
But it can be a little confining.
In fact, every once in a while,
when I go off track,
if I do something unexpected,
the phrase we use is that,
"The bear's loose."
And somebody tries to grab a tranquilizer gun
and make sure that they get me back in the cage,
so to be with Bear in the woods,
it doesn't get any better than that.
[dramatic music]
- That's where I'm heading--
down to the wash.
And that's where I should be meeting him.
That's one meeting I don't want to be late for.
- I don't claim remarkable survival skills.
You know, I can probably put up a pretty wobbly tent.
I might be able to make a fire.
I know that Bear generally eats just about anything.
But I'm gonna probably stick to some stuff
that isn't gonna cause me
significant stomach problems,
'cause I got a lot of work to do after I finish this show.
- I'm at the RV point,
waiting for the president.
Nervous.
This, for me, is definitely
the biggest thing I've ever done in my life.
I mean, we've taken some amazing people on adventures,
but to take the leader of the free world,
it's a...
It's, um...
I just never really imagined it would happen, to be honest.
I just really hope I don't get too tongue-tied,
because when I get really nervous,
I find it really hard to speak.
- Bear!
- Hey, Mr. President.
- How you doing? - How do you do, sir?
- Good to see you, sir.
- I'm Bear. - How are you?
- Yeah. - It's wonderful to meet you.
- What a great place to meet. - It is spectacular.
- When I first saw him and we were
standing next to each other,
I can tell it's gonna mean a lot to him,
this journey, and, for me, it's such a privilege
to be taking him.
- This is the first time that
I've been able to actually travel,
other than just the Air Force base to refuel.
So... - Okay, so first time--
- First time, you know,
setting foot in Alaskan wilderness.
- Amazing, isn't it?
- And it's good company to keep. - Thank you.
- This has got to be one of
the best days of my presidency.
First of all, I'm not in the office.
Second of all, I'm not wearing a suit.
- Well, we've got a bit of a journey ahead of us.
- Let's do it.
- The president and I are here
to see Alaska's Exit Glacier.
In recent years, this massive glacier has been receding
at an alarming rate due to climate change.
We're going to journey across
a glacial outwash
and through a dense forest
to reach the glacier.
So we're gonna try and get to the--
right to the snout of the glacier.
- I think it's fair to say that
I'm not in as good shape as you.
- I don't know; you look incredible.
- As presidents go, I'm in decent shape, so--
- You're not wrong.
- Hopefully I'll be able to keep up.
- Well, we're in bear country, for real.
So we're gonna be smart.
They're notoriously lacking in respect
for rank or anything, so we're gonna look after each other.
I've got some bear spray. - There you go.
- That's the last line of defense.
- There you go. Let's do it.
- I feel bad that I'm looking so--I'm--look--
- You look good, man. - I look like the cat--
- No, no, no. - Has dragged in--
- That's how--that's how you're supposed to look.
If you were looking too clean, I'd be suspicious.
- I caught a glimpse of myself
in the camera lens earlier.
My first thought was,
"My mom is gonna kill me,
looking like this with the president."
- Well, you know, I don't think there are
rules for the president.
I do think that, you know, there are rules for the queen.
- So you've met the queen.
- I have; she's one of my favorite people.
She has a great sense of humor.
But she doesn't suffer fools very well.
- She doesn't.
And I think she thinks I'm one,
because I met her, and she said--
this was years ago, and that's just
when we got back from Everest,
and she goes, "And your name is?"
And I went...
I can't even remember my name.
I literally-- I couldn't talk.
She moved on, and I thought, "I've blown it.
My one chance, and I've blown it."
- Well, listen, I've really enjoyed
watching your shows and your work.
You know, one of the main purposes of our trip here
is to highlight the effects of climate change
and what's happening to the planet.
And people need to see it and feel it,
as opposed to just
reading a bunch of numbers on a page.
- Well, you're so right.
I think species are one thing, but, I mean,
we live and breathe this stuff every day
because we're out in it and we see
the harsh kind of reality of it.
And a lot of it, actually, is quite shocking.
- That's exactly right.
And, you know, I've got two daughters,
and I don't want grandkids too soon,
but eventually I hope to have some.
I want to make sure that
this is there for them and not just for us.
- For sure.
The thing is, if we don't,
it will go, and you can't get it back.
- It doesn't come back. - Yeah.
Okay, we're gonna come and show you this thing.
- Let's do it. - Okay, so here.
Choice is, we can either take the river.
It's gonna be cold, fast-flowing, dangerous.
We're probably better off tucking up
this little re-entry through the forest...
- Let's do it. - And do it that way.
- Come on.
- All of this alder forest is pretty dense.
It's hard work to get through,
but also I'm super aware it's classic bear territory.
And, you know, you got
the President of the United States with me,
so we just got to take our time
and get it right in here.
Coming up...
Oh, look, here we go.
That is bear fur.
Do you know when bears are most dangerous?
- When's that?
- If you surprise them fornicating.
- Well, you know, I think that's probably
true for humans as well.
- [laughing] That's true, yeah.
We can cook on that.
So my goal is to cook you
the presidential lunch of your life.
- I've seen some of the things Bear eats.
Hopefully, he's got something that
you might see on a plate.
- Normally, when we do these journeys,
it's a pretty small team that makes it happen.
But when you're dealing with the president,
obviously, it's a little bit more involved.
You got the Secret Service, the White House staff,
the Press Corps.
You know, it's a lot of people to manage.
So there's even a guy out here who checks that
everything that the president eats is safe.
I just hope he's okay with my plans
for the president's lunch.
.
[instrumental music]
- So where did your love of the outdoors come from?
- Well, growing up in Hawaii. - Yeah.
- I was more of an ocean kid than a mountain kid.
But there are some beautiful mountains in Hawaii,
and I used to go up with my friends.
Just get a beat-up old tent--
- Would you really? - Yeah.
- So when you were that age,
did you ever think,
"I might be president one day"?
- No, definitely not. - It was never--
- I think it's fair to say that,
not only did I not think it
but nobody else did either.
- Genius, genius.
- So, yeah.
- Oh, look, here we go.
[ominous music]
- What do we got here?
- That is bear fur.
¶ ¶
But, you know, it's no surprise
they're gonna this route to come down
to the river to feed, but there you go.
That is brown bear fur.
- Bear showed me some bear fur,
which is the first time I'd seen that stuff up close.
It's more delicate than I would expect.
- But, yes, that means we're just gonna be...
Be careful. - You got to be careful.
- Yeah.
You know when bears are most dangerous?
- When's that? - Feeding.
- Yeah.
- Protecting their young.
- Right.
- If you surprise them. - Right.
- Fornicating. - Well, you know,
I think that's probably true for humans as well.
- [laughing] That's true, yeah.
- So what, uh...
What do you do if you confront a bear?
I mean, I've heard stories that--rather than run,
because they're gonna be faster than you by a mile...
- Yeah, that is true.
- That you have to stand your ground, but I don't know
whether that's a myth or whether that's a fact.
- Well, you are right there.
They're faster than you, and, you know,
they can climb trees, so up a tree is no good.
I think-- good rule of thumb,
if you intrude to their territory,
just back away slowly, keep eye contact,
back away out of it; don't turn, don't run.
If they intrude on your camp, you want to make big--
you want to be like super bear, you know?
You want to make lots of noise,
show you're not worth the fight,
and scare them off.
But the best thing is, make lots of noise
so they know you're coming. - Right.
I'm gonna keep that as a rule of thumb.
When I'm walking through the forest,
I think there's nothing wrong with
making a little bit of noise,
just letting them know we're coming.
- Yo, bear!
- [laughs]
- Keep the noise levels up.
- Want to make sure he knows we're coming.
Or she. - Yeah, that's true.
- 'Cause, uh...
If she's got some cubs,
that's when you really got to worry.
- Yeah.
You know what my kids asked me?
They said, "You've got to ask the president,
does anything scare him?"
- You know, uh...
Well...
When Michelle's mad, I get worried.
- [laughs]
- There's a certain look that she can give me
that tells me.
- That's your survival instinct.
- But, you know, I don't have a lot of phobias.
As a general rule, I mean, I--
I'm not, uh...
you know, obviously, as big of
a thrill-seeker as you are, but...
- I have a few phobias.
- But most of the time, I'm game.
What are you scared of?
- Really bad with cocktail parties.
- [laughs] - I'm not--
It puts the fear of God--
I'd be a terrible president.
I'll be a president but no cocktail parties.
- You know what? The, uh--
we'll try to keep you out of Washington.
- Thank you very much. - Absolutely.
- I'll come and hang anytime but no cocktail parties.
- I got you.
- So, look, you've got a bit of a rockfall down this.
- Yeah.
- A lot of this would be caused by
what they call exfoliation.
So it will rain, it will freeze,
it expands, cracks it,
and then it all kind of tumbles down.
But the good thing about all of this stuff...
- Yeah? - Is that--
- We can do something with it.
- Well, you get a--
Even a narrow one like that.
We can cook on that.
So my goal is to cook you
the presidential lunch of your life.
- I've seen some of the things Bear eats,
so hopefully he's got something that
you might see on a plate.
At minimum, it's got to be something that
doesn't still have its legs and eyes on it.
- And then all of this is alder,
all these trees.
Have you heard of catkins?
- No. - Let's see if we'll see some.
¶ ¶
These are small ones.
- So what are these?
- But we can make tea out of that.
Oh, here we go, here's some.
I'll tell you what, give me a--
Just a spot there. - Yup.
One of the things that Bear's able to do is to
constantly reconnect people to
that more basic elemental experience that we all have
when we're out in the open,
where we don't have televisions,
and we don't have cell phones.
- Pick a couple of these ones off.
- Now, some of these look kind of--
- A little grim? - I got one.
That's a good one, right there.
He's got a great spirit.
And to learn from him some of the basics of survival,
I think that's something that everybody
thinks is pretty cool.
- So this has got lots of vitamin C.
Anti-inflammatory.
And makes good tea. - What are these called again?
- So these are catkins.
- All right. - That's gonna be tea later.
- Let's do it.
- Okay, let's keep moving.
I'm hoping we're gonna get a view up here.
All good? - All good.
[dramatic music]
- Wow! Check that out.
- Look at that.
Unbelievable.
¶ ¶
This glacier is attached
to this massive icefield.
- This is the tongue of it. - The Harding--
- Yeah. - Yeah, the Harding Icefield.
- This the largest icefield in the United States,
covering 300 square miles.
But it has shrunk
an alarming 812 feet
since 2008.
But the crazy thing is, when you took over
as president, 2008,
that glacier was here.
- Yeah.
That's how much we lost.
- So that's how-- exactly, yeah.
- Just in that short period of time.
When you see this glacier,
it gives you a sense of the magnitude of it.
But what you're also reminded of is how far it's
already receded just since my presidency.
And it underscores once again why it's so important
for us to pay attention to climate change
and understand that there's something that
we can actually do about it.
¶ ¶
- Coming up...
We've got to get a selfie up here.
This'll be the best view of the lot.
- For security reasons, I can't have
a smartphone; I had to borrow one from my staff.
Oops, I-- - Oh, come on, President.
You've done it again. This is excruciating.
- This is a sign that I don't have a smartphone.
- I had to swim in this a lot. - Have you?
- Yeah, naked. - Yeah.
That's not something we're gonna do either.
- So safety is always our main concern on these journeys,
but with the president,
obviously, it got taken to another level.
So we got sniper teams all the way along
the route in the mountains.
And just before we started filming, a military helicopter
started circling the area above us.
And, to be honest, I have no idea,
you know, what they're up there looking for.
Actually, I'm not even sure I want to know.
.
[dramatic music]
- Wow! Check that out.
- Look at that.
Unbelievable.
- That's cool, isn't it?
It's quite a special moment when we come out of the forest,
come over this rise, and, bam, right in front of us
is this huge, giant white face
of the snout at the end of the glacier.
And we just kind of had a moment of taking it in
and him realizing this is why he's fought so hard
for all he's doing to try and protect our planet.
- You know, most problems in the world,
as tragic as they may be,
are fixable.
You know, you can reverse trends.
This is one of those trends where,
if it starts accelerating too fast,
then we can be too late.
But they key is, over this next decade,
for all the countries,
all the big emitters--
the United States, China,
the European countries--
to make sure that we are
putting in place a global agreement.
And the good news is, is that technology's advancing
much more rapidly than I think even I anticipated.
When I came into office,
solar power was still significantly more expensive
than power generated from fossil fuels.
And there's no reason why we can't transition entirely
off of fossil fuels,
but we've got to get started now.
And that means everybody's got to participate--
simple things like turning off the lights,
buying a fuel-efficient car, maybe an electric car.
Those things make a difference; they add up.
- I think kids want to be part of that.
They want to make-- I mean, we live
in a place, this little island,
and it's 100% off-grid.
Yeah, it's wind and solar power.
And the kids love it, because the
whole thing is an adventure.
It's someone of that age
that will really then take what you're putting in place
and really then change the world.
- You know, that next generation,
I think, is ready and willing.
We just got to kind of get out of the way.
We tend to hold folks back.
It's not too late, if we begin transitioning now.
We can slowly taper down
the amount of carbon that we're releasing.
It's like driving a car towards a cliff.
You don't have to screech to a halt;
you have to start tapping on the brakes.
We still have enough time that
if we tap on those brakes and we slow the car,
then we're gonna be able to stop it
well beyond the point of no return.
But we've got to start now.
- We've got to get a selfie up here.
This would be the best view of the lot.
- That's the shot right there.
- That's it, isn't it?
So many of my friends said, "Listen,
"if you're doing this, the one thing you got to get
is a killer selfie with the president."
And we came to this amazing, big flat rock,
and I thought, "That's the place.
Come on, we got to get this, just a quick one."
- I got my phone too. - Okay, here we go.
- Come on.
- That one is a keeper.
Genius. - Come on.
I got my own.
Although, I never know how to work this.
- [laughing]
- Oops, I got to reverse this thing.
- There you go. - All right.
There we go.
- Oh, no, you--
[indistinct chatter]
- Hey, Joe, what's the code?
[laughter]
- Oh, that's brilliant.
- It-- I need a pass code.
You remember it?
The selfie with Bear in which
he was taking the shot was fine.
Me trying to take a selfie--
I don't have a smartphone.
I had to borrow one from my staff.
- Well, am I gonna be able to Instagram that?
I kept on turning it off. I didn't know the code.
It's not working.
- Oh, there you go, just press that one.
- We got it. - I got it. We got it--
- We're in business. - All right.
- Okay, press that one.
- All right, let's try this again.
- He's good. - That's the shot.
- All right.
I got to take a shot right here.
Oops, I did it-- - Oh, come on, President.
You've done it again. This is excruciating.
- This is a sign that I don't have a smartphone.
- If my kids were here, they'd be going, "Oh, God."
- I know, that's what-- my daughters do it all the time.
Well, for security reasons, I can't have a smartphone.
It's too easy to track.
I'm sure my girls are gonna be mortified
by my lack of technological prowess.
It's possible you guys could edit that out.
Maybe not.
- So this whole valley
would've been filled with the glacier.
I read somewhere that
what you've done with your climate change plan
is the most significant thing any single human being
has ever done to protect the planet.
- Well, you know-- - And that's amazing.
'Cause there are so many skeptics out there.
You know, were you always
a convert, or did you take--how did you--
- You know, I am, uh--
I'm a big believer in science.
- Yeah.
- And, you know, when I started
looking at the science,
it was indisputable.
- This must be one of the things that your girls,
for example, are most proud of, that you're really making
a mark on saving their future planet.
- Well, they may be proud of me; they don't
necessarily admit it right now.
[both laughing]
- So are they classic teenagers?
- You know, they're wonderful girls,
and they're very sweet.
They still love me,
but they think I'm a little boring.
I just want to see how this water is.
[water babbling]
That's some cold water right there.
- See, it's all gray; all of this glacial silt
is all the big rocks have been crushed
by the weight of this whole mass of ice and pad rises.
So if you drink a lot of this--
- What kind of impact would it be?
- Well, it gives you--
If you drink a lot of it, it'll give you diarrhea.
- Is that right? - Yeah.
You boil it up, and it's fine.
I've had to swim in this a lot.
- Have you? - Yeah, naked.
- Yeah. - [laughs]
- That's not something we're gonna do either.
- No, no. No.
Yeah, and the thing is, you're never
at your best when you're freezing cold.
- [laughs]
I tell you what, one of the things that you should expect
but is always a little shocking is how cold the water is.
But this is a big block of ice,
and it's part of the overall ecosystem in this region.
If that starts changing, then, uh...
A lot of things are going to be affected around here.
- So here you go, that really is it.
[water dribbling]
As you say, this huge mass,
it goes for miles and miles beyond there.
But this is right at the snout of it, yeah.
- It is remarkable to think
of all this water just coming down.
To see it dripping and generating water
as fast as it was was a reminder how
rapidly and how accelerating
the melting of these glaciers is going on.
So this ends up being a key place for us to be able
to study climate change but also to understand
the impact that it's gonna have on the rest of the world.
[somber music]
- Coming up...
I've got one favor to ask.
- Yeah, go ahead. - I promised my wife
I'd get you to sign something for her.
- Of course. - But I couldn't find--
The only thing I could find in the airport--
- Look at this. - And now this is for real.
I found this on the riverbank, okay?
So don't freak out too much.
- So a bear has chewed on this fish.
- I think the president looked a little surprised
when I pulled out this sort of bloody carcass
of half-eaten salmon.
So the president often jokes about
being inside this bubble, almost like a cage.
But actually, it's true.
- I was telling your producers that
the bubble is so tight that, uh--
and it's the toughest thing about being president.
So every once in a while, I'll go off script--
- Yeah. - Everybody gets very nervous.
- Yeah. Okay, are we all set?
- You guys ready? - Yup.
- And you'd think, you know, being commander in chief
you can just do anything you want,
but actually, that's not the case.
.
- Okay, so you feel that breeze coming down?
- Yup. - It's called a katabatic wind.
- Okay.
- That cold air sinking, coming down.
So we'll make a little bit of a rock wall here...
- Okay. - To protect our fire.
Then we can sit on some rocks.
- Now, what kind of rocks are we looking for?
About that size? - Any of these.
We'll pile them up like that,
just to protect our flame.
You get these quite strong, cold
katabatic winds that come off the funnel of the glacier.
And that's just gonna put a fire out straightaway,
so I asked the president if he'd help me make
a simple rock wall that would protect the fire,
and then we'd get on with the important business
of cooking the president some lunch.
Fire in the middle - Okay.
Is that all we need?
- That's all we need, yeah. - Put me to work, man.
- Okay, that's all we need.
- All right. - We've got our slate.
- This is the piece of slate that we found earlier.
- So that's what we're gonna light it with.
A little FireSteel.
The good thing about these
is that when it's pouring rain, like it is
most of the time in Alaska,
you can still start a fire.
- You can still start it?
- Matches always get wet. - Right.
- Lighters have failed at critical moments,
so I always take this.
So hold that one. - All right.
- Little bit of cotton ball.
- All right, so you've got some cotton ball.
- You can use anything.
I've even used the fluff from my belly button.
[both laughing]
It was a long hike.
- How much fluff do you store in your belly button?
- Always prepared.
- Apparently so.
All right, what do we got here?
- So that's--this is just a bit of solid fuel.
Because obviously there's not a lot of
dry wood around here.
Okay, so we put that on there. - Yeah.
- So the way this works... - Uh-huh.
Right. - See that sharp bit there?
- Yeah. - Angle that.
So if the cotton ball's there...
- Yeah. - You're trying to drive it in.
- You got it. - There.
These FireSteels, they look really
simple, but they're actually not, you know?
And I've done them a ton with people over the years,
and, you know, first time,
people are always messing around,
faffing around trying to get it going; they can't do it.
You're gonna do it.
- Don't burn your fingers, though.
- Oh, it's all right. - All right.
- Okay, so angle it a little bit like that.
There you go. - Got it.
- You go.
That's it. That's it; you got it.
- There we go. - You've done it.
You've done it. - All right.
- Legendary. Well done.
Can I say, Mr. President, it's quite annoying
when you're good at everything.
- Oh, well, the--
I tell you what, I'm not the guy who climbed Everest.
I'm just taking your lead.
You know, I have not
started a fire without matches or a lighter before.
And so I'm gonna have to get me one of those
little gizmos, 'cause that worked pretty good.
I'm assuming Secret Service usually has one, but
I'm gonna make sure that's in our supply kit.
- And we'll get the slate on top of it;
you can put that on.
There you go, great.
- All right.
- Let that heat up. - All right.
- So we're gonna get a little bit of water
straight off this ice.
- All right.
- And then we'll make
the catkins tea with that as well.
Do you want to fill that up? - I'll go get the water.
- Okay, and I'll get this. - All right.
This log's about-- tipping over a little bit.
- I've got it.
¶ ¶
Would you ever get Michelle camping?
- You know, Michelle
tends not to be an outdoor girl.
She, uh...
She loves hiking, and she's in great shape,
- Yeah.
- But when night falls,
I think she's ready for some nice sheets.
- Yeah?
[both laughing]
- The, uh--
but she loves being outside.
- So when you first moved to the White House...
- Yeah.
- How do you do president and dad?
I mean...
- You know, the interesting thing is, actually,
I ended up getting more time with the kids
as president because I live above the store.
Right? So at, uh...
At a certain point, let's say 6:30 at night,
I can go upstairs, I can have dinner with them,
and if I have to go back to work, I can.
And so being able to have dinner with them
every night was something that
I could enjoy more than I did before I was president.
And that tradition has not changed.
- Really? That's incredible.
- Yeah, which has been great.
- And that's such a statement for family first.
- Well, it's actually my joy, my pleasure,
because if I've had a day
full of world nonsense,
for me to be able to come home
and just listen to the girls
and let them tell me about their day,
it gives me a whole new perspective and renews me.
- It's so heartening to think that
the leader of the free world--
ultimately, he's a dad.
Okay, lunch, here we go.
- All right, what do we got?
- Well, Alaska is a land of bear and salmon.
We haven't got bear.
- Oh, look at this. - But--
- Look at this.
- And now this is for real.
I found this on the riverbank, okay?
So don't freak out too much.
I think the president looked
a little surprised when I pulled out this
sort of bloody carcass of half-eaten salmon.
This was half-eaten by a bear.
- Now, why wouldn't the bear finish this sucker?
- Well, because-- - This looks like
a nice-looking piece of fish.
- Yeah, but if you notice,
what they've had is all the high fat content--
the eggs, bit of the skin.
They'll often take the brain as well.
And if there's a lot of fish in the river,
they'll leave the meat because they want that
high-density calorific-value fat.
- Interesting.
So a bear has chewed on this sucker.
- Yeah.
But we're gonna cook it up, so it's gonna be good.
- All right.
I've seen some of the things Bear eats.
I think a piece of salmon,
that'll work just fine.
Ah, I heard a little sizzle there.
- Yeah, that's-- - Yeah.
The fact that he told me that
this was a leftover fish from a bear,
I don't know if that was necessary.
He could have just left that out.
- That's that.
Have you ever gotten lost in the White House?
- No.
- But it's huge. - The--[laughs]
- What about the girls when they were young,
when they first went there?
- You know, they found some good hiding places.
It's a great place to do hide-and-seek.
- The best. - But, uh--
You know, the truth is,
the White House's grounds are not that big.
Because it's an old capitol, it doesn't have
some of the grandiosity and scale.
And I think it partly reflects American democracy.
I think there was a sense that
the White House shouldn't be too ostentatious.
And before 9/11, you used to be able to walk right up
and people were driving right in front of the White House.
Now the roads have been blocked off,
but I remember when I was a young man, the first time
I visited, you could walk right up to the gate
and look right through,
and there'd be traffic behind you.
- And do you remember doing that at a young age?
- I think the first time I visited, I was 21.
- That made a big impact?
- I can't say that I imagined I'd be
looking out from the other side of the window.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- Life's weird, isn't it? - It is.
You don't expect a kid of a single mom
born in Hawaii, named Barack Obama,
to end up being president.
That's not something you generally bet on.
Yeah. - It's amazing.
- Yeah.
- Coming up...
- I made you a s'more.
Let's see how it goes.
- I love you, but that looks terrible.
- I promise you, it's better than anything
that you've ever had on this show.
- Great president but a lousy cook.
- Come on, man, that s'more's solid.
Let me try it out.
- One of the most surprising thing about the president
is just what a normal, down-to-earth,
regular guy he is.
- Let's face it; the cameraman's got
the toughest job, though, doesn't he?
- Yeah, I mean, he's got to do
everything I do backwards.
Carrying a camera. - He's like Ginger Rogers.
- I guess you imagine someone
with that much responsibility and also power
would somehow, you know, be above it all.
But actually, he wasn't that at all.
- This is a good way to spend the day, isn't it?
This beats our usual day in the White House.
No doubt about it.
.
- You seem to push through
so many things
that you believe in.
What have you learned about
getting things done that are really on your heart?
- Persistence.
I'm a big believer in persistence.
They've done studies of kids growing up
in poor neighborhoods or war-torn regions of the world,
and the kids who survive it and thrive,
it's not necessarily the smartest kid;
it's not necessarily the strongest kid.
It's the most resilient kid.
And I think that's true
in just about every circumstance.
A lot of stuff that you try is not gonna work.
But if you stay determined, typically you can
make real progress.
And you have to have some--
something of an even keel so that you don't
get too high and you don't get too low.
In order to stay determined,
one of the things that I try to tell my daughters is,
"Don't believe the hype when things are going good,
and don't despair when things are going bad."
- Yeah.
It's funny, kids are such a good foil, aren't they?
To remind us of those sort of values, you know?
'Cause we all have days where we feel a bit
beaten up in our life.
- Absolutely.
- Yeah, your girls must be such a huge
encouragement to you.
- They are wonderful.
Nobody could make me happier
or make me feel more stupid.
[both laughing]
- Join the club. - Yeah.
- Three boys-- I get the same.
- But you know what, your goal
is to make sure that your kids are
a little smarter than you are.
Constantly improving the gene pool,
because you marry good women,
and, you know, they'll do a little better than you do.
When you were growing up, did you know
that you wanted to spend as much time outdoors?
Was this just sort of in the DNA
and the environment and how you grew up?
- Well, my dad was a commando and a climber.
And at a young age, all I wanted to do
was hang out with him.
Climb together, be together.
And, uh...
And as a young kid, it was the only thing I was good at.
I was always the kid that could climb
the highest tree, up the buildings.
And, you know, if somebody had said to me at age seven
that I could have a job that involved
climbing up stuff, getting muddy, being outside,
doing this sort of stuff,
I would have thought I was the luckiest man
in the world, you know?
So I've always tried to pursue
what I love and what I'm okay at naturally.
And, uh...
You know, I've just been super lucky.
I had a great team around me and stuff.
And I would never have thought I'd be doing this--
and with the President of the United States--
the whole thing is totally mad.
And I'm cooking for him!
And I'm in the worst cook in the world.
- No, but I'll tell you, the salmon's
starting to look pretty good.
- Should we try a little bit of this?
- Yeah, let's try it out.
- There you go. - Come on.
- That will be good. - Just get a little sample.
[lively music]
Mm. That's tasty.
- Can still smell the bear breath on it.
[laughs]
- I tell you what, though, that's good.
- Good-- well, it's fresh.
That's proper Alaskan salmon for you.
- Bear's a mediocre cook.
But the fact that we ate something recognizable
was encouraging.
It would've been nice if we had had a cracker to go with it,
but that's all right.
Those things are hard to pack.
- Do you have a faith that's important in your life?
- Absolutely.
I think it was my favorite president, President Lincoln--
and I'm paraphrasing here, but he said,
"If you weren't a religious man
"before you took office,
"you will be humbled and on your knees
and praying to God for some help."
- [laughing]
It's like--
I love that quote that says,
"There's no such thing as an atheist
in the Southern Ocean."
- That's exactly right.
- Or in the death zone on Everest.
- And that, too, is, I think,
part of determination and resilience.
But that also is what keeps an even keel.
- Yeah.
And what do you kind of want to be the legacy--
if you had to pick one thing as a legacy
of your presidency?
- Well, you know, it's--
we provided health care to millions of people
who didn't have it.
We repaired an economy that was
globally on the brink of a great depression.
But this climate change agenda is as important
as anything I'm gonna do.
I think it will have a more significant impact
on the lives of future generations
as just about anything.
And we're still a long way from getting it right.
But it's something that,
working together, I think we can make a difference on.
- Coming up...
- Now, I had always heard,
if you drink your own pee, all that's gonna do
is just dehydrate you further.
- If you're out in the wild and you got nothing else,
you don't want to be wasting that.
It's fine to re-drink.
- Seems to be, Bear's main claim to fame
is that he drinks his own urine.
- So when I was cooking lunch for the president,
the guy who checks that all of his food is safe
was kind of, you know, watching me like a hawk.
And it turns out, the White House actually
has a very strict policy about the president
not being seen to eat anything on camera,
let alone a half-eaten salmon.
I sort of expected the president's food advisor to,
you know, step in and stop the filming,
but I kind of think he was, you know,
following the president's lead.
- That's tasty.
- And luckily, good for him,
the commander in chief was up for it.
.
- I want to do one thing for you.
Normally, my guests get terrible food.
They get bugs and all of this,
but you're the president, so I'm gonna make you
the best dessert you'll ever have.
- What am I gonna have?
- I've learned so much
from so many good American friends,
and the best thing I've learned...
- Yeah?
- Is the s'more.
- [laughs]
Now, in Hawaii every year,
we have a bonfire on the beach, and we make s'mores.
- Yeah? - So...
- Okay, well, you're the s'more expert--
- Well, no, I'm not.
Sasha is the s'more expert.
- Okay, so talk me through it.
- You put your marshmallow on the stick.
- Okay.
- We're gonna do this directly over the flame.
Sometimes they catch fire.
- That's half the fun.
- That one's working right there.
All right, now...
we're gonna put the marshmallow on.
Try to-- - Oh, my God, look at this.
This looks insanely good. - All right.
And then you get--
you get your other cracker on top there.
That one--
- Can I officially say
the president has made me a s'more?
- I made you a s'more.
Let's see how it goes.
- I love you, but that looks terrible.
- I promise you, it's better than
anything that you've ever had on this show.
- Great president but a lousy cook.
- Come on, man, that s'more's solid.
Let me try it out.
- Mmm. Oh, it is good.
And I think we've earned it.
We've burned some calories.
- That's not bad, man.
What are you talking about? Come on.
Not as good as your salmon but pretty good.
- [laughing] You know there was a--
you know when they announced that we were doing this,
there was a petition on the White House.
- What'd they want me to eat?
- They said, "You've got to get the president
to drink his own pee."
And all the Secret Service went,
"You'd end up in some jail somewhere."
[laughing] You know?
- This seems to be Bear's main claim to fame
is that he drinks his own urine.
[stammering]
You know, I suppose, in extremis, it's something that
I would do if the alternative
was death.
It's not something I'd make a habit of.
And I probably wouldn't do it just for a TV show.
Now, I had always heard,
if you drink your own pee, all that's gonna do
is just dehydrate you further.
- If you're really dehydrated already,
so you're peeing out brown pee--
- Right.
- It's pure waste product; it's not gonna help--
- It's not gonna do anything.
- But if you're well-hydrated
and you're out in the wild and you got nothing else,
that's--you don't want to be wasting that.
It's fine to re-drink, and it will help you.
And there are a lot of stories
of people drinking their own pee
and, actually, it saving their lives.
- Okay, so the notion would be that
you might want to actually drink some pee
even while you still have some water.
- The key is to drink it
while you've still got some water, yes.
But once you're really dehydrated, then it's gone.
- Because the notion is, you stretch it out a little bit.
I did learn something, though, that if you
kind of mix in some urine while you still have water
and you're relatively hydrated, that could
stretch your water supply out a little bit.
I feel fairly confident that I'm never gonna
find myself in that circumstance,
but it's good to know.
I'll file that in the memory banks.
- I've shared some camps with some amazing people
over the years, and one thing I love about
campfires in the wild-- it's the ultimate leveler.
But this for me has been my favorite.
- I tell you what-- - You're amazing.
- It's been wonderful.
What a great way to spend a day.
- And the s'more gets better and better.
- [laughs]
- Okay. We're heading on down.
- All right.
We put out our fire here.
- Yeah. That's the key thing.
Oh.
We got to have our catkins tea.
- We got to try our tea.
- Catkins are also good for flatulence.
- Well, not a problem I have, but perhaps you do.
- My kids, I tell you--
they--my kids need catkins and plenty of it.
- All right, let me try it out.
That's nice. - Okay, good.
- Yeah.
- Thank you. - That was pretty good.
- Okay, that's where we're heading.
And then we're on our way.
Okay. - All right.
Good, let's do it.
- Would you ever encourage your girls to get into politics?
- No.
But if they came to me and they said
they wanted to go into elected office--
- Yeah.
- I would be completely supportive.
- Yeah.
- Because I think it can be noble work
if done for the right reasons the right way.
You know, what I try to teach my daughters is
be useful and be kind.
And if you do those two things,
then wherever your passions take you,
you'll turn out okay, and you'll--
- "Be kind" is such a big one.
It's not complicated, is it? - No, it really isn't.
- Sometimes we have a journey in life
to come around to realizing actually,
you're right, that is it.
- Try to be useful to somebody,
and try to be kind.
- It's been such a privilege for me
to be able to spend a little bit of time with him...
Well, I think this is where we split.
- All right.
- And actually see what the man
himself is like.
And, for me...
Just respect.
I've got one favor to ask. - Yeah, go ahead.
- I promised my wife, I said...
I'd get you to sign something for her.
But I couldn't find-- the only thing
I could find at the airport--
- Oh. This is the classic.
- [laughs] What is this?
- This is the classic Obama bottle opener.
- Thing is, you look ripped.
- You know, I am pretty ripped, actually.
- Well, you are.
You couldn't do that with Winston Churchill.
- No, no.
I'm fairly cut,
but it's possible that that bottle opener
is a little dated.
I noticed, for example, there was no gray hair
on the Obama figurine.
And clearly, the presidency's
taken a little bit of a toll.
But, you know, Michelle tells me I'm holding up okay.
- Do you know the thing I was most
worried about on this whole trip?
- What's that? - Was just keeping you safe.
- I'm skinny, but I'm tougher than I look.
- You are. Well, we've made it.
Mission accomplished. - Thank you.
- Can I pray for you before we go?
- Absolutely.
- One of the things
I really wanted to do was to be able to say
a little prayer with him,
and it's always awkward doing that.
But, um...
You know, here's a man who really has
the weight of the world on his shoulders.
And everyone's always taking from him,
and I just wanted, just for ten seconds,
just to be able to pray for him and--
for protection over the incredible stuff he's doing.
Lord, I thank you for the president's
great strength of courage and character.
Bless and protect his work and his family.
Forgive us when we fall short,
and help us to be strong in you.
Amen. - Amen.
Appreciate you, man. - You're amazing.
- Thank you.
- Honestly, it's been such a privilege.
- I had a wonderful time.
- As I said, I'm genuinely--I'm in awe
of what you're doing to protect our planet.
- Well, you are a great ambassador for the wilderness.
And I promise
I will not invite you to a cocktail party.
- [laughs]
I might make an exception for you, Mr. President.
- Well, no, the, uh--
but maybe we can scale the face of the White House.
- Safe journey home. - Thank you.
- Don't get attacked by a bear. - I won't.
- Secret Service, he's over to you.
- Bear was a terrific companion.
Also, to get a sense of how passionate he is
about the wilderness
and sharing that knowledge--
it was a wonderful time.
And the fish was pretty good too.
- You know, we've only got one planet,
and we've got to care for it before it's too late.
But what it takes is for strong men to
stand up and be counted and do something
that's gonna make a difference.
And I feel a real kind of care for this
protection and love he has for the planet.
And I really want to champion what he's doing,
because it is remarkable.
[dramatic music]
- Alaska, in some ways, is ground zero
for what's happening in climate change.
We can't take this for granted.
It's one of the great legacies of this country.
We started the movement for national parks,
for preserving huge chunks of wilderness,
and that's part of what sets America apart.
If we ever lose that,
then we're gonna lose an essential part of who we are.
[dramatic music]