What to Carry, What to Burn

When shy George Elson is invited to guide an expedition in Labrador, he thinks it’ll be pretty straightforward: hunt, fish, build fires, get paid. But the expedition is doomed from the start, and he’s left with decisions he never wanted to make.

Sources include the books Great Heart, by James Davidson and John Rugge; The Woman who Mapped Labrador: The Life and Expedition Diary of Mina Hubbard, by Roberta Buchanan, Anne Hart, Bryan Greene, and Mina Hubbard; and A Woman’s Way Through Unknown Labrador by Mina Hubbard.
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Two strangers--who couldn't be more different from each other--are trapped together in the frozen wilderness.

Sources include:
- Hey, I'm Alive! by Helen Klaben and Beth Day
- Helen Klaben on To Tell the Truth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZQzB-gvp_I
- How One Church Member Survived a Plane Crash and 49 Days in the Yukon Wilderness "by the Grace of God," by Lindsey Miller in LDS Living: https://www.ldsliving.com/how-one-church-member-survived-a-plane-crash-and-49-days-in-the-yukon-wilderness-by-the-grace-of-god/s/89838
- Bond Still Strong Between 1963 Crash Survivors in the Tampa Bay Times: https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1993/11/10/bond-still-strong-between-1963-crash-survivors/

Blair's story in the NYT: He Went Out on an Epic Wilderness Adventure. Only His Dogs Came Back.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/10/10/magazine/steffen-skjottelvik-canada-journey-death.html?unlocked_article_code=1.H1E.JP3C.h8fCWrcN1-Oo&smid=url-share
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When twelve-year-old Donn Fendler loses the trail on a family hike, he has to survive in the Maine wilderness all alone.

Sources for this episode include the documentary Finding Donn Fendler; the book Lost on a Mountain in Maine, by Donn Fendler, as told to Joseph B. Egan; “Fendler Remembered as a True American Hero,” by John Holyoke in the Bangor Daily News; “Fendler Boy Found Alive in Woods Eight Days After Becoming Lost,” in the New York Times; “70 Years Ago a Mountain in Maine Challenged a Boy’s Will to Survive,” by Nok-Noi Ricker, in the Bangor Daily News; and “Remembering Donn Fendler,” by John Thurlow, in Down East.
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When honeymooners Holly and Fitz miss their boat ride out of a Peruvian village, they think they'll be stuck for weeks--until a stranger offers a bold alternative.

Sources:

Ruthless River by Holly Fitzgerald

Holly Fitzgerald: Lost in the Jungle Again
https://www.guernicamag.com/holly-fitzgerald-lost-jungle/

TEDx: What the Jungle Taught Me About Inner Strength
https://www.ted.com/talks/holly_fitzgerald_what_the_jungle_taught_me_about_inner_strength
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21-year-old Violet Jessop goes to sea to support her family--and ends up caught in two major maritime disasters.

(Spoilers below, in the source list.)

Sources for this episode include the book Titanic Survivor: The Newly Discovered Memoirs of Violet Jessop who Survived Both the Titanic and Brittanic Disasters, by Violet Jessop, introduced, edited, and annotated by John Maxtone Graham.
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