Alaska

I grew up in the Rocky Mountains and I’ve been to the Swiss Alps, so I thought a trip to Alaska would be similar to my earlier outdoors experiences.  It was not even close.  The exquisite and pristine beauty is like nothing I’ve experienced before.

There is a purity to the wilderness* in Alaska. It is an inconceivably vast expanse of nature untouched by man. One experience is especially memorable. As we were hiking along a stream in Denali National Park, the sun brilliant and a light breeze blowing, I suddenly stopped. I realized there were not ANY man-made sounds:  no cars; no airplanes (not even a contrail); no radios; no cell phones ringing; no construction noises; no a/c, furnace, or computer fans running; and no one was talking. There was silence, except for the sounds of nature. It was stunning.

I go there in my thoughts, from time to time, to revel in the perfection of beauty.

*Disclaimer: even though I did not do any backpacking, I felt as though I had embraced a wilderness experience