There’s a certain feeling that comes to you when you’re immersed in pure wilderness. When all you hear is the wind in the grass and the soft ripple of water over rocks. It’s an emotion that excites, but simultaneously brings feelings of peace and comfort. When you look out and see rolling mountains, an Eagle soaring high above and signs of other creatures moving all around. On this day, I was in such a place.

Crouched down on a gravel bar along the river’s edge, I watched as a large Alaskan Brown Bear stood in the water, patiently waiting for the nearby Salmon to inch ever closer. This was truly a place of pure wilderness. What a wonderful place this bear got to call home, I envied him. Suddenly the bear burst into action, running straight at me. I would have been nervous if I didn’t know better. I could see flashes of red from underneath the water, the fish quickly escaping their pursuer. The bear settled down once again, returning to his previous spot to sit and wait. I looked around once again and took it all in. Rolling mountains in the distance, this bear watching the salmon swim by, caribou and wolf tracks in the sand next to me. I really was in a magical place, a place of pure wilderness!