I'm a conscientious objector to most things social media, but I have really enjoyed how Instagram connects lovers of the outdoors in a sort of virtual hiking club. Today I had just one of those experiences and it has inspired me to reflect today on something very familiar, yet underappreciated by most users of our treasured national parks & forests. 

I think we've all been thinking a lot lately. Sometimes, I think we may be thinking too much. But as we went for our last hurrah of summer on a day hike this week before the return to school and the grind of a fast paced life, I was already in a particularly reflective state of mind....

​Alaska is such an abstract concept to people in the lower 48. It holds dreams of epic landscapes, freedom and independence, and grit and challenge. It embodies all that you dream of being able to do, all you dream you might be capable of fulfilling. It holds a revered place in our hearts and minds....

​In the outhouse overlooking Twin Lakes, Gary TItus has put a series of comic strips depicting various Alaskan backcountry humor, mostly about bears. Gary has been bluff charged over ten times and survived an attack by a grizzly about a 10 minute walk from where I sit now....

​When I think I on my time in the true wild of Alaska- 28 miles by float plane to the next signs of civilization- I ask myself what it was I was looking for and whether or not I found it. What was it I was seeking exactly? I think it is what Dick Proenneke and all of those called to Alaska are searching for.

The best way I have to explain it is to use what I found here....