Sadly, a few days ago, an Anchorage attorney and his wife were killed by a grizzly bear in ANWR. From all I know about bears and from what I hear from the paper and TV, they followed all of the 'rules', making this is an extremely rare occurrence. Nonetheless, having had to chase bears away from my tent while on camping/rafting trips in the past, this makes one extra careful while out in the bush.
Maybe its just a post-NCDC contemplation, or maybe its the better portion of a bottle of pinot I put away tonight, but I think that death like this makes one appreciate life and its fragility all the more. I also think that the knowledge that death, whether from elements, animals, accidents, or just bad luck, is so close whenever one is exploring the wilds of this state has the effect of making life more exhilarating.
Compare a daily commute with sleeping in the wilderness, hundreds of miles from anybody. If you're out fishing with nobody around and you hear something outside your tent, let me tell you that your heart does step up a few (hundred) beats a minute. And it is incidents like this, as sad as they are, that put perspective on life, that strip away the thin veneer of civilization and show just how truly frail we are.
I salute the Huffmans - they died doing what they enjoyed in the last frontier. They respected this land and its inhabitants. Not all of us will have such an epitaph.
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