Our last view of the sun was at 10:30 pm. The following morning, our ride appeared and flew us back to Cold Bay. What a baptism to Alaska! I had flown with a bush pilot to the wilderness. I had seen two of the largest bears in the world standing on their hind legs and fighting. I had waded ashore from a remote lake… with no means of communication with the rest of the world. I had slept in the crucible of the world’s weather with no shelter other than my sleeping bag. I had slogged across the spongy tundra with a pack on my back. I had learned of walking on muskeg where I was forced to keep moving to keep from sinking. I had leapt across what I thought was a bottomless creek. I had marveled at the sight of a large lake with water so clear that rocks could be seen at its bottom far from shore. I had walked along trails created by the renowned Alaskan brown bear, and stumbled across its excrement steaming in the cool, crisp air. I had, alone, explored a black, lava beach on the shore of the Bering Sea. I had watched a whale cavorting in the ocean. And, on my last night there, I had viewed the most fantastic scene of a sunset in my entire life. What could ever top that!