Swimsuits in -40

I never thought I'd be warm in a swimsuit at -40, but with a steamy hot spring to hustle to, it wasn't so bad. I never thought I'd volunteer to go aurora watching at -40 and last for 3 hours, but with bunny boots and army mitts mixed with constant jumping jacks and foot stamping, it was bearable. The aurora played around the sky in casting green off the miles of untouched hills and spruce of the north country. I felt the earth's vibration, the empty hills calling me in. And then there was the wolf. As I drove up the Denali Park Road I thought to myself that morning, "I might see a wolf today." Then, walking back from the park's kennels, head down into my scarf, a voice warned me to "look up, you don't know what your missing." There it was. Standing as I had always imagined I'd see it. A white wolf, fur tipped with gray, piercing blue eyes, staring into me from the bend of the trail, 50 feet away. I stopped, heart beating through my chest, pulse quickening through my ears. A frozen moment in time, eyes locked with the wild, and then as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared. After a few more moments of silence, I willed myself forward. It was so magical, I had to confirm it actually happened through it's tracks. It had followed mine, paw upon boot print, until that moment we connected. It was real. My lifelong dream, just as I'd always imagined it. The north country, a land of bitter cold, a land where your mistakes can get you killed, a land of raw, undulating, beauty.