Turnagain Arm, Southcentral, Alaska:
We traverse the dense, varied hillside. Ferns, their heads the size of dimes with stalks tender as a child’s finger, materialize underfoot. Devils club pours forth as a fresh new enemy. Birch rocket toward heaven. Spruce as stacked, twisted, and uneasy. The hemlock is rooted, wandering silently in the wind. Climbing. Falling away. Legs carrying mind carrying body. The silted, untouchable coast revealing itself in small, un-forested windows. We gulp the view. The tide is racing away. The curtain drawn back to reveal.
