As I hunched forward from the weight of the pack and the pull of the sled, the sweat formed liquid stalactites at the tip of my nose.  My gaze concentrated on the snow in front.  Small spiders, like moving fractures in ice, carefully worked their way across the snow.  It made me wonder how something so fragile could survive in such an environment.

          A Pacific Salamander, in slow motion, struggled to reach a warmer repose, working it's way through seeds from the forest's canopy, which lay in accidental symmetry in stark relief against the whiteness, boring their way into the snow from the heat of the sun.

          The fallen giants, which had earlier impeded our progress, caught the sled with their broken limbs, putting extreme stress on the sled's poles, splintering one and slightly damaging the other.  Fourteen days ahead!  This does not bode well.

          The afternoon seemed to slip by faster than my forward progress.  As the setting sun sucked the warmth of the winters day into its evening berth and the snow slickened in the chill evenings air, my wretchedly tired body reached it's goal.

          The snow reflected the cold light of the Milky Way and the shadows disappeared in winter's darkness, providing me with an inchoate world in which to set up camp.

          Still burdened with the pack to provide weight to trample the snow in a crisscrossed pattern like some frost encrusted waffle, I created the solid base needed for the tent.  Then, without the skis I punched a trail to my latrine amongst the cathedral trees.

          Setting up the tent I set about the making of my evening meal.  It was dark and my small lantern set the tent to glowing like a giant Halloween pumpkin, a bright orange orb under a jewel encrusted night.

          Each year as my friends ski out leaving me in my wilderness solitude, my existence becomes my own, and a longing for what the tomorrows may bring stirs my spirits.  Snuggled in downy softness a sense of peace settles over my soul.  Sleep came fast and deep.