REASONS: The Last Frontier: Awakening by Daniel Fowler

Your alarm goes off at 3:30 am. You groggily sit up in your cozy tent trying to brace yourself for the frigid world that lies just beyond the thin veil that is the fabric of your tent. You take a sip of water trying to revive your exhausted soul. You slowly begin to unzip the opening of your temporary home and what awaits you is beyond your wildest dreams.

Pink pastels fill the sky as a wall of fog is held back just far enough that the frozen ancient landscape is revealed. A calm breeze sweeps across your soul bringing a slight chill to your awakening in the mountains. You begin to boil water to enjoy a hot cup of tea whilst trying to fathom the unbelievable beauty that nature has presented before you. You honestly can't believe the conditions that are occurring before you because it had rained for ten straight days before this moment.

This is what I felt whilst awakening to an early summer's morning overlooking the Harding Icefield.

Taken in Kenai Fjords National Park, AK 2021.