Lia Shafer

Alaska

I did not dare to walk alone at night. Not because I was worried a person would attack me, but because I didn’t want to startle an unseen bear. I would sit on the edge of a forty foot cliff overlooking Auke Bay and watch the setting sun fall behind the Chilkat mountains. Wild Alaska was what I expected. The effect it had on me, however, I never could have predicted. My main purpose in moving to the Last Frontier for five months was to earn money for school as a seasonal worker. I was so ignorant when I made the decision to go. I thought I hated it at first. When I got there, it rained everyday for three weeks. I was cold and miserable. My body felt heavy and too much to carry out of bed. I despised how the mountains were covered in clouds all the time. I loathed the cawing ravens. If I wasn’t working, I stayed home. When I was working, I begrudgingly drove my coach bus full of passengers that came to see beautiful Alaska. They were just as disappointed as I was. I truly thought nothing could be worse.