While waiting three days for sea ice to subside from Perry Island, I was mesmerized by the surreal Arctic light. (Snow geese and oldsquaw ducks appear along the shore.) Sometimes, when the north wind blew, you could see the ice pack advancing on the other side of the horizon like a great white light--reminding you that winter was never far away.

After three weeks alone, I found a special peace during a midnight sunset on Adelaide Peninsula. The sand here had the consistency of thick grains of unrefined sugar, and you could sleep on it without a pad, letting it mold to your hips and back. Wolf tracks littered my campsite; the rest of the world had all but disappeared from my mind.