Alaskan trail

The only sound was the rhythmic crunch of the snow beneath my boots as I followed the trail through the forest.  My breath was captured by the ice cold air and turned into clouds of steam that lingered and formed ice on my moustache. 
The trail had not been travelled in a long time.  The snow was crusted and smooth.  The trail almost indiscernible except for the subtle row of white mounds that rose from its sides.  The bitter cold of winter had sucked the color from the forest, leaving it a dark silhouette in a white world.  An icy blue haze filled the air around me, making the silence more ominous.
The bush plane had dropped me off in the Alaskan wilderness less than two hours before, and I had already barely escaped being torn apart by a wolverine.  My assignment of finding a man in this inhospitable land was not starting off well.  I focused on my assignment and trudged on, keeping a close eye for movement in the forest around me.  I reminded myself that this isn't as bad as combat, the scent of which was still fresh in my memory, and I had spent most of my life in wilderness areas, but nothing quite like the Alaskan wilderness.  Wilderness in the lower 48 did not challenge a person like Alaska did.  All of the predators that were ever here were still here - in abundance.  The weather alone challenged a person's survival skills.  Alaska was a land unchanged by time.  It was as it had always been, and civilization was a humble presence, if present at all.
The trail ended abruptly at a wide, snow covered road.  Another road T'd from its side, lined by wooden buildings.  Hitching rails for horse jutted from the snow in front of buildings.  Dog teams lazed in their harnesses in the snow at the hitching rails.  Snowmobiles parked near them at the curb - the traditional mode of travel and the modern, rested acceptantly next to each other.
It was mid-day, and I had finally found the village.  I should have felt comfortable - finding an oasis of civilization, but I didn't.  People stoped and stared at me.  I was a stranger, and one who had arrived in the harshness of winter.  I could see mistrust and some times fear in their eyes as they watched me walk down the wooden sidewalk that rose from the street.  I had a suspicion that the danger of the forest had just been traded for a worse danger.












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