I had some interesting times, too.
I worked for the Forest Service in Alaska, and I was also a logger, so I was out in the bush a lot.
I was charged by a bull moose two separate times, stalked by two Brownies in Denali, was almost run over by a snowy owl eating a rabbit that I flushed out of a snowbank, scaring the crap out of both of us, and I almost had a picnic on pack ice near Hope that broke up suddenly, but decided at the last minute to stay on shore, thus averting a fall into the breaking sea ice!
Yeah, I had fun up there!!
I miss it to this day...
Ed
i definitely want to visit alaska at some point, but i don't think i'd like being charged by the moose or stalked by bears. (i would rather deal with the gangs of NY or the terrorists than deal with a grizzly.)
i was talking to a woman on long island (NY) whose husband took people up to alaska to ski or to kayak, depending on the season. her husband noticed that none of the alaskan kayakers were wearing pfd's, and asked them why not. they said there wasn't any point--hypothermia would kill you before the pfd would do any good!