- Phillip

Alone in the World
Phillip May

         How would you like to go into the wild with only your friends, tents, and camping supplies, just with your wildlife skills and your will to survive? For Bobby Martin, this was his idea of the trip of a lifetime.
         He traveled into the woods with a few supplies and some friends to see all of the scenic and wild things he could find. "Zone 734 was awesome, it was wide open terrain and big trees. It was just beautiful," he said. Martin is a hand surgeon from Raleigh, North Carolina. He and three of his friends, also from Raleigh, came to Alaska to camp and hike in the wild terrain of the Frontier State.
         The four camped in zone 734 where they saw a lot of the wildlife, not just the animals, but also in the form of the trees and the beautiful flowers. "We saw two bears two different times, and we saw five caribou altogether. We also saw bald eagles, foxes, and a lot of other animals’” Martin said. He was also very amazed by the wildlife and scenery. "It really surprised me how fast the bears can run and how much territory they can cover, if you watch them they just cruise up and down the mountains,” Martin said.
         For Martin and his friends the most difficult part of the experience is that it's you and the rest of your group up against some serious elements. "I did not expect the weather to be like this, I mean yesterday it was warm and cloudy and today it is snowy and cold. Those big winds came in a couple of days ago and cooled everything down,” Martin said. After such warm weather only days before Martin was amazed by the snow that was falling. “You spend a lot of time just trying to stay warm, I mean it’s June 24th, I can’t imagine being here in March and the other winter months. Overall I enjoyed the experience, even though it rained and snowed today, I just love the outdoors,” he said.
          A lot of people ask what Alaska is like.  I think the only way to describe the beauty of Alaska to them is to take them here. “You can’t describe the beauty of this place, I look forward to coming back with my friends and just camping some more out in the wild,” Martin said. As our interview drew to a close and I started to walk away Bobby yelled, “I look forward to seeing my story in Outdoor magazine.” All I could do in response was laugh.