When the weather was finally getting cold enough for the river to freeze, I was invited to go ice fishing with some friends. The plan was to take a snow machine to the spot where we would be settling down for the day and there would be about 4 or 5 of us there. When the time came and we were getting ready to load up on the snow machines, I quickly realized something: there were not enough seats on the actual machine. BUT there was a sled being pulled behind one of them. At first I thought, there is no way I am getting in that. But after some consideration, I decided why not and jumped in. Bundled up, we began the short ride to the fishing spot. I remember looking across the ice in the mid day winter sun and seeing a reflection between the ice and the sky.
This was my first real trip into the icy tundra and I was immediately greeted with a sight across the river that I know I'll never forget. As I was gawking at the sights around me like a tourist, I heard another snow machine tearing across the ice and I saw my friend racing us on his snow machine. It was all fun and games until I remembered that I'm being towed behind a snow machine. So although we did not win that race, I saw my friend fly by and I couldn't help but laugh at the idea that I almost didn't even get in the sled in the first place and would have missed out on a memory that I'll never forget.
Zack Wyskida
Nunapitchuk, 2023
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