Monocle on Kenibuna

On a wilderness trek years ago, myself and a companion found ourselves stuck on the shore of shallow Kenibuna Lake, near the Lake Clark Preserve about 90 miles west of Anchorage. Our plan called for us to cross in rafts, but thick muck saturated the water, making paddling impossible. When we tried hiking, we sunk to our waists. So, as often happens in Alaska, we had to yield to the wilderness and travel in another direction. I returned to the scene recently in my helicopter, arriving just when the setting sun cast a shadow across the center of the vast flat. It threw contrast across two remarkable mirror-like ponds—deeper and more pure than the surrounding silty lake—that reminded me of monocles.