Ever since I was a child, I had this fantasy about walking alongside a bear through the forest, as if we were old friends. Yet even with my overactive imagination, I could never have predicted that I would one day have that exact experience with a spirit bear. For hours, I crouched silently at the river’s edge beneath the towering cathedrals of evergreens and simply watched this beautiful male go about his day. He fished the currents, pouncing on salmon and hauling them deep into the forest to devour them on beds of moss. When he suddenly sat upright among the ancient roots, I could not help but think of an Ewok from the Star Wars films. "Ewok" became the unofficial title of this image and is proof that you do not need to travel to distant galaxies in order to experience the wonder and beauty of worlds beyond our imagination.