On a four-day visit to Dutch Harbor, Alaska, I decided to head up to Mount Ballyhoo to photograph the scenery and blooming wildflowers.  It is a remote area and the vistas were magnificent.  Here are a few images from the summit:

When I was looking for other compositions, I heard some rustling behind me.  Turning around, I saw this guy:

He was quite curious and had no fear of me.  He came right up to me as I was photographing and decided to check things out.  Evidently he became interested in my tripod:

He was very entertaining to watch, so I grabbed my other camera with its longer lens to have at the ready in case an opportunity presented itself.  He wound up wandering into a patch of dwarf fireweed, and I got my camera ready figuring I can capture a photograph it amongst the flowers.  He roamed through the patch and I was able to capture this image, which is one of the most memorable wildlife moments I have encountered:

I returned to photographing the wildflowers and after a few minutes, I didn't hear him - I figured he must have gotten bored and wandered off.  I turned around and saw him like this:

He was sound asleep!  I felt very privileged to have a wild animal be comfortable with my presence that he fell asleep right next to me.  I also learned a valuable lesson - always be prepared for a wildlife encounter.  I had no intentions at all to photograph wildlife that day - it was the scenics and flowers that I had concentrated on.  Now, I always have a camera with a zoom telephoto lens on it ready to go for my next sighting!