Writing from his sloop Felicity while moored in San Diego Bay, Paulsen adds an author's note at the end of this final book in the Hatchet series, in which he writes: "Once you have seen the horizon, have followed it, have lived with nature in all its vicious beauty, it is impossible to come back to 'normal' life." Brian feels the same way. "I've tried to do things with people and go to school and be... normal. But I can't - it just doesn't work. I have been, I have seen too much. They talk about things that don't interest me and when I talk about what I think about, what I see, they just glaze over." And so Brian returns, voluntarily, for one more season in the wilderness.