--Jesse Wolf Hardin
I watch my four-year-old daughter as she crouches naked up to her shoulders in the San Francisco River. Her head is dipped down as she drinks the cold water in quiet gulps while her hair falls in wet ropes around her face. She is effortlessly comfortable and completely aware, surrounded on all sides by the rich riparian green and raw red cliffs of the Gila Wildlands. A single vivid blue damselfly rests tentatively on one small brown shoulder. Rhiannon stops drinking and, with intent eyes and a huge grin, motionlessly watches her visitor. She waits until the damselfly takes flight on its own before she whirls in wild circles, growling and howling in wordless delight.
