This piece has been most emotional and complex for me. It is from a wilderness trip I took with my horse loving friends to the Gila Wilderness. The Middle Fork section is spectacular and the canyon is one of the most beautiful and magical places I have ever experienced. Photographs cannot do it justice. This canyon wall is in a bend of the river and I called it the Cathedral; it is a spiritual place. This picture is of Jim, our guide, his horse Chief and Waddy, the wonderful canine companion. They are going to commune with God and like the canyon they are all real.

On our last day in the canyon the rains kept coming. The river had flooded and receded while we were in there and every crossing we made the water had risen. Halfway out Jim decided we needed to climb out of the canyon rather than go out the way we had come in, which required crossing the river about 50 times.

After we were safely out and on our way it kept raining in New Mexico and the river, engorged in raging flood, changed it’s face and access to the area of the Middle Fork  that we called home for a week was wiped out. We were the last people who will see this area of the wilderness for a long time. I carry it with me in my soul and someday I will find my way back.