Two Augusts ago I was backpacking in the Wallowas, moving fast along a flat stretch beside the Minam River, when a big blonde wolf loped across the trail just a few feet in front of me. My mind lept to dog then bounced off it as she turned her head and looked at me, wilder, more self possessed and critical than any dog would be. She was large and her fur was mottled, all the possibilities of blond across her lanky body. I was electrified! I was transformed for a moment into the naked, clawless, slow footed truth of myself.

When we got out of the mountains my encounter was confirmed by a woman at the Blue Banana coffee kiosk who showed me images and data on the Wallowa’s Bear Creek Wolf Pack. I saw her photo and I cannot stop thinking about her. I am slowly creating her image in cloth.