Now, of course, it's a plush resort. And I remember waking at dawn and seeing a coyote playing with a piece of canvas from our camping equipment, tossing it and tugging it, frolicking like a puppy. He ran right across the chest of my sleeping companion and began cavorting with some crumpled wastepaper we were saving for our morning fire. He was not in the least bothered by our presence. I have great admiration for the coyote, for in spite of all the persecutions of man, and all the hardships he must endure, still he thrives.
Water is the life of the desert.
There are desert animals that never need a drink of water. There are desert seeds that can wait 15 to 20 years for rainfall. That to me is one of the wonders of life. A seed no larger than a period on this page can hold all of a plant's possibilities, waiting. No thinking man can fail to be awed by the mystery of it.