Desert Solitaire
“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. Each thing in its way, when true to its own character, is equally beautiful.”
― Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire
Reading for Cole
Desert Solitaire is Edward Abbey's account of two summers spent in southeastern Utah's canyonlands and is considered one of the most enduring works of contemporary American nature writing. As we know, Cole loved Utah and prior to their Africa trip, Dustin gave him this book.
Cole told her that he was glad she bought him the hardcover because it was a book that he wanted to keep forever. After having begun reading, he said that the book deserved to be read in sections so it could really be appreciated. While he didn't have the chance to finish it, Dustin shared this story at Cole's Celebration of life and encouraged everyone to read and finish it for him.
About the Book
Desert Solitaire is a collection of vignettes about life in the wilderness and the nature of the desert itself by park ranger and conservationist, Edward Abbey. The book details the unique adventures and conflicts the author faces, from dealing with the damage caused by the development of the land or excessive tourism. However, Desert Solitaire is not just a collection of one man's stories, the book is also a philosophical memoir, full of Abbey's reflections on the desert as a paradox, at once beautiful and liberating, but also isolating and cruel. Desert Solitaire is a powerful discussion of life's mysteries set against the stirring backdrop of the American southwestern wilderness.
Desert Solitaire lives on because it is a work that reflects profound love of nature and a bitter abhorrence of all that would desecrate it."This book may well seem like a ride on a bucking bronco," added Edwin Way Teale in the New York Times. "It is rough, tough, combative...passionately felt, deeply poetic." But perhaps the spirit of the man, the work, and the circumstances of its writing were best summarized by Larry McMurtry in his review for the Washington Post:
"Edward Abbey is the Thoreau of the American West."
Memories from the Masai Mara
