Desert Solitaire

"No, wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread. A civilization which destroys what little remains of the wild, the spare, the original, is cutting itself off from its origins and betraying the principle of civilization itself."

Desert Solitaire, by Edward Abbey, recounts Abbey's experiences as an employee with the National Park Service, stationed at Arches National Monument (now National Park) near Moab, Utah. Abbey works in the park at a time before the roads were paved, before the onslaught of tourists that were to come by the hundreds of thousands. His home is a small camp trailer, and his only companions are the desert wildlife and solitude. Abbey tells his stories with ease; it makes one's heart ache to be in the desert, to experience what he was able to experience. One of the most poignant adventures that Abbey relates is his foray into Glen Canyon, prior to the construction of Glen Canyon Dam, and the subsequent flooding of the landscape that resulted in modern-day Lake Powell. Abbey writes, "The beavers had to go and build another goddamned dam on the Colorado." What a tremendous experience, to see this area before it was inundated. He and a friend spent nearly a week, floating down the river, breathing in the landscape around them. The greatest thing about Abbey's experiences, which is conveyed in his writing, is that he was alive. He wasn't merely existing, but he was actually living, and living life to the fullest. I absolutely loved this book, and would recommend it to anyone interested in the Desert Southwest, particularly Southern Utah. It is also essential reading for those interested in environmental history, and will appeal to the casual reader as well.