Best Desert books

Irrelevant

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I have a float/backpacking trip coming up this spring down the Green and into the Maze (Canyonlands NP). I've never really spent much time in the desert, but one of the things I like to do before I go to a new place is to read a couple of good books either set in the same area/geographic region, or actually about the area (allows for both fiction and non-fiction). Any suggestions?
 
Will you be floating into the Colorado? The confluence is pretty cool to see, especially from up above. Sorry, has nothing to do with books but I really like the desert in that country.
 
A couple oldies by Colin Fletcher could be good: The Man Who Walked Through Time about his Grand Canyon walk and River about his float on the Colorado from source to Mexico.
 
Finding Everett Ruess

Just finished this, found it to be a bit repititive but ok. Entitled 20yo in 1930s lives as starving artist and explores desert SW. Ends up going missing and a cult following develops to find him to this day. There was a surprise in 2009 that I wont ruin. I'm glad that I borrowed this one from the library. If you like that area or have been you'll appreciate the travels of the kid and his struggles. Plus the intrigue makes it readable.
 
I mean there is really only one book to read while floating that section...


Down the Colorado: Diary of the First Trip Through the Grand Canyon
View attachment 124719
“We have an unknown distance yet to run, an unknown river to explore. What falls there are, we know not; what rocks beset the channel, we know not; what walls ride over the river, we know not. Ah, well! we may conjecture many things.”
 
on a scale which wins out, Stegner or the original Powell?
I see them as heads and tails of the same coin. Each is a tale of their time. Powell's original is zoomed in on that daring, magnificent quest into the unknown. The closest parallel to that from our lifetimes may be the Apollo 11 moon shot. Powell's expedition was much less connected, much less supported, equally isolated from assistance or rescue.

Stegner may be the greatest chronicler of the western experience from the 20th century. His book distills Powell's original telling into something more dramatic, if less immediate, like faceting a raw diamond. Beyond that, he zooms out from the original journey to incorporate historical context around the rest of Powell's many accomplishments and struggles. Those were seminal to the "opening of the west," and Stegner was prescient in predicting much of the human, political and environmental drama we have, and will continue to confront.

I read Powell as a teen, and Stegner many years after.
 
^^^^^^^

Watch out noharleyyet, someone is gunning to take over as "most likely member to cause me to get my dictionary out".

elkduds, you have made me want to read both of the books. Thanks
 
Set in the Hells Canyon high desert of Idaho, Five Skies by Ron Carlson is a fictional story
that captures the essence of western landscapes, work ethic and people.

Opening paragraph:
"It was a cold May in all of Idaho, and as the month began there were only a few short
stacks of lumber and construction gear on the plateau above the remote river gorge,
along with all the game trails and manifold signs of rabbits, who were native to the place
and who now moved cautiously around the three men sleeping on the ground.

The first time Arthur Key saw the plateau at the far edge of the ranch called Rio Difficulto,
he was lying in a sleeping bag in the frigid open air at dawn, or a little before it, in the
deep gray light when so many creatures jostle in the sage. He was a big man and had
slept in rough sections, shouldering the oversized sleeping bag up over his right arm
and then his left by turns."
 
Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine St Exupery.

It's about french pilots in the Sahara and the Andes during the early 20th century. It was the early days of aviation and was incredibly dangerous. It's full of incredible descriptions of desert and mountainous landscapes and crazy tales of crashes, deaths and escapes. Beautifully written too
 
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^^^^^^^

Watch out noharleyyet, someone is gunning to take over as "most likely member to cause me to get my dictionary out".

elkduds, you have made me want to read both of the books. Thanks
duds is a solid dude who knows stuff...
 
A Canyon Voyage by Frederick Dellenbaugh is an interesting account of the second Powell expedition down the Colorado. I enjoyed Desert Solitaire but at some point I tired of Abbey's misanthropic outlook.
The Life of My Choice by Wilfred Thesiger. He was one of the last great explorers and recounts his journeys, often in the desert regions of the world. You can read his obituary in The Guardian to get a sense of his extraordinary life. It will leave you feeling as though you've lived a very, very dull life.
 
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A Canyon Voyage by Frederick Dellenbaugh is an interesting account of the second Powell expedition down the Colorado. I enjoyed Desert Solitaire but at some point I tired of Abbey's misanthropic outlook.
The Life of My Choice by Wilfred Thesiger. He was one of the last great explorers and recounts his journeys, often in the desert regions of the world. You can read his obituary in The Guardian to get a sense of his extraordinary life. It will leave you feeling as though you've lived a very, very dull life.
Yes, he certainly didn't let anything hold him back. But...

From that Obit:
"Sex has been of no consequence to me, and the celibacy of desert life left me untroubled..."
 
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