![]() Abbey spent two summers during 19 as a park ranger at Arches National Park which, unlike today, was primitive, without paved roads or many visitors. My love for the desert is alive again.Ībbey, too, learned through his own first-hand experiences to understand and appreciate the contrasts of the desert which he wrote about with eloquence and passion.Ībbey’s fourth book, and first non-fiction book, Desert Solitaire, published in 1968, chronicles the time he spent in southeastern Utah. Rains fall swift and fast and a moment later the smell of creosote and the greening of sagebrush provide relief and beauty. ![]() Then, just when it seems the desert does nothing but punish the senses and betray affection, come sunsets so vivid red and skies so crystal blue that the sky looks painted by a master artist as an apology. Endless days without rain, miles of barren landscape punctuated only with sagebrush and jagged rocks, test the resolve of even the most patient lover of the southwest. I know first-hand what Abbey means now that I have spent the past 30 years living in the desert, experiencing heat so intense it snatches away reason and makes breathing labored. ![]() ![]() In the closing pages of his book Desert Solitaire Edward Abbey writes, “Whether we live or die is a matter of absolutely no concern whatsoever to the desert.” ![]()
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