The canyons, mesas, and buttes of the iconic desert southwest are loved by many, and there’s nothing better than seeing it from the eyes of the women who travel way out into the desert’s most remote regions. Here’s a list of five absolute desert goddesses I adore, who bring the deserts of Utah and Arizona alive on the page.
All My Rivers are Gone: A Journey of Discovery Through Glen Canyon by Katie Lee
If you’ve ever wondered what Glen Canyon was like before the Glen Canyon Dam was built and Lake Powell back filled the Colorado River, Katie Lee is your girl. She’s a downright rascal in those canyons, plunging into cold pools, hiking naked for miles, bushwhacking through overgrown brush, riding rapids with her guitar and holding it down as the only woman in a crew of men who decided it was better to live among the canyons than in society.
Her writing is raunchy, lyrical, and full of love for the desert Southwest. Her grief for the construction of the dam and losing Glen Canyon falls off the page and will worm its way into your heart. I don’t want to say too much, other than read everything she’s ever written. And once you’ve read her books, queue up her folk songs to plunge deeper into the desert rivers of the Southwest.
Desert Cabal by Amy Irvine
The word that comes to mind when I think about this book is sass. I love Amy Irvine’s witty, honest humor in this book as she treks into the desert to find where Ed Abbey was buried (illegally…shh) and when she finds him, she brings whisky to have a little chat with the desert loving legend. A must read for Ed Abbey lovers, if you’re willing to keep an open mind.
Irvine writes an imagined conversation between her and the late Abbey. She calls him out for his outdated and insensitive remarks in Desert Solitaire, lays into him for the lies he told in his writing as well as the racism and womanizing. She teases, praises, and criticizes his work, and updates him on the long term effects of his writing. How he admonished pavement and a sprawling society, wanting the desert all to himself, yet his books have inspired hoards of tourists to go out to the desert, a place that is being loved to death. This book will make you laugh, reflect, and ponder
Nowhere for Very Long by Briana Madia
Briana Madia is Instagram famous, mainly from posting adventures with her 2-4 dogs. From paddling them all on one paddleboard down the Colorado River to buying raw land outside of Moab, Madia is a desert goddess through and through. Her storytelling is fantastic and her writing is vivid and honest. This book is the first of 3 memoirs (I recommend them all, but start here).
Nowhere for Very Long delves into van life in the desert with her dogs, and details how she learns outdoor living skills from her husband. When they divorce, she has to learn how to camp and live the outdoors by herself and pick up the pieces of her life without him. Madia explores grief, betrayal, and loneliness in her debut memoir all in the context of dealing with these things in the desert while living on public land. Madia is an admirable woman- she lives her own quirky life with pride and a great deal of love for her dogs.
Her newest book, Homesick Nomad, is out and en route to my house. Can’t wait to read it!
Brave the Wild River by Melissa Sevigny
This book is a must for Grand Canyon lovers. This story follows two female botanists down the Colorado River in the 1930s, who created the first and most detailed plant log of the area while also managing trip logistics, rapids, cooking and cleaning meals, and society’s criticism for women being outdoors in what was considered a place only for men. This is a well researched book and Sevigny was able to weave her research of letters, diaries, and historical facts into a narrative story that felt alive with rich characters.
I met Melissa Sevigny at a conference, and she told me a story of going on her first Grand Canyon river trip as research for the book. It started pouring, so she went to her tent and BOOM! Not thunder, but the ending to the book came to her. She wrote it in her journal as the rain pounded her tent. I love when books take writers on experiences, and how she needed to really immerse herself in the canyon to be able to fully write this book.
All in all this book is a tribute to badass women of the Grand Canyon, Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter, who’s research provided a baseline of botany understanding that is still used today when studying the Colorado River ecosystem.
Currently reading: Wind in the Rock by Ann Zwinger
I’m late to the game discovering Ann Zwinger, and honestly so happy to stumble on her writing recently. Another desert goddess from the 1970’s and 80’s, Zwinger a river runner, desert explorer and backpacker. Really she’ll take any mode of travel that propels her deep into the desert where sandstone meets sky and there may or may not be drinking water.
I just started this book, and I’m already loving it. She includes sketches of plants and animals found in her wanderings, goes on deep dives into the history of explorers, Mormons, and river runners who settled the remote region of Utah. She also knows her geology, flora, and fauna. This book is on the nerdier side, a bit dense with facts and observations. If you don’t recognize the areas she’s traveling, it might be more than you’re hoping for, but if you’re somewhat familiar with the Bears Ears/San Juan River river- oh my goodness you’re right there in the canyon with her.
That’s it for now- grab your books and head to the river for some fabulous summer reading.
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Beth Henshaw 