Raven's Exile: A Season on the Green River

Each summer, Meloy, a freelance writer, and her husband, a river ranger with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, raft Utah's Green River through the 84-mile-long gorge at Desolation Canyon. In this scintillating account of one season on the river, she uses rich and sensuous language to convey the breathtaking beauty of the region--the play of color and light on steep canyon walls, the force of spring windstorms and the mystery of abandoned Indian cliff dwellings. Although Desolation Canyon is relatively unspoiled, the threat of human meddling is ever present; Meloy considers ravens, wily birds whose absence from Desolation Canyon she has never been able to explain and which become a symbol of everything that is, and should remain, beyond human comprehension and control. This paean to the beauty of desert wilderness includes the author's drawings of ancient petroglyphs found on the canyon walls. (June)