Walking the High Desert: Encounters with Rural America along the Oregon Desert Trail

by Ellen Waterston

Former high desert rancher Ellen Waterston writes of a wild, essentially roadless, starkly beautiful part of the American West. Following the recently created 750-mile Oregon Desert Trail, she embarks on a creative and inquisitive exploration, introducing readers to a "trusting, naïve, earnest, stubbly, grumpy old man of a desert" that is grappling with issues at the forefront of national, if not global, public land use, grazing rights for livestock, protection of sacred Indigenous ground, water rights, and protection of habitat for endangered species.

Blending travel writing with memoir and history, Waterston profiles a wide range of people who call the high desert home and offers fresh perspectives on nationally reported regional conflicts such as the Malheur Wildlife Refuge occupation. Walking the High Desert invites readers―wherever they may be―to consider their own beliefs, identities, and surroundings through the optic of the high desert of southeastern Oregon.

Genres: Nature, Nonfiction

248 pages, Paperback

First published June 22, 2020

Reviews

[Annu · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm torn on this book. The information here is fascinating, and I'm really sure it's the only place to find most of this knowledge compiled anywhere, but oh man the writing is difficult to follow. Strange anecdotes, odd jumps in time and place, forced comparisons, short profiles of too many people that don't contribute to the book. A good editor would help immensely.

But there is important history here, and I like the overall structure of the book. I really wish it contained more maps and diagrams (lava flows, wildlife/biome sketches, etc).

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book follows in the footsteps of Egan's The Good Rain and Tisdale's Stepping Westward. If you have affinity for public lands, and especially for wide-open eastern Oregon, you'll enjoy this book.

And even without such affinities, it's a good primer on the competing priorities in Western public lands that have caused tension for decades. Plus you'll read about little towns and the people in them that you'll want to visit someday.

Favorite excerpt: "Every step taken by a hiker on the Oregon Desert Trail is a vote against privatization and for conservation. Lift all restrictions on environmental protection? Guess who wins. Privatization of public lands? It means only one thing: more for the wealthy elite and inaccessibility for the majority of us."

[Lin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an important book. I expected mostly a travelogue; I am thrilled at how much more that it is. Together with Marci Houle's The Prairie Keepers and Collared, a trilogy of preservation land use dialogue is formed. Add William Dietrich's Northwest Passage for further understanding of issues in the Inland West. Most of all, the chronicling of progress forged by seemingly opposite sides in this time of recalcitrant divisiveness gave me hope. Such successes require honesty and earnestness in motive and communication. Many remarkable individuals have much to teach us.

[Corinne · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to learn about the High Desert Trail, not the person who wrote the book.

[Aubrey A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite what the cover would imply, this book says very little about the Oregon Desert Trail, thru-hiking, or encounters with rural towns while thru-hiking. Rather, it seems to be a collection of disparate anecdotes from one woman’s life, loosely related in that they occurred in places or with people who are nearish to the Oregon Desert Trail. Several chapters in I found myself wondering when she was going to start hiking, but she never does. This book is not about hiking.

That said, if you are local to the region, which I am, the bits of historical information are wonderfully interesting. Unfortunately that information is peppered in only lightly amongst the rest. I found myself skipping ahead often, looking for information about the experience of the trail and/or significant events/geology/historical points of interest along the way.

Structurally the book was difficult to read at times. As others mentioned, the author jumps from one location to another (despite the focus of each chapter), goes forward and backward in time, and often barrels from one anecdote to the next with no clear through line. It was hard to follow, and frequently made more difficult by the odd sentence structure employed.

All in all, some interesting tidbits, but not exactly as advertised.

[Courtney Anderson · Rating 1 out of 5]

As mentioned by others, this book was incredibly challenging to read. If it weren’t for the fact that I’m stubborn and this book was a gift, I would’ve stopped reading after the first couple chapters.

For starters, unlike what the title implies, the book is hardly about walking/hiking and the actual trail, and more about the author herself. It’s loosely strung together by weird anecdotes and quotes, jumping from place to place rather quickly and suddenly. And there are some elitist undertones to some of the stories and comments (although her stance on certain issues seems to shift from chapter to chapter so I can’t be sure what the point is).

Frankly I’m bummed that this book was so … bad. I wanted to love it being an Oregonian myself, but not this time.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Oregon Desert Trail is 800 miles long beginning in Bend and ending in the Owyhee Canyonlands. Waterston uses her miles on the trail as a platform to address the challenges of living and working in the desert west. Farmers, ranchers, environmentalists, hunters, Native Americans, BLM, Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife, county and state representatives all sit at the same table and find ways to collaborate in order to form a community and address the land management, water, flora and fauna, and social issues that inform their lives and livelihood every day. A remarkable effort to inform and bring these forums to our attention.

[Josie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the local aspect of this book, and how much I learned about my home. If you know of the High Desert Trail, you know it's not a straight line: it meanders, is indistinct, loses its track, etc., along the way; it also has glorious views, thought provoking challenges, and unique perspectives. The book is similar, lol.

The author tries to explain the rural/urban divide a bit and how to get past it, but I don't think this is the best book for understanding that struggle. If you love Oregon, go ahead and read it, otherwise, maybe pass.

[Kasey Lawson · Rating 2 out of 5]

“Maybe a trail is a way of challenging death. Start at the beginning of something, go to the end—and then, instead of stopping (dying), step off into an undefined else. What are each of us leaving and going toward? Maybe too much of what we do in life is taken up by trying to find the right trail, to resolve ourselves and our lives into a discernible pattern and direction and always in denial about the fact that the trail, as we perceive it, has an end.”

[Sharron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This idiosyncratic account poses many important questions about land use and contains a wealth of information about the culture of life the high desert. I’m glad I read it but I do wish the book had been better edited.

[Margaret Butler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading about the high desert and rural issues, and about ranchers and environmentalists coming together to preserve some of the most beautiful and remote parts of Oregon.