I LOVED Desert Solitaire. It’s not a perfect book. Abbey is not a perfect person, but what is is trying to describe in terms of nature, that is perfect and a lofty subjec to convey. His depictions of beauty vs what we, the invasive species, have wrought on that beauty are clear, poetic, and gut-wrenching.
As other commentators note, there are a few places where he appears to digress and his language around indigenous people and those of non-European heritage comes across as racist. I think what he was trying to convey, the damage white man has wrought on the land and therefore: the children of that land, would have been better served if he had begun at the beginning by using his poetry to describe what those people WERE and contrast that with what invading cultures have forced them TO BE.
This was my first time through the book. I will certainly go through it again.
At one point, he mentioned the book The Place No One Knew about Glen Canyon. If you get a chance, check it out. The photos are beautiful and heartbreaking.