The man has led an interesting and important life, and I’m grateful that he shared these parts of it with us. He also writes seriously about climate change. But my favorite may have been his account of a solo river trip, possibly on the lam from the FBI.

Friends such as Abbey, Terry Tempest Williams, and many more join him on his travels. These stories are mostly about wilderness and wildlife, and range from North America to Asia and the Galapagos from bears to tigers to fish. I’ve been a fan of the author for decades since his own Grizzly Years was published (I later spent some years living in Yellowstone and hiking alone in grizzly country, and his perspective was helpful), and even earlier via Edward Abbey’s The Monkey Wrench Gang and the days (and nights) of the Earth First! movement. Well, it was certainly worth reading this book, which has the feel of sitting by a campfire with Doug as he tells stories about his life, concerns, and travels.

It challenges any reader to make certain that the answer to the question for their own life is “Yes!” In the tradition of Peacock’s many best-selling books, Was It Worth It? is both entertaining and thought provoking. With adventures both close to home (grizzlies in Yellowstone and jaguars in the high Sonoran Desert) and farther afield (tigers in Siberia, jaguars again in Belize, spirit bears in the wilds of British Columbia, all the amazing birds of the Galapagos), Peacock acknowledges that Covid 19 has put “everyone’s mortality in the lens now and it’s not necessarily a telephoto shot.” Peacock recounts these adventures to try to understand and explain his perspective on Nature: That wilderness is the only thing left worth saving. He asserts that “solitude is the deepest well I have encountered in this life,” and the introspection it affords has made him who he is: a lifelong protector of the wilderness and its many awe-inspiring inhabitants. Recounting sojourns with Abbey, but also Peter Matthiessen, Doug Tompkins, Jim Harrison, Yvon Chouinard and others, Peacock observes that what he calls “solitary walks” were the greatest currency he and his buddies ever shared. In a collection of gripping stories of adventure, Doug Peacock, loner, iconoclast, environmentalist, and contemporary of Edward Abbey, reflects on a life lived in the wild, asking the question many ask in their twilight years: “Was It Worth It?”

“If wilderness is outlawed, only outlaws can save wilderness.” Edward Abbey

Grizzly years by doug peacock