In an effort to make sense of the deaths in quick succession of several loved ones, the author turned to the comfort of the wild, making a series of solitary excursions into ancient forests, wild rivers, remote deserts, and windswept islands to learn what the environment could teach her in her time of pain. Wild Comfort is the record of her experience.
It is a collection of carefully observed accounts of her life – tracking otters on the beach, cooking breakfast in the desert, canoeing in a snow squall, wading among migrating salmon in the dark – but it is also a profound meditation on the healing power of nature.