Book Report: Navigating Rocky Terrain

I got this book, with the complete title of Navigating Rocky Terrain: Caves, Karsts, and the Soul of Unseen Spaces, at the Texas Master Naturalist Annual Meeting last week. It’s a 2024 book by Laurie Roath Frazier, a fellow Master Naturalist in the chapter that hosted the meeting. She wrote the essay collection while dealing with a series of the holes her losses caused in her life by finding healing in the cracks and crevices of the Texas Hill Country, a landscape very familiar to me, where I also found comfort in hard times.

Since I’m also a huge fan of the unique features of the karst formations I lived in for 25 years, I figured I’d enjoy reading about Roath’s quests and observations. I didn’t expect to be so moved by her work with her inner rocky terrain. It reminded me so much of when my life was fractured by divorce, mental health challenges (mine and a child’s), and fear for the future.

She’s a good writer, though I wish there was more of an arc connecting the essays and that there was some resolution to pieces of her life—like, what happened with her birth family? But I enjoyed both the personal parts and the more scientific information about caves, limestone, bats, lakes, and crevices. And of course, it was nice to read about the Sacred Springs in San Marcos, where I’d just had such a moving experience.

If you’re a fan of nature, geology, or personal growth, you’ll enjoy this little book and support a Master Naturalist!

I hope to share it with friends!