Adjacent to this I highly recommend the nature writing of Craig Childs, which is somewhat akin in style to John McPhee with a dash of the more lyrical side of Edward Abbey: http://www.houseofrain.com/

http://www.houseofrain.com/bookdetail.cfm?id=1183863164364 for example, the epigraph of which burned into my memory:

There are two easy ways to die in the desert: thirst and drowning.