Editorial Content for A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
The climate change debate has been felt in the most remote parts of the world and those closest to us. Although A WALK IN THE PARK is not a memoir that declares itself a story about our shifting natural environments, it sort of is. Without meaning to do so, curling itself into a narrative that revolves around a most insane and dangerous journey, it brings to light the new --- and at times concerning --- directions in which nature is taking everyone, particularly bold explorers.
Kevin Fedarko has spent two decades writing about conservation, exploration and the Grand Canyon. But here he presents readers with a most ridiculous, enthralling and life-threatening set of adventures that he has managed to survive. It all started when his best friend, National Geographic photographer Pete McBride, came up with the idea of traversing the Grand Canyon on foot the entire way. McBride promised it would be “a walk in the park,” and Fedarko agreed to a venture that was both bold and harebrained.
"A WALK IN THE PARK is an exciting adventure, a compelling drama and a moving romance that illustrates how the people we love and the places we admire find equal space in our hearts."
The Grand Canyon is a naturally designed set of ledges and valleys, desert, and flora and fauna unlike any other on the planet. It is 120 degrees in the shade during the day, and the temperature plummets to the 40s in the evening. Without fully planning on all the obstacles that could get in their way, Fedarko and McBride begin their trek, believing that they have all the knowledge and supplies that will carry them through this labyrinthine trek.
However, as the pair faces imminent disaster too many times to count, they will rely on members of 11 Native tribes and nameless tourists to show them the way --- from shortcuts to the hidden mysteries of a land that can be appreciated only by those who mark these paths on foot. As the subtitle states, it is indeed a misadventure. Yet, thanks to Fedarko’s compelling writing style, readers will be on the edge of their seats as if they’re watching a Tom Cruise action film.
At the beginning of the book, Fedarko explains his fascination with the Grand Canyon. His father introduced him to the great explorers of the west. He had hoped to make such a trek as a young man and was fully supportive of Fedarko’s attempts to do it on his own.
A WALK IN THE PARK is an exciting adventure, a compelling drama and a moving romance that illustrates how the people we love and the places we admire find equal space in our hearts. It reminds us of how wondrous our natural world is and how we must do our best to help it continue to thrive for generations to come.
Teaser
A few years after quitting his job to follow an ill-advised dream of becoming a guide on the Colorado River, Kevin Fedarko was approached by his best friend, the National Geographic photographer Pete McBride, with a vision as bold as it was harebrained. Together, they would embark on an end-to-end traverse of the Grand Canyon, a journey that, McBride promised, would be “a walk in the park.” The ensuing ordeal, which lasted more than a year, revealed a place that was deeper, richer and far more complex than anything the two men had imagined --- and came within a hair’s breadth of killing them both.
Promo
A few years after quitting his job to follow an ill-advised dream of becoming a guide on the Colorado River, Kevin Fedarko was approached by his best friend, the National Geographic photographer Pete McBride, with a vision as bold as it was harebrained. Together, they would embark on an end-to-end traverse of the Grand Canyon --- a journey that McBride promised would be “a walk in the park.” Against his better judgment, Fedarko agreed to the scheme, unaware that the small cluster of experts who had completed the crossing billed it as “the toughest hike in the world.” The ensuing ordeal, which lasted more than a year, revealed a place that was deeper, richer and far more complex than anything the two men had imagined --- and came within a hair’s breadth of killing them both.
About the Book
From the author of the beloved bestseller THE EMERALD MILE comes a rollicking and poignant account of the epic misadventure of two friends, zero preparation and one dream: a 750-mile odyssey, on foot, through the heart of America’s most magnificent national park and the grandest wilderness on earth.
A few years after quitting his job to follow an ill-advised dream of becoming a guide on the Colorado River, Kevin Fedarko was approached by his best friend, the National Geographic photographer Pete McBride, with a vision as bold as it was harebrained. Together, they would embark on an end-to-end traverse of the Grand Canyon, a journey that, McBride promised, would be “a walk in the park.” Against his better judgment, Fedarko agreed to the scheme, unaware that the small cluster of experts who had completed the crossing billed it as “the toughest hike in the world.”
The ensuing ordeal, which lasted more than a year, revealed a place that was deeper, richer and far more complex than anything the two men had imagined --- and came within a hair’s breadth of killing them both. They struggled to make their way through the all but impenetrable reaches of its truest wilderness, a vertical labyrinth of thousand-foot cliffs, and crumbling ledges where water is measured out by the teaspoon and every step is fraught with peril --- and where, even today, there is still no trail along the length of the country’s best-known and most iconic park.
Along the way, veteran long-distance hikers ushered them into secret pockets, invisible to the millions of tourists gathered on the rim, where only a handful of humans have ever laid eyes. Members of the canyon’s eleven Native American tribes brought them face-to-face with layers of history that forced them to reconsider myths at the center of our national parks --- and exposed them to the impinging threats of commercial tourism. Even Fedarko’s dying father, who had first pointed him toward the canyon more than 40 years earlier but had never set foot there himself, opened him to a new way of seeing the landscape.
And always, there was the great gorge itself: austere and unforgiving but suffused with magic, drenched in wonder and redeemed by its own transcendent beauty.
A WALK IN THE PARK is a singular portrait of a sublime place, and a deeply moving plea for the preservation of America’s greatest natural treasure.
Audiobook available, read by Kevin Fedarko
