So I re-engagedand what a story it has to tell. The last time I rowed was back in Boy Scouts. While some visitors undertake back-country hikes, most people are content to enjoy the views from the South Rim, and do not venture much below the rim. The Emerald Mile, at one time slated to be destroyed, was rescued and brought back to life by Kenton Grua, the man . I often wondered if that was to remind the River Guides to respect the Colorado River in the Grand Canyonas they would be dining there just before embarking on their next trip through The Great Unknown. Emerald Mile : the Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon Item Length: 8.4in. Okay. A steady flow (not in the cards) would be essential. Many people have been discussing whether its fair to put your dory run in the same category as a kayak descent. From one of Outside magazine's "Literary All-Stars" comes the thrilling true tale of the fastest boat ride ever, down the entire length of the Colorado River and through the Grand Canyon, during the legendary flood of 1983. Fedarko earned a Masters of Philosophy in Russian history at Oxford in 1990. One of the best I've seen lately. WOW, best book I've read this year (Of course, it is only Jan. 12th), Unlike the record-chasing canyon run recounted in. What are your thoughts? For the son of a dory boatman from the Golden Age of Guiding it was a joy and vindication to read of the superheroes of my childhood in print. This is a great story interrupted for most of the book by endless meandering. I want to rate this book higher - the subject matter is exactly what I want to be reading all the time, but I had a couple issues with the book. In addition to his travel narratives in Outside, where he worked as a senior editor, Fedarkos work has appeared in Esquire, National Geographic Adventure, and other publications, and has been anthologized in The Best American Travel Writing in 2004 and 2006. Lol, just kidding (barely). Can an adventure story be as beautiful as it is heart-stopping and exciting? I knew almost nothing about the Grand Canyon or the Colorado River watershed when I picked up this book, now Im swimming in information and loving it! The Emerald Mile, at one time slated to be destroyed, was rescued and brought back to life by Kenton Grua, the . Wally quit waiting for a sustained pulse after the 1978 season, whereupon Kenton, silently, took over the watch. I've loaned Emerald Mile to my brother, but it's a keeper! The night sky is so much better than anything I could have imagined. I tried in vain, at that moment, to imagine Powells incredulity about the time we had just set, as I was overcome by a feeling of deep humility that the powerful river looked favorably upon this little boat, slapped it around a bit just to put things in their proper perspective, then allowing it through to complete its mission. Wasnt that like comparing apples and oranges, or, as river historian Tom Martin put it in a comment on our website, apples and pasta? My only regret is that I didn't read this book before going. He writes so vividly that your favorite reading chair becomes a spray-soaked perch on a bucking boat hit hard by a river running high and fast." The Emerald Mile, at one time slated to be destroyed, was rescued and brought back to life by Kenton Grua, the man . Enjoy!! Do you think a team in such craft could challenge the Emerald Miles time at normal flows or on a 40,000 cfs pulse flow? I deviated from the book to look up the facts of the events of the time periods. However, an understanding of the political context behind the significance of what Kenton Grua and those other guys did on that boat, especially right after a fatality occured on the water, was a wild and entertaining read. The Emerald Mile, at one time slated to be destroyed, was rescued and brought back to life by Kenton Grua, the . Pub Date: May 7, 2013 ISBN: 978-1-4391-5985-9 Page Count: 432 Publisher: Scribner No Hassle Return. Theres a rumor that Kenton built another dory specifically for a speed attempt. Most of them couldn't conceive of living anywhere else to do what they do. Secondly, a longer dory would sacrifice ease of pivoting. The boat flipped in a mammoth incarnation of Crystal Rapid, but through combination of luck and honed whitewater skill, the trio was able to climb back aboard the dory in the runout to the swollen rapid, right it, and go onto set the record time. The written version of the book is absolutely brilliant! I have no doubt it will become an instant classic, a timeless chronicle of what can still be legitimately called the American spirit." Fantastic read, both in terms of the history of the canyon and the record breaking descent. They floated the 277 treacherous miles along the Colorado River in a blistering 36 hours and 38 minutes. Fedarko seems to be well-read in many genres, and is able to seamlessly pull up references to other literature to add dimensions to an already 3-D book. Here is an instant classic of adventure literaturea story shot through with bravura but also touched by the rarest kind of grandeur." .orange-text-color {color: #FE971E;} Discover additional details about the events, people, and places in your book, with Wikipedia integration. In the midst of this crisis, the decision to launch a small wooden dory named "The Emerald Mile" at the head of the Grand Canyon, just fifteen miles downstream from the Glen Canyon Dam, seemed not just odd, but downright suicidal. Well, it really is about securing the record, but I agree that on both EM runs the experience was profoundly bonding among the participants. In the midst of this crisis, the decision to launch a small wooden dory named "The Emerald Mile" at the head of the Grand Canyon, just fifteen miles downstream from the Glen Canyon Dam, seemed not just odd, but downright suicidal. I recently went on a Grand Canyon river rafting adventure. We dont share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we dont sell your information to others. It was an. Can an adventure story be as beautiful as it is heart-stopping and exciting? He absolutely devoured this book. Just reading the account had me on pins and needles and induced tachycardia. Fedarko was a staff writer at. In the midst of this crisis, the decision to launch a small wooden dory named The Emerald Mile at the head of the Grand Canyon, just fifteen miles downstream from the Glen Canyon Dam, seemed not just odd, but downright suicidal. This was his fantasy a sub-24 hour solo dory run. He answered that he had been a good friend of Grua. It had been wrecked beyond repair, until it was saved from a fiery funeral pyre and lovingly rebuilt to . This book takes me right back there. Mens Journal has affiliate partnerships so we may receive compensation for some links to products and services. In the midst of this crisis, beneath the light of a full moon, a trio of river guides secretly launched a small, hand-built wooden boat, a dory named the Emerald Mile, into the Colorado just below the dams base and rocketed toward the dark chasm downstream, where the torrents of water released by the dam engineers had created a rock . Some of the information about the specifics of how the dam works I could've done without. Read the book last month. Even though the whole thing is very detailed, he wrote it in a lovely, almost kind of sentimental, reverent style. From Kevin . Start by marking The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon as Want to Read: Error rating book. The Emerald Mile by Kevin Fedarko Summary: The Emerald Mile by Kevin Fedarko is a novel about the awe-inspiring Grand Canyon. Beautiful writing, simply beautiful. The saga of The Emerald Mile is a thrilling adventure, as well as a magisterial portrait of the hidden kingdom of white water at the bottom of the greatest river canyon on earth. This lost treasure still evokes wonder in what lies in Glen Canyonthe 170-mile natural paradise legendary for its secret grottoes, waterfalls, beautiful ravines and isolated side canyons like Hidden Passage before it was flooded by Lake Powell upon the completion of the Glen Canyon Dam in 1963. I recently went on a Grand Canyon river rafting adventure. -- Bob Shacochis author of Swimming in the Volcano and Easy in the Islands"Fedarko's effortlessly engaging narrative is a labor of passion from an adventurous journalist who still calls the Grand Canyon home." Most of them couldn't conceive of living anywhere else to do what they do. At normal flows, definitely not. re-creates an incredible voyage through the flood-swollen Grand Canyon in such heart-pounding detail that you need to pause every few pages to catch your breath that your favorite reading chair becomes a spray-soaked perch on a bucking boat hit hard by a river running high and fast." This one is, and Fedarkos book is as inspiring as a dory itself, flying down a wild river. finished it and I am exhausted - what a beautifully crafted story, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 1, 2017, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 4, 2014, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 10, 2015, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 27, 2014, Reviewed in Canada on November 9, 2020, Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon, Scribner; Reprint edition (July 1, 2014). I love Fedarkos description of what was going on in Glen Canyon Dam and the accident at Crystal Rapid. Browse by topic or book Browse The Best Books For Authors Follow Our Story . I have an ongoing admiration for the Rigg brothers, who in 1951 set their 53-hour record (scouting only Lava Falls; no Crystal then, no night rowing) with a cumulative experience of only three trips total between the two of them. It appealed to two of my interests: engineering, with its descriptions of how the personnel at the Glen Canyon Dam dealt with the huge water inflows from the El Nino event and the damage caused to the spillways, and whitewater rafting, with its descriptions of the fastest ride and how rafting companies, their customers, and the river rangers dealt with the danger of the increased water flows and changes to rapids through the Grand Canyon. If you are interested in the Colorado Rive and the Grand Canyon, then I highly recommend it. if there is a point to being in the canyon, it is not to rush but to linger, suspended in a blue-and-amber haze of in-between-ness, for as long as one possibly can. -- Hampton Sides editor-at-large at Outside magazine and author of Blood and Thunder and Ghost Soldiers. Lol, just kidding (barely). The two back-to-back speed records set in the Grand Canyon last week sparked off a series of debates across social media and in river runners living rooms: Could racing through such a beautiful place ever be justified? document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Lots of pertinent information. Whats one of the best memories from your speed runs? The only reason I didn't rate this book with five stars is because it is LONG. But we were only after the oar-powered record, not the non-motorized nor the human-powered records. This book started out slowly, and I found some of the flowery prose to be ponderous, but the second half was much better than the first. But as readers will discover, it's much, much more! The Emerald Mile, at one time slated to be destroyed, was rescued and brought back to life by Kenton Grua, the man at the oars, who intended to use this flood as a kind of hydraulic sling-shot. This was a fantastic book! In the midst of this crisis, the decision to launch a small wooden dory named "The Emerald Mile" at the head of the Grand Canyon, just fifteen miles downstream from the Glen Canyon Dam, seemed not just odd, but downright suicidal. Worthwhile. This one is, and Fedarko's book is as inspiring as a dory itself, flying down a wild river. , rarest of creationsa magical convergence of words and paper, wood and water, rock and sky, human character and cosmic caprice, . And read the book first. This book is built around a record human-powered speed run in a wooden boat through the Grand Canyon. Read reviews from thousands of our guests on a variety of trips. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. .orange-text-color {font-weight:bold; color: #FE971E;}View high quality images that let you zoom in to take a closer look. What I didn't expect was the beauty and depth of the writing. Finally, you settle into silence and begin talking yourself into a mental space where you prepare for the threshold momentthe point where the world drops away, the jitters subside, and a cool resolve seizes the tissues of your chest and belly. For those who are not able to travel the Colorado River through The Grand Canyon, this book will take you there and show you great adventure, some incredible history and the stories of many people who have traveled there before you. But once I started reading I was enamored by the stories of the history of the canyon and those that experienced and changed it over the years. The challenges faced by kayakers attempting a Grand Canyon speed run are, for the most part, entirely different from those faced by an oar-powered row boat, so much so that it becomes a stretch to compare the two (apples and oranges). I had an 8 day journey that I will never forget. Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2022. No doubt the drama of that ride is exciting, but the book also provides a deep look into the discovery of the Grand Canyon, the origins of the Glen Canyon Dam & the Hoover Dam, the graceful wooden dory, and how the famous Colorado river silt changed the landscape of Southern California including the creation of the Salton Sea. I think this is his first, and only, book. It took me a while to understand the author was painting a broad picture of the background leading up to the main event, and after my initial impatience to get to the adventure, began to really enjoy the detail of the lead up to the speed run. It's that goodFedarko will have you posied on the edge of your seat like a high-sider at in Lava Falls." Wow, Fedarko is a superb storyteller. Okay. Cleveland Plain-Dealer"Grua's wild ride on the Colorado, how it mirrored his mercurial personality, is just on part of Fedarko's story; however, the rive, which runs through seven states, and the canyon, rich in both geological and political history, prove to be the real protagonists." He really went deep on those. This is terrific narrative nonfiction. A great read before or after a run down the CO. The author violates the Chekhov rule (if you put a gun on the mantelpiece, it should go off by the second act) vs giving us the action (or at least a summary of it) before launching into the back story. Among many other things, those dirtbag river runners uphold the virtue of disobedience: the principle that in a free society, defiance for its own sake sometimes carries value and meaning, if only because power in all of its formscommercial, governmental, and moralshould not always and without question be handed what it demands., National Outdoor Book Award for History/Biography (2013), PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing Nominee for Shortlist (2014), National Outdoor Book Award winners, selected titles, Girls Who Bite! The fascinating characters are pretty much universally attached to this river and canyon at the hip. Wow, Fedarko is a superb storyteller. I almost didn't finish this book. So fascinating, was such a great audio book! Well-told, deeply-researched, engaging to read book. So it is a great boon of Fedarko's book that he tells the story of the dam, and of the engineers and techinicians who built it with as much respect and homage as he gives to the dorymen." Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2022. There were two equally important factors that determined our attempts. The Emerald Mile Quotes Showing 1-30 of 34. In the midst of this crisis, the decision to launch a small wooden dory named the Emerald Mile at the head of the Grand Canyon, just fifteen miles downstream from the Glen Canyon Dam, seemed not just odd but downright suicidal.The Emerald Mile, at one time slated to be destroyed, was rescued and brought back to life by Kenton Grua, the man at . In the midst of this crisis, beneath the light of a full moon, a trio of river guides secretly launched a small, hand-built wooden boat, a dory named the Emerald Mile, into the Colorado just below the dam's base and rocketed toward the dark chasm downstream, where the torrents of water released by the dam engineers had created a rock-walled . Kevin Fedarkos superb book presents the Grand Canyon in a way most people will never see it from the bottom up, with a strong emphasis on the river that carved the Canyons unique features and which provides the most accessible route for the much smaller number of tourists lucky enough to experience the beautiful natural and geologic features of the lower Canyon. Rapid snowmelt in June of 1983 created the highest water in the Grand Canyon in 25 years, the likes of which hadn't been experienced since before Glen Canyon Dam was built.
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