Are You Up for a Walk?

Kevin Fedarko’s A Walk in the Park is by far the best book I’ve read this summer. The book tells the story of Fedarko’s yearlong journey through the magnificently beautiful, yet treacherous, Grand Canyon. Accompanied by his friend Pete McBride, who photographed the adventure (see McBride’s The Grand Canyon, Between River and Rim for some amazing photos), the two men experienced both the agony and the ecstasy of hiking through the canyon. The heat emitted by the rocks, at times, was brutal enough to melt the soles of their boots, but the indescribable beauty of the ancient canyon melted deep into their own souls and pushed them to suffer through whatever risks and dangers they faced.

Fedarko’s writing often verges on the poetic, with breathtaking descriptions of the abundant plant species, animal life, and rock formations inside the Grand Canyon’s walls. Even though his knowledge of the gorge is encyclopedic, he doesn’t overwhelm the reader with too much scientific verbiage. Yet Fedarko captures the beauty and dangers of the terrain, the life-threatening risks from excessive heat and cold, and the extreme physical deprivations that he and McBride encountered with such picturesque and elegant language that I often felt as though I was somehow part of their journey.  

Adventure Writer Kevin Fedarko and Photographer/Filmmaker Pete McBride

The two friends spent a year walking through the length of the Grand Canyon, a feat that only a few have successfully accomplished, but one that hundreds have attempted, often with tragic outcomes. The canyon was formed by the Colorado River over a span of six million years, yet the rock of the canyon is far more ancient than the river. Over eons of time the river cut through the rock forming walls that ascend one mile to the north and south rims. The bottom layer of rock dates back 2 billion years, a third of the age of earth and almost one seventh the age of the universe. In 1903, Theodore Roosevelt said that the Grand Canyon is “one of the great sights which every American, if he can travel at all, should see.”  

Fedarko’s walk—if one dares to call it that—taught him many things about himself and life in general. As I read the book, I learned from his insights, and came to a new appreciation of much that I had taken for granted or was simply ignorant of. Perhaps I can whet your appetite by sharing a few lessons I gleaned from A Walk in the Park.

Teamwork is essential to survival. When Fedarko and McBride began their journey, they were arrogant and ill prepared, thinking they could make it through the canyon on their own. Even though both men were modestly experienced outdoorsmen, they quickly learned that without the help of others, they would have perished inside the canyon’s vast walls.

Three expert canyon hikers accompanied them at the beginning of their adventure. These seasoned men saved Fedarko and McBride from countless catastrophes that would have surely ended their trek within days of its beginning, and possibly even their lives.

Since transecting the canyon often requires walking hundreds or even thousands of feet above the river, where water is scarce, it doesn’t take long for a hiker’s supply of water to run dry. Even veteran hikers have died from heat exposure and a lack of water. The more accomplished hikers showed the relatively inexperienced rookies where to find pockets of water within the desert walls that would have remained inaccessible except for their knowledge of the canyon.

There were other teammates who gave assistance besides those who traveled with Fedarko and McBride. Because a hiker can only take around 5-7 days’ worth of food in his pack, other indispensable team members, above the rim, had stored caches of supplies in designated areas where the men could retrieve them. Without their assistance, the novice adventurers would have starved to death, since a person traveling through the gorge burns between 5 to 7 thousand calories each day.

At one point during their journey, Fedarko and McBride were unable to continue because of injury and sickness. Their companions used a satellite phone to call for a rescue team that allowed the disabled men to exit the canyon. A few weeks later, after they had sufficiently recovered, they renewed their journey at the exact point where they had exited. But without the people who came to rescue them, they probably would have died.

No person is an island. We need friends and loved ones to help us make it through life. When astronaut Scott Kelly was asked what he missed most while spending a year in space, he quickly responded, “Human contact.” We are created for community. When we are together, depending upon one another, we are stronger. To live successfully requires teamwork.  

Something else I learned from A Walk in the Park: There were great civilizations in this land long before Europeans arrived. Relics from these ancient civilizations can be found throughout the canyon, bearing witness to peoples who predated Europeans by millennia. Archeologists have uncovered remnants of Paleo-Indians who predated white people by 11,000 years! Long before the Pyramids in Egypt were built, cultures thrived on the North American continent. Centuries before European settlers began to inhabit the area we know as Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, as well as other states, people known as the Navajo, Zuni, Hopi, Yavapai, Paiute and Havasupai lived, raised their families, and died in these lands.

The story of their decline and decimation by white Europeans is one of the great tragedies in American history. The indigenous peoples were often brutally treated by the American government. Tribes were robbed of their lands and resources without legal warrant. Indian children were sent to boarding schools where their languages and heritages were stripped from them in an attempt to turn the young into white people. By any reckoning, these proud peoples have immeasurably and cruelly suffered.

As I slowly read page after page of the terrible nightmare these people lived through, I felt a deep sadness, a sadness compounded because too often the savage treatment these peoples experienced was perpetrated by “Christian” people. Even today many of us resent the immigrants who enter “our” land, failing to remember that this incredible country belonged to other people long before we set foot on it. Perhaps we should simply be grateful we are here and remind ourselves of our Lord’s command, “When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were once aliens yourself in Egypt” (Lev. 19:33-34).

Another lesson that surfaced over and over again in Fedarko’s wonderful adventure is that we Americans live with too much stuff. Our houses, garages, and attics are crammed with all kinds of furniture, appliances, gadgets, food, clothes, most of which we don’t even need. When Fedarko and McBride first started their journey, each of their packs carried over 55 pounds of equipment and food. Before they took even a single step, their veteran companions began pulling things out of their packs, things that Fedarko and McBride thought they couldn’t do without, tossing them aside. “Take only what you absolutely need,” the more experienced hikers instructed them.

Fedarko and McBride soon appreciated the lighter packs. It was hard enough carrying 20-25 pounds less than they originally planned up and down the tortuous terrain. They would never have made it with the heavier packs.

I fully get that we do not live in a desert where every day is a struggle for survival. Still, the lesson that the lighter we travel through life, the better we live, is so very valid. Jesus taught simplicity, and when we follow his example, our lives will be far less complicated.

I appreciate so very much Fedarko’s A Walk in the Park. It gave nourishment to my soul. If you’re up for a walk, you will love a journey through the Grand Canyon!