Last night I sat down, unplanned, and watched Into the Grand Canyon, a documentary directed by photographer/film maker/writer/public speaker Pete McBride, along with his friend and travel/adventuring partner for this project, Kevin Fedarko, author, writer, and a former senior editor at Outside Magazine—which was released in 2019 that had escaped my radar until now. As someone who has traveled to the US desert southwest several times, one of those times a one-month long journey meandering and camping through the heart of the wild terrain and National Parks in Arizona and Utah, and who yearns for slickrock canyons way too many days out of the year, when I came across this film by chance, the title alone was all I needed to drop everything and watch it.

And Into the Grand Canyon ended up so much more than what I had hoped it to be. It was inspiring in every way—from their personal journeys through rough, potentially deadly terrain to traverse the entirety of the park, to the story of a successful defeat by Navajo activists to protect the land from the tenacious developers (hoping to monetize this and other national parks for their gain, an ongoing issue) which unfolded as it they were making their trek, and of course, to the epic scenery and awe that our natural world can inspire.

I have felt “that feeling”—an awareness of just how incredibly small and insignificant we are, a liberating, cathartic and all-encompassing recognition of our connection to nature, the stars, to each other, and to all living creatures—and I was especially moved by the way they each expressed this in the closing of the film and it made me love it all the more:

“The [Grand] canyon is a ruthless cathedral, and like all holy places invites people to think, reflect, and I think above all, to move towards and embrace an element of humility. It invites us to reframe our perspective of where we stand, and forces us to conclude that in the end, we are not large, we are not important, and we do not matter, and we so need that.” — Kevin Fedarko

“I went in to try to understand the place, and I’m still trying to understand it. I think it changed me. Maybe I walked out of there with a little jar of silence and simplicity. It reminded me why a place like this exists and that’s, I think, the question with any national park. Do we want them to be these coddled landscapes of amusement? Or do we want them to be experiential, where you might actually shed some layers and be reminded of what’s important in your world. If we can’t protect Grand Canyon as a national park than what can we protect?” — Pete McBride

In summary: breathtaking, awe inducing, and still left sitting with me today. Here are some of the resources and articles I’ve found while digging around after watching.

Pete McBride speaking about Into the Grand Canyon (YouTube)

May 2018 How Navajo Activists Defeated the Grand Canyon Escalade (Outside Online)

Oct 2020 Another developer, another project near the Confluence (Navajo Times)

Stopping Grand Canyon Escalade (Grand Canyon Trust)

In 2016 filmmaker/photographer Pete McBride and writer Kevin Fedarko set out on a 750-mile journey on foot through the entire length of the Grand Canyon. From the outset, the challenge was far more than they bargained for. More people have stood on the moon than have completed a continuous through hike of the Canyon. McBride and Fedarko took a sectional approach, achieving a feat that many adventurers have taken decades to complete. Others have lost their lives trying. But their quest was more than just an endurance test – it was also a way to draw attention to the unprecedented threats facing one of our most revered landscapes.