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The Man Who Walked Through Time: The Story of the First Trip Afoot Through the Grand Canyon
The Man Who Walked Through Time is a remarkable classic of nature writing, an account of a journey both physical and spiritual. A detour from U.S. 66 to visit the Grand Canyon on a June morning in 1963 inspired Fletcher to walk the length of the Canyon below the rim. It is also a record of the Grand Canyon as it was before the massive influx of tourism. Fletcher's descriptions of the spectacular geography, the wildlife, and the remnants of much older cultures serve to remind us that the Grand Canyon has been around longer than humankind and may well outlast us.
248 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1967
163 people are currently reading
4571 people want to read
About the author
Colin Fletcher
72 books49 followersColin Fletcher was a pioneering backpacker and writer.
In 1963, Fletcher became the first to walk the length of Grand Canyon entirely within the rim of the canyon "in one go" — only second to complete the entire journey — as chronicled in his bestselling 1967 memoir The Man Who Walked Through Time. Through his influential hiker's guide, The Complete Walker, published the same year, he became a kind of "spiritual godfather" of the wilderness backpacking movement. Through successive editions, this book became the definitive work on the topic, and was christened "the Hiker's Bible" by Field and Stream magazine.
In 1963, Fletcher became the first to walk the length of Grand Canyon entirely within the rim of the canyon "in one go" — only second to complete the entire journey — as chronicled in his bestselling 1967 memoir The Man Who Walked Through Time. Through his influential hiker's guide, The Complete Walker, published the same year, he became a kind of "spiritual godfather" of the wilderness backpacking movement. Through successive editions, this book became the definitive work on the topic, and was christened "the Hiker's Bible" by Field and Stream magazine.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 241 reviews
March 30, 2013
Fletcher, supposedly the first man to walk the length of the Grand Canyon, below the Rim (seems unlikely), wrote a book about it. I must say I’m sorely disappointed in the result. It’s horribly repetitive and boring, to begin with. But my main objection is that Fletcher was determined before he left to have some sort of “break” with his old self, to become a new man, to have new heights of understanding. So every time he had some new impression of the Canyon, he would go on and on about how “now I had finally escaped the trivia of everyday life. Now at last I no longer needed to scrutinize the wildlife; I had become part of it,” and so forth. And each time he would then begin to scrutinize the Canyon and have another grand Moment, and repeat himself about escaping the trivia again. All very tiresome; still there are some good scenes here, and his final chapter, consisting of his ruminations on Man, is pretty interesting. I just wish we had more of a memoir of what it was like to walk and live in the Canyon, not a diary of forced mystical epiphanies.
August 4, 2015
A really interesting travelogue, varying from the technical to the contemplative. The author walks upstream through the Grand Canyon some 50 years ago, in some places where it is likely no one walked before. His meditations on animals and geology are fascinating, and while he didn't encounter any great mishaps, Colin Fletcher presents himself as very human. Perhaps the most amazing thing to me is that this book was constructed after his adventure from notes in a journal.
Selected this book from Vanya's top 10 books that influenced list, and I can definitely see why she enjoyed it. Recommended!
Selected this book from Vanya's top 10 books that influenced list, and I can definitely see why she enjoyed it. Recommended!
January 2, 2022
"I went out for a walk & finally concluded to stay out until sundown, for in going out, I found, was really going in." Those are the words of John Muir (1838-1914), the Scottish-American naturalist who is called the "Father of America's National Parks." The late Welsh-American, Colin Fletcher (1922-2007), a former Royal Marine Commando during WWII, became heir to John Muir's ideals but beyond that, the patron & guiding light for a great many hikers & backpackers around the world.
Fletcher's 1968 book, The Man Who Walked Through Time may sound like an older science fiction book by Robert Heinlein or Isaac Asimov but it details the quest of a man to walk solo through the entire Grand Canyon, the 1st person to do so in a single two month backpacking ordeal, observing with great intimacy as he proceeded. (His backpacking transit included everything then within the National Park boundary, though the scope of the Grand Canyon National Park was later expanded to include what is now defined as the Grand Canyon in its entirety.)
While at times carrying an ungodly 65 lbs. in his backpack, Fletcher gauges each step, uncertain as to what lies ahead but keen to absorb every geologic & natural revelation en route. The quest really involves a challenge on many levels, dealing with the "brutal immediacies & unpredictable nature of the physical world", the ever-changing space within the Grand Canyon, encountering freak storms, lightening, miniature wild horses, rattlesnakes, beavers, bighorn sheep + 2000 foot drop-offs from the precarious ledges to the Colorado River below as he proceeds.
As he walked, Colin Fletcher slowly became attuned to "geologic time", charting the stratigraphy of the canyon's many layers, with "the Canyon's sculpture gradually revealing the earth's autobiography", hence the book's allusion to "walking through time".
Occasionally, he walks naked, "in space & silence & solitude". Fletcher begins to see the Grand Canyon & life in general as a...
At times, Colin Fletcher comes to feel an exalted sense of unity with rocks, plants & animals, almost as if he'd wandered into a scene at the heyday of dinosaurs. And eventually, his own life seems to change, responding to the "solemn rhythms of geologic time", something akin to "an act of perfect love". This may seem overly prosaic but the author sees humankind as merely "transient entities through which matter & energy flow, eventually returning again to the environment."
And he ends by cautioning that we must preserve the Grand Canyon & similar places from the excesses of both the cult of extreme conservation & the cult of engineering at the hands of developers.
The Man Who Walked Through Time is a kind of meditation, at times almost reminiscent of the commentary within books by Barry Lopez. Mindful of the concept of walking as a form of meditation, I'd like to end with a quote from the Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh: "Walk as if you are kissing the earth with your feet." My belief is that Colin Fletcher walked in such a fashion.
*My version of the book is a 1967 paperback published by Vintage. **There is a simplified schematic chart of Grand Canyon geology, a 2 page route map of Colin Fletcher's journey + a list of the equipment, provisions & gear he carried in his backpack. However, a few photos might have been an asset, though they may appear in later editions of the book. ***The photos within my review are of Colin Fletcher, who died at 85 in 2007, at various stages in his life.
Fletcher's 1968 book, The Man Who Walked Through Time may sound like an older science fiction book by Robert Heinlein or Isaac Asimov but it details the quest of a man to walk solo through the entire Grand Canyon, the 1st person to do so in a single two month backpacking ordeal, observing with great intimacy as he proceeded. (His backpacking transit included everything then within the National Park boundary, though the scope of the Grand Canyon National Park was later expanded to include what is now defined as the Grand Canyon in its entirety.)
While at times carrying an ungodly 65 lbs. in his backpack, Fletcher gauges each step, uncertain as to what lies ahead but keen to absorb every geologic & natural revelation en route. The quest really involves a challenge on many levels, dealing with the "brutal immediacies & unpredictable nature of the physical world", the ever-changing space within the Grand Canyon, encountering freak storms, lightening, miniature wild horses, rattlesnakes, beavers, bighorn sheep + 2000 foot drop-offs from the precarious ledges to the Colorado River below as he proceeds.
As he walked, Colin Fletcher slowly became attuned to "geologic time", charting the stratigraphy of the canyon's many layers, with "the Canyon's sculpture gradually revealing the earth's autobiography", hence the book's allusion to "walking through time".
Occasionally, he walks naked, "in space & silence & solitude". Fletcher begins to see the Grand Canyon & life in general as a...
long, continuous process that had stripped rock fragments from the cliffs above & had dropped them bolder by stone by grain of sand, until they at last accumulated into the gravelly sand that now covered the floor of the side-canyon. It provided a story of the rocks.To be sure, this is not a guidebook to hiking in the Grand Canyon, especially given Flectcher's very personal sense of time & space. The book will not appeal to everyone & some may even find its style obtuse or overly sentimental in places. However, having walked down to the floor of the Canyon from the South Rim via the South Kaibab Trail & after an overnight at Phantom Ranch, ascending via the Bright Angel Trail, I found the book very appealing in its near reverence for this absolutely stunning "American natural museum".
All the time, the cliff was almost overwhelming me with its bulk & beauty & threat: its bulk because there was nothing else beyond my shoulder, just the unbearable weight of solid rock; its beauty, because time & the river had sculpted the whole cliff face into snaggle-toothed projections, each shape sharp & angular, each surface smooth, each pattern a dazzling contrast of deep rich red & when blocked by the sun, an almost impenetrable black; its threat most of all, because each shelving projection seemed to hang poised directly over my head, while I had to pick my way forward through rubble that had presumably fallen from the cliff-face in the half-stutter of geologic time.
At times, Colin Fletcher comes to feel an exalted sense of unity with rocks, plants & animals, almost as if he'd wandered into a scene at the heyday of dinosaurs. And eventually, his own life seems to change, responding to the "solemn rhythms of geologic time", something akin to "an act of perfect love". This may seem overly prosaic but the author sees humankind as merely "transient entities through which matter & energy flow, eventually returning again to the environment."
And he ends by cautioning that we must preserve the Grand Canyon & similar places from the excesses of both the cult of extreme conservation & the cult of engineering at the hands of developers.
The Man Who Walked Through Time is a kind of meditation, at times almost reminiscent of the commentary within books by Barry Lopez. Mindful of the concept of walking as a form of meditation, I'd like to end with a quote from the Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh: "Walk as if you are kissing the earth with your feet." My belief is that Colin Fletcher walked in such a fashion.
*My version of the book is a 1967 paperback published by Vintage. **There is a simplified schematic chart of Grand Canyon geology, a 2 page route map of Colin Fletcher's journey + a list of the equipment, provisions & gear he carried in his backpack. However, a few photos might have been an asset, though they may appear in later editions of the book. ***The photos within my review are of Colin Fletcher, who died at 85 in 2007, at various stages in his life.
October 7, 2014
I wish everyone who has ever visited the Grand Canyon would read this book. The casual visitor, who only sees the canyon from its rim, will learn about the grottos, the heat, the side canyons, the sweet scent of water, and the nearly 2 billion year old mountain roots that form the unseen base of the canyon, and all the millions of years of ocean silt and dust and dune sand that make up its upper reaches. The reader will learn about night in the canyon, and the path of the canyon, and the tests of the canyon, and the dreams and history and call of the canyon, and the endurance and strength of will and spirit that it takes to meet that call. If you are a backpacker, bring this book in with you - it's light enough to do so, and you will appreciate Fletcher's ordeal even more as you struggle in and out of the earth's largest cleavage. If you are just a dreamer, never having seen the place, then read the book, and start having new dreams of a world so different, so un-obfuscated by the drum beat of modern life, so filled with the fortunes of silence that your dreaming may just take you to this section of the Colorado Plateau, and change your life forever.
March 19, 2021
This book is a bitter disappointment. Two things became immediately apparent in the first chapters; 1) the author sees himself as superior to others and 2) he really likes the sound of his own thoughts. This is more a book about Colin Fletcher than a book about the Grand Canyon. The title would more accurately describe the content if capitalized like this: THE MAN who walked through time.
I attempted to keep an open mind and thus ignore the ego-nihilism and Fletcher's unfortunate attempt to be a great thinker. Having reached the end, I can say reading it was a complete waste of time. My desire was to learn about the Grand Canyon and especially some geologic detail as the title seems to hint at. The chapter on rock is laughable. Clearly Mr. Fletcher has no substantial information to offer us about the Grand Canyon, but plenty of details about himself.
This book is full of baseless speculation and fanciful, imaginary daydreams. There are whole chapters devoted to his thoughts about animals, all equally worthless. He claims to understand what it's like to be a lizard. Bollocks! A complete farce. Don't waste your time like I did. Life is too short, and there are many better books out there, about geology and hiking. This book proves that accomplishing a great feat, such as hiking the distance of the Grand Canyon, does not necessitate a good story or quality literature.
I attempted to keep an open mind and thus ignore the ego-nihilism and Fletcher's unfortunate attempt to be a great thinker. Having reached the end, I can say reading it was a complete waste of time. My desire was to learn about the Grand Canyon and especially some geologic detail as the title seems to hint at. The chapter on rock is laughable. Clearly Mr. Fletcher has no substantial information to offer us about the Grand Canyon, but plenty of details about himself.
This book is full of baseless speculation and fanciful, imaginary daydreams. There are whole chapters devoted to his thoughts about animals, all equally worthless. He claims to understand what it's like to be a lizard. Bollocks! A complete farce. Don't waste your time like I did. Life is too short, and there are many better books out there, about geology and hiking. This book proves that accomplishing a great feat, such as hiking the distance of the Grand Canyon, does not necessitate a good story or quality literature.
November 1, 2021
The Man who Walked Through Time by Colin Fletcher
Well written backpacking narrative penned in 1967 about the Grand Canyon.
A little shallow and self serving at times as one might gather from the narcissistic title. But its historical relevance is important for anyone who is a backpacker or Grand Canyon lover.
Notes.
1. Harvey Butchart
2. feral burros
3. Havasupai Falls
4. William Wallace Bass - prospector and tour guide
5. Bass Trails and old tram over the Grand Canyon
6. Bighorn Sheep
7. Phantom Ranch
8. Hance Rapids
9. Beavers seen near Beaver Sand Bar
10. (Pink) Grand Canyon rattlesnake (he saw two)
11. Palisades of the Desert
12. Airliner crash site in the Canyon. Two airliners crashed in 1956 and all 128 people died.
13. Little Colorado as well as the Colorado River also took some six million years to carve through the sandstone.
14. No dinosaur fossils in Grand Canyon but there are trilobites (really old) and ferns and ice age mammals like cheetahs and ground sloths. There are some ancient lizard tracks from 200 million years ago.
15. Cliff dwellings and granaries near Nankoweap Creek.
16. Engineering projects threaten the Grand Canyon. Glen Canyon Dam remains controversial.
Solid 4 stars.
Well written backpacking narrative penned in 1967 about the Grand Canyon.
A little shallow and self serving at times as one might gather from the narcissistic title. But its historical relevance is important for anyone who is a backpacker or Grand Canyon lover.
Notes.
1. Harvey Butchart
2. feral burros
3. Havasupai Falls
4. William Wallace Bass - prospector and tour guide
5. Bass Trails and old tram over the Grand Canyon
6. Bighorn Sheep
7. Phantom Ranch
8. Hance Rapids
9. Beavers seen near Beaver Sand Bar
10. (Pink) Grand Canyon rattlesnake (he saw two)
11. Palisades of the Desert
12. Airliner crash site in the Canyon. Two airliners crashed in 1956 and all 128 people died.
13. Little Colorado as well as the Colorado River also took some six million years to carve through the sandstone.
14. No dinosaur fossils in Grand Canyon but there are trilobites (really old) and ferns and ice age mammals like cheetahs and ground sloths. There are some ancient lizard tracks from 200 million years ago.
15. Cliff dwellings and granaries near Nankoweap Creek.
16. Engineering projects threaten the Grand Canyon. Glen Canyon Dam remains controversial.
Solid 4 stars.
July 8, 2018
I love hiking and I love Arizona. Never got to the Grand Canyon - yet. The style so far seems a but overwrought but maybe it'll calm down once the guy gets onto the trail.
Our man's on the trail now and dealing with the hard realities of the canyon. He's not in any tourist areas right now... That'll come later. It helps to look at a map of the area and get a grip of how much of the gorge is really isolated because of its ruggedness - impressive!
Well... we're finally getting going into the chasm. Should be interesting as long as the author keeps his philosophical/spiritual musings mostly to himself. When the author describes his walk through Supai he sounds condescending and snotty, much like Edward Abbey. Then there's the trying-too-hard prose of damselflies "making passionate love". The man's an earnest blowhard.
FINALLY our man is on the trail. It only took him 25% of the text to get there!
My progress sort of mirrors the author's. I'm looking at a map as I read along. When he sticks to the physical-mental challenge it's pretty interesting.
After trekking through some dicey areas(made me feel queasy just reading some of it) the author is now approaching the tourist areas. His style continues to annoy with all the spiritual/nature babble. The Grand Canyon and many other places on the planet are amazing, awesome, humbling but... enough is enough. This book could have been 25% shorter w/o all the brain barf. I "love" his take on bighorn sheep admiring the view of the canyon. He knows more than zoologists I guess!
- Mentions "On Aggression" and "The Territorial Imperative".
- Bad writing: "as I brooded over the map"... "metronomically"(instead of "like a metronome")...
- Will I be able to make it all the way through the boring, sonorous, pontificating blowhard-ism? Probably... the actual descriptions of the hike and its surroundings is interesting.
- Dude! Rocks don't "live"!
- Now he's hearing the "rhythm of the rock" - ick! You might say he could SEE the rhythm of the rock...
- This takes place in May of 1963. I was at boarding school in Connecticut. The guy was born in 1922 - my father's generation. I suppose that accounts for the low-grade, awkward, Steinbeck-ism.
Finished up last night with the expected mixed feelings. I can empathize a bit with the author as to my state(s) of mind when I'm "out there" but his yearning for meaning and understanding seems to go way beyond mine. He seems to want too much. I assume from reading this and his wiki page that the guy was a doer, a seeker etc. All over the globe in fact... The kind of person who might strike you as a major pain in the butt one minute and quite endearing another. He'd probably be dead now anyway but his life was cut somewhat short by the complications from being hit by a car. How ironic! Many more notes...
- The first paragraph of the "Rhythm"chapter is an awkward mystery.
- "Catalysis"???? Never heard it used before but I suppose it is a word.
- "I lay fallow." - Uh, like an unplanted field?
- What's up with all the claret???
- As down time occurs the author-trekker gives vent to his form of nature-babble. Of course! The zoologists are wrong and your romanticisms right.
- Striped??? Probably s.b. "stripped".
- He makes even the toss of a bottle into the river a big event. The guy's super-sensitive.
- And now we're hiking naked. I'm happy at times to be wearing only shorts, socks and boots but that's as far as I'm going.
- I give him having some success at understanding and trying to convey the reality of geologic time - an immensity of time. It IS tough to truly "get".
- And now we've got the "rhythm of the universe". The guy seems to be looking for some kind of cosmic god-ness.
- Halfway through he spends several days at Phantom Ranch. He passes right over this part. Doesn't like the company? A nature snob! Plus, he can't hike naked.
- Beavers(and more)!?!? This guy has way too much blah-blah to share about his one-ness with the wildlife! If they could read and read this book they'd be like - "What a dork!".
- More horrible writing: "wave-crinkled river" - "Lilliputian rustle"... the modifier abuse is constant.
- This nature lover admits to murdering TWO rattlesnakes. If he need to do such a thing to do his walk he shouldn't be there. A phony! Like Edward Abbey and the rabbit in "Desert Solitaire".
- And yet again the boob knows more than the zoologists.
- And now he's annoyed because he lost his nature mojo. He wants too much. Sounds like he basically drove away the geologist(Doug) who came down to spend a week with him and provide some enlightenment. The guy left early...
- He visits some cliff dwellings and once again becomes an expert, disagreeing with archaeologists about their purpose. Also makes unwarranted assumptions about the people who built the the structures.
- Says that the pre-Columbian inhabitants "made love"! maybe they just had sex eh?
- More soft-core religiosity. He assumes there's some "driving force" behind the "immense and unimaginable" process. Maybe so, but...
- "Huge and horrifying vaults of time" - UGH!
- Jets flying low through the Grand Canyon could not be going anywhere near the speed of sound dude! Too dangerous...
- "Unshruggable"???
- And now here comes the Bible. Wonder why it took so long?
- What's a "woman-thrill"? - and later a likening of flying over the Grand Canyon to looking at a beautiful woman in a bikini! That's a stretch!
- The ending is pretty good - a passionate plea for hard-core conservation and protection of wild places. Ultimately I have to give this a 2.75, which rounds up to 3* even thought the writing was often horrible. The "story" was compelling. There should have been more of it!
Our man's on the trail now and dealing with the hard realities of the canyon. He's not in any tourist areas right now... That'll come later. It helps to look at a map of the area and get a grip of how much of the gorge is really isolated because of its ruggedness - impressive!
Well... we're finally getting going into the chasm. Should be interesting as long as the author keeps his philosophical/spiritual musings mostly to himself. When the author describes his walk through Supai he sounds condescending and snotty, much like Edward Abbey. Then there's the trying-too-hard prose of damselflies "making passionate love". The man's an earnest blowhard.
FINALLY our man is on the trail. It only took him 25% of the text to get there!
My progress sort of mirrors the author's. I'm looking at a map as I read along. When he sticks to the physical-mental challenge it's pretty interesting.
After trekking through some dicey areas(made me feel queasy just reading some of it) the author is now approaching the tourist areas. His style continues to annoy with all the spiritual/nature babble. The Grand Canyon and many other places on the planet are amazing, awesome, humbling but... enough is enough. This book could have been 25% shorter w/o all the brain barf. I "love" his take on bighorn sheep admiring the view of the canyon. He knows more than zoologists I guess!
- Mentions "On Aggression" and "The Territorial Imperative".
- Bad writing: "as I brooded over the map"... "metronomically"(instead of "like a metronome")...
- Will I be able to make it all the way through the boring, sonorous, pontificating blowhard-ism? Probably... the actual descriptions of the hike and its surroundings is interesting.
- Dude! Rocks don't "live"!
- Now he's hearing the "rhythm of the rock" - ick! You might say he could SEE the rhythm of the rock...
- This takes place in May of 1963. I was at boarding school in Connecticut. The guy was born in 1922 - my father's generation. I suppose that accounts for the low-grade, awkward, Steinbeck-ism.
Finished up last night with the expected mixed feelings. I can empathize a bit with the author as to my state(s) of mind when I'm "out there" but his yearning for meaning and understanding seems to go way beyond mine. He seems to want too much. I assume from reading this and his wiki page that the guy was a doer, a seeker etc. All over the globe in fact... The kind of person who might strike you as a major pain in the butt one minute and quite endearing another. He'd probably be dead now anyway but his life was cut somewhat short by the complications from being hit by a car. How ironic! Many more notes...
- The first paragraph of the "Rhythm"chapter is an awkward mystery.
- "Catalysis"???? Never heard it used before but I suppose it is a word.
- "I lay fallow." - Uh, like an unplanted field?
- What's up with all the claret???
- As down time occurs the author-trekker gives vent to his form of nature-babble. Of course! The zoologists are wrong and your romanticisms right.
- Striped??? Probably s.b. "stripped".
- He makes even the toss of a bottle into the river a big event. The guy's super-sensitive.
- And now we're hiking naked. I'm happy at times to be wearing only shorts, socks and boots but that's as far as I'm going.
- I give him having some success at understanding and trying to convey the reality of geologic time - an immensity of time. It IS tough to truly "get".
- And now we've got the "rhythm of the universe". The guy seems to be looking for some kind of cosmic god-ness.
- Halfway through he spends several days at Phantom Ranch. He passes right over this part. Doesn't like the company? A nature snob! Plus, he can't hike naked.
- Beavers(and more)!?!? This guy has way too much blah-blah to share about his one-ness with the wildlife! If they could read and read this book they'd be like - "What a dork!".
- More horrible writing: "wave-crinkled river" - "Lilliputian rustle"... the modifier abuse is constant.
- This nature lover admits to murdering TWO rattlesnakes. If he need to do such a thing to do his walk he shouldn't be there. A phony! Like Edward Abbey and the rabbit in "Desert Solitaire".
- And yet again the boob knows more than the zoologists.
- And now he's annoyed because he lost his nature mojo. He wants too much. Sounds like he basically drove away the geologist(Doug) who came down to spend a week with him and provide some enlightenment. The guy left early...
- He visits some cliff dwellings and once again becomes an expert, disagreeing with archaeologists about their purpose. Also makes unwarranted assumptions about the people who built the the structures.
- Says that the pre-Columbian inhabitants "made love"! maybe they just had sex eh?
- More soft-core religiosity. He assumes there's some "driving force" behind the "immense and unimaginable" process. Maybe so, but...
- "Huge and horrifying vaults of time" - UGH!
- Jets flying low through the Grand Canyon could not be going anywhere near the speed of sound dude! Too dangerous...
- "Unshruggable"???
- And now here comes the Bible. Wonder why it took so long?
- What's a "woman-thrill"? - and later a likening of flying over the Grand Canyon to looking at a beautiful woman in a bikini! That's a stretch!
- The ending is pretty good - a passionate plea for hard-core conservation and protection of wild places. Ultimately I have to give this a 2.75, which rounds up to 3* even thought the writing was often horrible. The "story" was compelling. There should have been more of it!
July 18, 2025
Picked up the book before a trip to Vegas a couple of years back - I had planned bug out for Flagstaff and take in the Canyon on my trip. I'm a fan of our national parks and have a house with a view of Shenandoah National Park, so I wanted to take in this story of outdoors adventure at Grand Canyon National Park to prepare for my visit.
Also, a neighbor is a trained geologist and park ranger and told of stories where creationists had questioned the dates she might label the rocks as she took them out on interpretive hikes. "Rocks 200 million years old? No way, the world was only created 7,000 years ago!" they would say. That added some perspective to Fletcher's tale for me - the thought of how in each layer in the Canyon, the river has exposed the lost history of millions, even billions of years.
And to finish my story of the trip to the Canyon, I ended up booking one of those helicopter flights instead, one where we landed in the tribal territory down in the Canyon itself. I had told the pilot about this book and that it might be good reading for him and his team for insights to share during future flights. As it turned out, one of my fellow tourists asked him about the visible rock layers as our helicopter gained altitude, climbing out of the Canyon on the way back to Vegas. Our pilot deferred the question to me - this book had been such good preparation that I could share a little bit of background for everybody.
While there are some activities that one wouldn't dare now (and Fletcher writes about regretting these in the introduction), this is a great adventure story and also makes for a handy pre-read for anybody planning to visit the Grand Canyon.
Also, a neighbor is a trained geologist and park ranger and told of stories where creationists had questioned the dates she might label the rocks as she took them out on interpretive hikes. "Rocks 200 million years old? No way, the world was only created 7,000 years ago!" they would say. That added some perspective to Fletcher's tale for me - the thought of how in each layer in the Canyon, the river has exposed the lost history of millions, even billions of years.
And to finish my story of the trip to the Canyon, I ended up booking one of those helicopter flights instead, one where we landed in the tribal territory down in the Canyon itself. I had told the pilot about this book and that it might be good reading for him and his team for insights to share during future flights. As it turned out, one of my fellow tourists asked him about the visible rock layers as our helicopter gained altitude, climbing out of the Canyon on the way back to Vegas. Our pilot deferred the question to me - this book had been such good preparation that I could share a little bit of background for everybody.
While there are some activities that one wouldn't dare now (and Fletcher writes about regretting these in the introduction), this is a great adventure story and also makes for a handy pre-read for anybody planning to visit the Grand Canyon.
December 28, 2010
Am pleased to revisit one of the authors who filled in many gaps in my understanding about backpacking. Back in the late 1960's I bought gear from Trailwise from Berkley, CA, and outfitted myself with the same gear Fletcher used: Svea stove, pack, sleeping bag, dry milk plastic squeeze bottle. His The Complete Walker was my bible. The best part of this book is the end, beginning with the day that Fletcher spent several hundred feet up a cliffsjde in a old set of caves where a family once lived. It would be a difficult task to write a whole book about a two month hike through the Grand Canyon where most of the days were the same, but Fletcher kept me turning the pages. Weight meant nothing back then, the hike was a very brave undertaking.
November 19, 2017
I really enjoyed this book partly because I just spent a week at the Grand Canyon. Even though this was written in 1969, it was fun to hear his perspective of walking the Grand Canyon before there were many or any trails. He was very introspective about his trip which was refreshing- no electronics, people or modern conveniences- just nature. I am most disturbed about the possibility of our politicians allowing mining, rerouting the Colorado River or building within the beautiful Canyon. We need to to preserve our national treasures! This message was loud and clear from Colin in the 1970s when the Canyon was already at risk. It still is.
June 16, 2010
I like it very much. Hypnotic. Almost felt like I was meditating while I read it - his writing VERY much made you feel like you were there. Makes me realize how much I missed when we went to the Grand Canyon and meerly peered in! Also, I found this inspiring, and showed the power of something as simple as walking, because this man's walking trips have showed him such amazing things (going slow enough to really notice things, getting more up close and personal than whizzing by in a car or plane.)
February 6, 2025
In 1963 Colin Fletcher hiked the entire section of the Grand Canyon contained within the 1963 National Park boundaries. He was the first to do it during one continuous trip. His memoir is thoughtful and meditative. It will take you there as much as any book could and that is what I find to be the most valuable part of this memoir, for me.
One could say that the influence of his ecological statement in the epilogue was more valuable. I don't know if it was, but apparently there was a plan to divert the Colorado River through a tunnel, leaving the river nearly empty. It would have been a tragedy and he was right to protest that. Just the publication of his memoir was a huge benefit in assuring the preservation and respect for the canyon as God made it.
I visited the Grand Canyon in 1971. (Or was it 1970?) Probably it was 1971 as we were there in January. We hiked to the bottom via the Bright Angel Trail, woefully unprepared, as I recall it.
Colin Fletcher was the opposite... he was totally prepared, complete with three food drops by air during the time he was hiking. He did a great job of organizing his hike before hand. He had the intention to walk the entire length of the 1963 version of Grand Canyon National Park. (The park has been expanded since then.)
His book is meditative and flowing. It describes not only the geological features in detail; it also gave me the feeling of being in the canyon again. It is a unique place with an aura not found elsewhere. I appreciated his book for this reason, especially.
After reading this I plan to go on an exploration of Grand Canyon literature. Maybe I'll even go there again someday.
I enjoyed listening to the slow and steady style of the audiobook narrator, Matthew Josdal.
One could say that the influence of his ecological statement in the epilogue was more valuable. I don't know if it was, but apparently there was a plan to divert the Colorado River through a tunnel, leaving the river nearly empty. It would have been a tragedy and he was right to protest that. Just the publication of his memoir was a huge benefit in assuring the preservation and respect for the canyon as God made it.
I visited the Grand Canyon in 1971. (Or was it 1970?) Probably it was 1971 as we were there in January. We hiked to the bottom via the Bright Angel Trail, woefully unprepared, as I recall it.
Colin Fletcher was the opposite... he was totally prepared, complete with three food drops by air during the time he was hiking. He did a great job of organizing his hike before hand. He had the intention to walk the entire length of the 1963 version of Grand Canyon National Park. (The park has been expanded since then.)
His book is meditative and flowing. It describes not only the geological features in detail; it also gave me the feeling of being in the canyon again. It is a unique place with an aura not found elsewhere. I appreciated his book for this reason, especially.
After reading this I plan to go on an exploration of Grand Canyon literature. Maybe I'll even go there again someday.
I enjoyed listening to the slow and steady style of the audiobook narrator, Matthew Josdal.
May 28, 2013
I spent the weekend with Mr. Fletcher on his journy throuth the Grand Canyon in 1963. His journy took considerably longer. He was in the canyon almost 2 months and most of it in solitude.
Colin was the 1st man to walk the length of Grand Canyon National Park beneth the Rim. He was an experienced hiker, having completed wakling the length of California from Mexico to Oregon in late 1950s.
I learned a lot about the geology of the Grand Canyon. I learned about the wild ponies, burros, snakes, etc.
Colin was the 1st man to walk the length of Grand Canyon National Park beneth the Rim. He was an experienced hiker, having completed wakling the length of California from Mexico to Oregon in late 1950s.
I learned a lot about the geology of the Grand Canyon. I learned about the wild ponies, burros, snakes, etc.
June 29, 2018
Eh...This book didn't do much for me. I think I expected more about the Grand Canyon in a book about walking through the Grand Canyon. I felt it had very little of that, and a lot about the author's personal meditations and attempts to get into the mind of a slug. His journey is a long one, about 2 months. He moves incredibly slow through the Canyon, sometimes resting in the same spot for 3 or 4 days. Yet, the book moves through entire stretches of the Canyon in single sentence. Fletcher is a decent writer. This book just wasn't what I was looking for.
May 11, 2024
This book is an account of the 2-month (April – June 1963) hike from one end of Grand Canyon to the other, which had never been done before. The hiker and author was Colin Fletcher, a 41-year-old native of Wales. He took his 60-pound backpack and had 3 one-week food supply packages air-dropped to him. He deposited 2 just below the rim himself and had 2 more delivered (to Supai and Phantom Ranch). His pack included his Svea stove and no tent.
The purpose of the trip was not to get from the starting point (Hualpai Point) to the finish (Point Imperial), but to experience the canyon physically and intellectually, but more importantly, emotionally and spiritually. If the only challenge of the trek were speed, it could probably have been completed in less than one month; however, the trip did involve some danger and uncertainty; and at the start, the probability of the trip being completed would probably have been less than 50%.
Author’s stimulants:
1. Hiking naked (Mr. Fletcher did not do a lot of this, but I have done a lot of backpacking – some in the Grand Canyon - and I do not understand this “turn on.” Clothes provide pockets and offer protection from chaffing backpacks and sun).
2. Getting “inside of” the animals (beavers, snakes, and insects) at Beaver Sand Bar.
3. Feeling the “rhythm” of the rock, especially on Bass Trail
4. Identifying with the thirteenth century cliff dwellers above Nankoweap Creek.
5. Being the first man to hike upriver from Hance Rapids due to the Colorado River’s low level (resulting from the opening of the Glen Canyon Dam in 1963).
6. Menu-varying items (frog legs, smoked oysters, et cetera).
Author’s depressants:
1. Phantom Ranch and its tourists – Fletcher stayed there a week but devoted less than a page to it.
2. Supai Reservation – members of the Havasupai tribe seemed to have lost their initiative and “tourism has become its economic lifeblood.”
3. Doug Powell (descendant of John Wesley Powell who explored the Colorado River and Grand Canyon in 1869 and 1871) incident – after planning to hike the last two weeks together and having this abbreviated to four days, the author felt frustrated at their inability to communicate and the intrusion of the outside world.
4. Photography – an unavoidable task which was important for book, documentation, and memories; but had an interfering tendency to control the author.
In addition to the 233-page narrative on the trip and the author’s thoughts, the blook includes several other informative features: 40 interesting photographs, a simple chart summarizing the geology of the Grand Canyon, and appendix showing all the equipment taken, and a useful map showing the author’s route.
The author has a tendency to use incomplete sentences, but his style is easy to read. So, in spite of the boastful title, the book gives the reader a strong urge to re-trace some of his footsteps.
The purpose of the trip was not to get from the starting point (Hualpai Point) to the finish (Point Imperial), but to experience the canyon physically and intellectually, but more importantly, emotionally and spiritually. If the only challenge of the trek were speed, it could probably have been completed in less than one month; however, the trip did involve some danger and uncertainty; and at the start, the probability of the trip being completed would probably have been less than 50%.
Author’s stimulants:
1. Hiking naked (Mr. Fletcher did not do a lot of this, but I have done a lot of backpacking – some in the Grand Canyon - and I do not understand this “turn on.” Clothes provide pockets and offer protection from chaffing backpacks and sun).
2. Getting “inside of” the animals (beavers, snakes, and insects) at Beaver Sand Bar.
3. Feeling the “rhythm” of the rock, especially on Bass Trail
4. Identifying with the thirteenth century cliff dwellers above Nankoweap Creek.
5. Being the first man to hike upriver from Hance Rapids due to the Colorado River’s low level (resulting from the opening of the Glen Canyon Dam in 1963).
6. Menu-varying items (frog legs, smoked oysters, et cetera).
Author’s depressants:
1. Phantom Ranch and its tourists – Fletcher stayed there a week but devoted less than a page to it.
2. Supai Reservation – members of the Havasupai tribe seemed to have lost their initiative and “tourism has become its economic lifeblood.”
3. Doug Powell (descendant of John Wesley Powell who explored the Colorado River and Grand Canyon in 1869 and 1871) incident – after planning to hike the last two weeks together and having this abbreviated to four days, the author felt frustrated at their inability to communicate and the intrusion of the outside world.
4. Photography – an unavoidable task which was important for book, documentation, and memories; but had an interfering tendency to control the author.
In addition to the 233-page narrative on the trip and the author’s thoughts, the blook includes several other informative features: 40 interesting photographs, a simple chart summarizing the geology of the Grand Canyon, and appendix showing all the equipment taken, and a useful map showing the author’s route.
The author has a tendency to use incomplete sentences, but his style is easy to read. So, in spite of the boastful title, the book gives the reader a strong urge to re-trace some of his footsteps.
July 24, 2020
At the start I thought I'd like this book, but it wasn't quite what I was expecting. Yes, it chronicles his walk through the entire part of the Grand Canyon that is in the national park (c. 1000 miles), but it also contains his musings and meditations and when he came to dangerous bits it really isn't edge of your seat sort of writing. He also didn't win me over with his personality as put on paper. That said, some parts of it were interesting, but having read other nonfiction books of journeys though there it wasn't as interesting as it might have been for me. This man also did a 1000 mile walk through California, so if you like this book, he has another he wrote before it on that. I'll pass.
There are parts he was the first person to walk on due to the opening of the Glen Canyon Dam a few months before, so evidently this was published the year following his trek.
There are parts he was the first person to walk on due to the opening of the Glen Canyon Dam a few months before, so evidently this was published the year following his trek.
September 24, 2025
Had a great time listening to this one—some parts were a little repetitive but that’s not really a problem for me when it comes to travelouges, backpacking memoirs etc.
I love that Fletcher is not the idealistic, perfect backpacker by any means or today’s standards. He makes mistakes, he packs heavy, and he caches luxury items like sparkling wine and smoked fish (huge slay). And yet he is an incredibly talented hiker who accomplishes the goal he set for himself.
The most grating aspect of the book is probably that it is very clear he thinks highly of himself and less of everyone around him. But I’ll excuse it because again he isn’t perfect and above all you can tell he LOVES the canyon. Enjoyed his somewhat poetic style even if at some points it made me laugh out loud due to corniness or strangeness. All things said, good book, would recommend!
I love that Fletcher is not the idealistic, perfect backpacker by any means or today’s standards. He makes mistakes, he packs heavy, and he caches luxury items like sparkling wine and smoked fish (huge slay). And yet he is an incredibly talented hiker who accomplishes the goal he set for himself.
The most grating aspect of the book is probably that it is very clear he thinks highly of himself and less of everyone around him. But I’ll excuse it because again he isn’t perfect and above all you can tell he LOVES the canyon. Enjoyed his somewhat poetic style even if at some points it made me laugh out loud due to corniness or strangeness. All things said, good book, would recommend!
January 4, 2023
Did you know that Colin Fletcher died because he got hit by a car crossing the street? Breaks my heart. He was the first person who walked alone through the Grand Canyon, and this book is AMAZING. He did it without gps or cell phones or even good maps. The cliffs made it extra dangerous. And he never got hurt, but it was all danger. He did it alone. But then he died crossing the street. The lesson is to take risks and go for it because what might get you is not what you think.
June 21, 2012
This was assigned reading for a class by Roderick Nash who wrote Wilderness and the American Mind which I rate 5 Stars for its importance to history and the environment (deservably). I had previously read The Complete Walker: The Joys and Techniques of Hiking and Backpacking and The Thousand-Mile Summer some 5 years and many climbs and miles prior. I'm not really one for holes in the ground (as one person notes), and I have a lot of friends who do like making annual Grand Canyon trips for either hiking or river running (including Rod). Personally, I'm more of a Monument Valley, Shiprock person.
Fletcher pieces together a route through the Canyon for one of its earliest up river traversals. Is Colin the first to do this? Is that really important to the reader? I think the really interesting person, Fletcher's consultant, was Harvey Butchart. Fletcher's most serious problems are single handed unprotected fords of the Colorado River (some of this is covered in the Complete Walker).
Like many of Colin's books, the latter half of the book has slightly less detail, because he needs to move along, and he's starting to long for the comforts of city life. He's also getting more fit and can walk further each day. Colin's writing contrasts with that of Edward Abbey. It's not until his book River (going the other way, a novice descending the Colorado) dues Fletcher come into his writing element. I gave River 4 stars and lost my copy on loan to some other friend. He's a more mature river. It was a different time metaphor, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Colin must hike up the Canyon first (go thru time) before he can go down the River: One Man's Journey Down the Colorado, Source to Sea.
If you like the Grand Canyon and other "holes in the ground", whether you like descending or ascending them, you have to read this book. If you want to read works by Fletcher, read it, too. If you are urban, you can skip it. Don't let the fact that I'm only giving this book two stars deter you. I got plenty from Fletcher including other friends. It was just that at the time of my life when I read this book, I had moved on to other literature.
Fletcher pieces together a route through the Canyon for one of its earliest up river traversals. Is Colin the first to do this? Is that really important to the reader? I think the really interesting person, Fletcher's consultant, was Harvey Butchart. Fletcher's most serious problems are single handed unprotected fords of the Colorado River (some of this is covered in the Complete Walker).
Like many of Colin's books, the latter half of the book has slightly less detail, because he needs to move along, and he's starting to long for the comforts of city life. He's also getting more fit and can walk further each day. Colin's writing contrasts with that of Edward Abbey. It's not until his book River (going the other way, a novice descending the Colorado) dues Fletcher come into his writing element. I gave River 4 stars and lost my copy on loan to some other friend. He's a more mature river. It was a different time metaphor, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Colin must hike up the Canyon first (go thru time) before he can go down the River: One Man's Journey Down the Colorado, Source to Sea.
If you like the Grand Canyon and other "holes in the ground", whether you like descending or ascending them, you have to read this book. If you want to read works by Fletcher, read it, too. If you are urban, you can skip it. Don't let the fact that I'm only giving this book two stars deter you. I got plenty from Fletcher including other friends. It was just that at the time of my life when I read this book, I had moved on to other literature.
May 30, 2021
“And my mind soon switched back to the solemn rhythms of the geologic time to the ticking of the human clock.”
-Colin Fletcher
“And my mind would have been better off with a lobotomy then to finish the 2nd half of this book.”
Derek Morris (me)
147/245 pages read.
I am always thinking of the quote below when I come to a book like this.
“I was standing amid floor-to-ceiling shelves of books in wonder and awe when my view of stories suddenly and forever changed. There were enormous piles of books lying in corners. Books covered the walls. Books even lined the staircases as you went up from one floor to the next...
I was standing in Daedalus Books in Charlottesville, Virginia....for whatever reason, the truth of the numbers suddenly hit me. The year before, I had read about thirty books. For me, that was a new record. But then I started counting. I was in my early twenties, and with any luck I’d live at least fifty more years. At that rate, I’d have about 1,500 books in me, give or take.
There were more books than that on the single wall I was staring at.
That’s when I had a realization of my mortality. My desire outpaced reality. I simply didn’t have the life to read what I wanted to read.
Suddenly my choices in that bookstore became a profound act of deciding... The idea is that to choose anything means to kill off other options you might have otherwise chosen. That day I realized that by choosing one story, I would have to cut off other stories...I would have to curate my stories.”
Jason Whitmel Earley
-The Common Rule
-Colin Fletcher
“And my mind would have been better off with a lobotomy then to finish the 2nd half of this book.”
Derek Morris (me)
147/245 pages read.
I am always thinking of the quote below when I come to a book like this.
“I was standing amid floor-to-ceiling shelves of books in wonder and awe when my view of stories suddenly and forever changed. There were enormous piles of books lying in corners. Books covered the walls. Books even lined the staircases as you went up from one floor to the next...
I was standing in Daedalus Books in Charlottesville, Virginia....for whatever reason, the truth of the numbers suddenly hit me. The year before, I had read about thirty books. For me, that was a new record. But then I started counting. I was in my early twenties, and with any luck I’d live at least fifty more years. At that rate, I’d have about 1,500 books in me, give or take.
There were more books than that on the single wall I was staring at.
That’s when I had a realization of my mortality. My desire outpaced reality. I simply didn’t have the life to read what I wanted to read.
Suddenly my choices in that bookstore became a profound act of deciding... The idea is that to choose anything means to kill off other options you might have otherwise chosen. That day I realized that by choosing one story, I would have to cut off other stories...I would have to curate my stories.”
Jason Whitmel Earley
-The Common Rule
March 2, 2010
“By now I had accepted the terrible sweep of geologic time and I had felt, superimposed on the deliberate rhythm of the rocks, the pulse of life and the throb of man. I had glimpsed the way these different arcs of time fitted together, one with the other, interlocking. Above all, I had overcome the fear that lurks somewhere deep in most of us, the fear that comes when somebody first says: “Man is a newcomer on earth,” the fear that threatens to overwhelm us when we first look back and down into a huge and horrifying vaults of time that ticked away before man existed. And by overcoming this fear I freed myself, much as I had freed myself when I swam across the sullen back eddy at the mouth of Havasu Creek,” writes Colin Fletcher.
I was saddened to learn last year that Fletcher had died from lingering complications after being struck by a car while he was walking along a road. I’ve read several of his books that document his adventures.
“The Man Who Walked through Time,” is about his sojourn through the Grand Canyon: one end to the other. He was the first man to do so. “It became a pilgrimage, a stunning spiritual odyssey during which one man began to understand mankind’s singular place in the vastness of nature.”
This book is a fun solo adventure. A man that walked through time.
September 9, 2016
I've got to say, that after having enjoyed Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods", this book was rather dull. Colin Fletcher hikes from one end of Grand Canyon National Park to the other...and has a perfectly safe, enjoyable time. Nothing dramatic happens to him. He doesn't run out of food or water, he doesn't twist an ankle or get sick or snakebitten. No boulders pin him into an emergency situation requiring a harrowing escape. While I certainly am glad he had a good, safe trip, it does however make for a rather boring read. I kept waiting for the inevitable obstacles that I thought were coming, but nothing of the sort ever happened. Instead the reader is treated to his meditations about geology, anthropology, evolution, time, and wildlife. It's not a bad book, just somewhat dull and not what I was expecting.
August 21, 2024
This might be the worst book I’ve ever read. The author is arrogant and unimpressed by the Grand Canyon which he mentions, multiple times. What you’re left with is a book that is nothing about the canyon itself and just the thoughts in his head while he hiked.
December 7, 2010
Should be called "Deep Thoughts by Colin Fletcher, oh and some stuff about Grand Canyon, too"
April 25, 2024
Thoughtful account of the author’s mental, physical, and spiritual journey through the Grand Canyon in 1963. I found his spiritual conclusions to be poignant and priceless. Highly readable. I’ll be thinking about this one for a long time. I should also mention that my grandmother, a successful writer, sent this book to me in 1979 and I never read it till now. I regret I can’t discuss it with her.
July 15, 2025
LOLing that his thoughts upon exiting the canyon are: “damn nothing can compare to the beauty of the canyon, everything is gonna look ugly for a while” and then immediately saying “actually let’s speed this process up I’m going to Vegas baby”
February 26, 2019
A great read about a fascinating walk. As soon as I started reading, I couldn’t help but think this is a walk I would very much like to experience.
April 13, 2017
There were moments of this that I adored-- many stemming from just hiking the Canyon again so recently. Actually started this book in the base of the Canyon at Phantom Ranch. Yeah, I'm a cliche:)
April 12, 2020
Just re-read this last week, had read it maybe 30 years ago and bestowed 4 stars in 2014 without a review. A lovely book. Reminds me of Thoreau "Time is but the stream in which I go a-fishing." The author makes a long, difficult journey but doesn't take it as a forced march. When assured of water supply, he will pause a day or two to do nothing but observe lizards, beaver, rattlesnakes. Warm associations for me with three books by Willa Cather that connect to the southwest and the cliff dwellers: The Professor's House ; Death Comes for the Archbishop; and the Panther Canyon interlude in The Song of the Lark. I've been down and up the Grand Canyon five times, twice with off-trail privileges that never went very far off. I've read several books about running the river like the charming, thrilling one by Ellsworth and Emery Kolb about the first trip from Wyoming to the Gulf of California ca. 1911. Through the Grand Canyon from Wyoming to Mexico. Fletcher's book is a complement to expedition literature, more meditative. If you like Desert Solitaire you should read this.
There's an epilogue arguing against the terrible plans for dams. Thanks in large but not sole part to my mentor and friend David Brower, the dams never came to pass between Glen Canyon and Hoover Dam. The Grand Canyon and nearby wild areas (like Grand Staircase) continue to be threatened, however, by evil mining and extraction interests.
There's an epilogue arguing against the terrible plans for dams. Thanks in large but not sole part to my mentor and friend David Brower, the dams never came to pass between Glen Canyon and Hoover Dam. The Grand Canyon and nearby wild areas (like Grand Staircase) continue to be threatened, however, by evil mining and extraction interests.
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