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The Man Who Walked Through Time: The Story of the First Trip Afoot Through the Grand Canyon | 
 enlarge | Author: Colin Fletcher
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  22 reviews
Sales Rank: 35912
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5 x 0.7
ISBN: 0679723064
Dewey Decimal Number: 917.91320453
EAN: 9780679723066
ASIN: 0679723064
Publication Date: May 14, 1989
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Trade paperback copy in good condition.
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Amazon.com Review
Colin Fletcher is a self-described "compulsive walker." It is not unusual for him to pick up a map, drive to an area that intrigues him, and then start walking. It should come as no surprise then that 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. In The Man Who Walked Through Time Fletcher recounts his amazing journey. For two months Fletcher struggled against heat and cold, lack of water and dwindling supplies. The terrain was, at times, nearly impassible, yet despite the physical hardships, Fletcher came away from his experience with a new awareness of how humans fit into the vast scheme of things. He writes, for example, of meeting a rattlesnake on Beaver Sand Bar: "Now I am no rattlesnake aficionado. The first rattler I met scared me purple, and killing it seemed a human duty.... Yet by the end of that California summer I no longer felt an unreasoning fear of rattlers.... Instead, I accepted them as organisms with a niche in the web of life. Accepted them, that is, as fellow creatures." The Man Who Walked Through Time is a remarkable account of a journey both physical and spiritual. 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.
Product Description
The remarkable classic of nature writing by the first man ever to have walked the entire length of the Grand Canyon.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 17 more reviews...
 Classic of Outdoor Literature February 6, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The Man Who Walked Through Time is about Colin Fletcher's 1963 solo backpacking trip through the Grand Canyon, it is considered a classic of Outdoor Literature ranked #45 in National Geographic's "100 Best Adventure Books". It was first published in January 1968, almost exactly 40 years from the date of this review - the author was 41 when he took the trip, I am 41, and Fletcher emerged from the trip declaring "life begins at 40", adding the journey had offered him the "key to contentment." Like Dante's descent into the Inferno 'in media res' (age 40), Fletcher descended into the Abyss of the Canyon and emerged a spiritually changed man, changing the landscape of outdoor recreation with him.
Colin Fletcher (1922-2007) was a Welshman and WWII vet who moved to California in the 1950s. An avid backpacker, he is best known for The Complete Walker I-IV (1968-2001), which for a generation or two has been the singular bible of backpacking - "Colin was sort of the founding father of modern backpacking, the first person to write about going out for an extended period and being self-sufficient." (Annette McGivney, editor of 'Backpacker Magazine'). In 1968, the same year he published the first edition of 'The Complete Walker', he also published 'The Man Who Walked Through Time', recounting a 1963 trip in which he was the first person to walk the length of Grand Canyon National Park "in one go" (second to complete the whole journey). More than an adventure journal, it inspired a generation to take up (create) the backpacking lifestyle as a way to fill a spiritual void and escape the confusion and chaos of Vietnam-era America. As 'Backpacker Magazine' contributing editor Buck Tilton recalls "After Vietnam, I was trying to figure out what to do with my life. So many of my friends had died from bullet holes. I read 'The Man Who Walked Through Time', and it was the only thing that made sense to me. Fletcher's words gave meaning to backpacking. I loaded my pack exactly the way Fletcher did and carried a walking stick like his. He was my hero."
Fletcher wrote about what he saw in day to day events, none are death defying or edge of the seat, what set it apart was Fletcher's inner journey of discovery as a metaphor of the vast expanse of time in the geology of the Grand Canyon. "I saw that by going down into that huge fissure in the face of the earth, deep into the space and the silence and the solitude, I might come as close as we can at present to moving back and down through the smooth and apparently impenetrable face of time." Fletcher found peace and solitude in removing himself from the "piercing arrows" of the modern world.
'The Man Who Walked Through Time' is essentially a Romantic work in the tradition of Robert Louis Stevenson's Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes (1879), highly influential with an earlier generation of bohemians (Stevenson invented and describes the first sleep bag in outdoor literature). Fletcher re-fashioned his account for a new generation of drop-outs who wanted to find inner solitude and discovery in the outdoors. I see in Fletcher a sort of proto-hippy, he shed his clothing and walked bare naked with a bamboo cane, floppy hat and scraggly beard. He ate pemmican and lamented the loss of the martial spirit of the natives. He found value in nature and disparaged the dam builders who would destroy it. He was a key element in the burgeoning environmental movement - 'The Man Who Walked Through Time' will be "forever" a permanent mark in time of a movement and a generation. In February 2008, almost exactly 40 years from the books publication, the National Academy of Sciences published a report saying "Camping, fishing and per capita visits to parks are all declining in a shift away from nature-based recreation.. the replacement of vigorous outdoor activities by sedentary, indoor videophilia." The times are changing and 40 years ago today seems about 180 degrees in difference. Perhaps by 2048, 40 years from now, we will see a re-discovery of Fletchers vision of vigorous outdoor challenge, solitude and self-sufficiency in nature.
A wonderful adventure story about a solo hiker/thinker. April 3, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Colon Fletcher is a well known backpacker who has written the bible on backpacking (The Complete Walker IV; Alfred A Knopf, New York). On this trip he talks about the planning and preparation for the trip and all the details of the execution of the adventure. He explains the natural history and the geological history of The Grand Canyon at length as he walks the length of it. He may be the first non-native man to do so. Mostly, Fletcher has a honest, smooth, enjoyable style of writing that I find enchanting.
The appendix contains a list of everything he took.
With a little philosophy, a little geology and a story of personal struggle with the task at hand Fletcher conveys something of a understanding of humankind's place in the world. One can ask for nothing more than that!
Had a deep effect on me February 19, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I read this book in my early 20s, about 40 years ago. I had recently discovered the study of geology, and had camped on the rim of the Grand Canyon several times and hiked the Bright Angel Trail twice. The book had a profound effect on me then, and moved me again when I re-read it recently. This is the record of a man's journey -- physical, psychological and spiritual -- vividly and poetically written. He not only traces his trail through the canyon, but the personal challenges he meets and overcomes on the way, and perhaps more importantly, his gradually deepening experience of the canyon itself, of feeling himself an integral part of it, at one with its immense mystery. In that way, it is a deeply mystical story, as well.
For people who read this book and enjoy it, I'd also recommend Colin Fletcher's more recent book, RIVER, his account of a much more recent trip floating the Colorado River from its source to the sea. Particularly more mature readers will find his identification with the river in its various stages, and the stages of his own life, engrossing.
A VERY INTERESTING AND INSPIRATIONAL READ January 5, 2006
10 out of 12 found this review helpful
This well written volume is the story of one man and one trip. I suppose if I took the same journey, my motivation might be quite different and my story, I am sure, would be different. I think you kind of have to take this book as just that, i.e. one mans quest, one mans vision and one mans interpretation of what he saw and what he expierenced. I personally felt inspired by this work and felt as if I were reading the words of a kindred spirit. On the other hand, according to my friends and family, I am a bit of a flake, so take this review for what it is worth. Granted, Fletcher did have good support, but then I don't think he had a particular death wish either. If I could afford it, I would do the same. I do regrete that, as one reviewer pointed out, that the hype for the book could be a bit misleading to the reader. I suppose those that like living on the very edge might find this work a bit prosaic in that no death defying feats were performed, yet I really don't feel that is what this work was all about. I suggest just reading and enjoying it.
Amazing True Adventure December 31, 2004
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This book suceeds on every level and is one of the best adventure books I've read. Much more than a hiking guide, it is an amazingly well-written of a journey more mental than physical, as Colin shares deep insights into life, geology and the history of the Earth as revealed by the Grand Canyon.
Backpackers will appreciate his accurate portrayals of hiking: the mixed emotions before setting of on a long and possible perilous journey, the still moments feeling at one with Nature, the way everyday minutia and worry eventually recedes into the background. If you have friends who want to know what backcountry hiking is all about (without actually going on one), this is the book to read.
Also, for Canyon afficionados (such as myself), Fletcher's book captures the majesty, awe, and grandeur of America's (or at least Arizona's) crown jewel.
Although written in the 1960's, this account does not feel dated. It is very much more than a 'been-there, done-that' journal of a record-setting performance, but instead has much to offer to any reader. Highly recommended.
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