Customer Reviews

Canyon Solitude: A Woman's Solo River Journey Through the Grand Canyon (Adventura Books)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Experienced river-runner Patricia McCairen was suddenly faced with a choice when she found herself without companions for a trip through Grand Canyon. She could give up her permit and hope to get another at some point or she could go it alone. Certain she would be saved from her bravado she called the National Park Service to get special permission for a solo trip and was both surprised and terrified when permisssion was granted.

Thus did McCairen enter into a trip that would allow her to delve into the differences between solitude and loneliness and eventually come to grips with her course in life.

Canyon Solitude is more about a personal journey of the mind than a journey through Grand Canyon. Reading as she struggles with her history (with men, with her mother, with her professional goals) provides insight into how we all allow our direction to be shaped by others, only convincing ourselves that we are truly independent. As we find McCairen actually achieving independence it is easy to understand as she swings from exhileration to terror and back to exhileration, finally achieving contentment.

The book is a bit slow at times, but as with the actual river, it has periods of intense excitement that more than make up for the lulls. Perhaps without the calms between the rapids, it wouldn't be possible to really understand what has been accomplished.

This is a wonderful read. It gracefully mixes adventure with honest self-revelation as it explores the potentials and pains of a woman at midlife. Especially meaningful to me were McCairen's meditations on solitude versus loneliness and her wrestling with fear of intimacy. Going alone into the wilderness is a radical act for a woman, and McCairen engages it with consciousness and skill. I was sorry when the book ended, I had grown to so look forward to curling up with it at the end of the day. I would welcome a sequel.

Having rafted the Colorado with a tour group not long ago, and I am in awe of what this woman did. The book is wonderfully written, and a page-turner for anyone, women in particular, who is a Grand Canyon/Colorado River enthusiast. I felt like I was right back there with every page...

I read this book practically cover to cover...Patricia McCairen captures the spirit of all adventure women. Whether running rivers, living in a Tipi, or climbing a massive rocky ledge, I was spellbound buy the journey into self and the discovery of her own strengths. The real topper for me was Patricia's realization that the wilderness, the river, was her place in the world, contrary to what her family and friends told her. She is my hero for being courageous enough to be lead by something other than popular opinion about who she is!

This book conveyed the spirit of a solo journey without pop style sound-bites or excruciating detail. Its a relief to read a book about a technical adventure that isn't filled with second-by-second accounts of every action, re-action, and re-re-action. "Patch"s style is easy to read and draws the reader in. If you have ever done a real solo adventure, you will likely relate to her. If you haven't, this is a nice book to let you feel like you have.

This is a beautiful book, one in which the author goes beyond her river journey to do some soul-searching into her own truths. Patricia tells the story of how her adventurous side comes alive through one Grand Canyon trip, motivating her to abandon her corporate urban life in NYC for the wild rivers of the American West. The book details the pinnacle of her river experiences, a solo journey through Grand Canyon, with insight into the core of who she is and what the rivers have helped her become.

This book conveyed the spirit of a solo journey without pop style sound-bites or excruciating detail. Its a relief to read a book about a technical adventure that isn't filled with second-by-second accounts of every action, re-action, and re-re-action. "Patch"s style is easy to read and draws the reader in. If you have ever done a real solo adventure, you will likely relate to her. If you haven't, this is a nice book to let you feel like you have.

I'm not a rafter, and have no particular interest in rafting, but this book somehow captured my interest and I read it in a couple of hours. Patricia has a poetic way of writing about nature and her adventures rafting over the Colorado, and she takes the reader along for the ride. I admire her greatly for her courageous decision to go it alone (at least most of the time) on a very hazardous journey. I hope she continues to write (and avoid that dreaded Secretaryville).

This is not so much an adventure story as one of confronting fears...pulling all those nagging doubts and insecurities out of the dark corners and facing them head-on, but not in a self-conscious, new age-y way. I didn't want to put it down and it stayed with me for days after I finished. Very motivational!

This book is a good story, a trip through the Grand Canyon, alone, in a raft. What was most memorable was how the author gave voice and expression to the thoughts and feelings I have had in my own life when facing a challenge, or simply trying to understand myself. This is one of those outer journey/inner journey narratives by someone who is really good at putting words to the quirks of each of our internal natures. If you have been down the Colorado River through the canyon, you recognize all the places -- but even if you have not, you recognize the places within yourself that the author visits and writes about.

Many of my friends have read this book -- and we all agree, men and women alike, that it is a good read, and a neat journey both through the canyon and through the quirks that make us all human.