Customer Reviews

Grand Obsession: Harvey Butchart and the Exploration of Grand Canyon

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Grand Obsessions is page turner for anyone who's hiked the Grand Canyon or plans to hike it. Not only do the authors bring Butchart back to life, they do a great job of descibing the influnce of other Grand Canyon backcountry explorers on him, and in return, his influence on them, including other authors such as Colin Fletcher (The Man Who Walked Through Time). I highly recommend sharing this book with your hiking friends.

Harvey Butchart was a mathematics professor. His doctoral thesis was "Helices in Euclidean N-Space", and at one point he had to get twenty feet of wrapping paper to do his massive calculations for it. He looked the part, for he was scrawny at five foot seven inches and 135 pounds, and he had thick bifocals. He was socially awkward and shy. He was a good mathematician, with further papers and competence within the Northern Arizona University Mathematics Department. He had a perfectly respectable professional life. So far so dull. You would not have known it if you had seen him in his professor role, but he was a tenacious adventurer who made the Grand Canyon his realm of expertise. He logged 12,000 hiking miles in over forty years of canyoneering, he found new routes of access from the canyon rim to river, and he climbed 83 of the buttes in the canyon, often climbing by himself, and 28 of those climbs were the first recorded conquests. Everyone who knew him knew of his obsession with the canyon, and he is a hero to the many who have followed the trails he described. No one appreciates Butchart's life's work more than hikers Elias Butler and Tom Myers, who have written an admiring biography of the man who knew the Grand Canyon better than anyone, _Grand Obsession: Harvey Butchart and the Exploration of Grand Canyon_ (Puma Press). Not only is this big, well-illustrated book an account of Butchart's life and work, it chronicles much of the history of the canyon, especially after the boom in camping and nature appreciation that has occurred in the past decades. It is also an account of an obsession that was dangerous at times, and even tragic. The obsession was also hazardous to Butchart's family life, but he did put it to practical use for the benefit of others.

Butchart only started hiking the canyon when he was 38 years old and moved to its region. It presented one challenge after another; he might have to bushwhack through a disused trial, float down a river, ascend sheer cliffs, or raise himself up scorching buttes. The almost photographic memory he used when he did mathematics was also put to work on the trial, so that he could remember routes long after he had trekked them. However, he took to documenting each hike he made, obsessively typing up a description once he returned home. He remained extremely fit, and as supervisor of the college hiking club, he found he had to take care so that he would not leave his students, less than half his age, in the dust. He was hard on himself. "You aren't really living if you don't risk your life once every six months," he wrote, and he was only half joking. Butler and Myers examine at length the effects of his hiking on his wife. Roma had no interest in hiking and had disdain for the fellow hikers who would visit her husband. She was able to have a truce when Butchart kept to schedule and made it home for bridge games and other activities Roma needed. Butchart had to slow down as he aged, although the slowing was very long in coming. After he had done his last hikes, there was a reconnection and delight in his relationship with Roma, and after she died in 2002, he was heartbroken and followed her just a couple of months later.

Butchart's fame is assured, not because he had so many firsts in climbing and hiking the canyon (although these are considerable), but because of the three volumes of _Grand Canyon Treks_ he produced, going from the logbook notes he made after a hike and turning them into trail guides for others to follow. Butler and Myers are devoted to the books and use them often (even on a hike to Wotan's Throne, a butte that was a particular favorite of Butchart, to put his and Roma's ashes there). "Although a casual hiker could use _Treks_ to negotiate the beaten paths, Harvey presents the trails as mere frames upon which to drape the more exciting information, his routes that lead into the wild. _Treks_ thus introduced the sport of canyoneering to a generation of eager practitioners." Butchart was not unappreciative of the beauty of the canyon, but his guidebooks reflect his priorities, getting out there, getting to a goal, and getting there in time, rather than pointing out the sights. What he thought was important about his life is in those books. _Grand Obsession_ contains wonderful pictures of the canyon and Butchart at work in it, and is engagingly written even for people that don't have anything like a devotion to hiking. It is a full and admiring portrait of a remarkable, flawed man who blazed a trail, thousands of trails.

Grand Obsession explores the full life of Harvey Butchart. Assessments on the whole seem prudent. A riveting, yet educational masterpiece presented well by Butler and Myers. Given a soul the reader will experience all emotions. I found myself laughing out loud, crying inside and obsessed to read the next chapter.

Lucky you, the authors are the exact opposite of the subject at hand. Virtually any question you may have about Harvey is answered. It's everything you need to know presenting intense facts along the way. Symbolic childhood moments decipher the psyche. Fun adventures to those that turned sour are interweaved with mini profiles of those that affected his life most. Personal and sometimes appalling tidbits make it real. Never before nor will I ever likely read another book this size, I just wish this one was bigger!

This is a tremendously interesting and enjoyable biography. The writing is superb, the photographs enriching, and the flow and structure of the book are excellent. Most importantly, the authors have beautifully and humanely illuminated the life of an extraordinary -- and until now for me and many others -- a somewhat mysterious man.

I met Dr. Butchart 35 years ago when I took his Algebra course at Northern Arizona University. He was a challenging professor (the best kind!), and as a young hiker and beginning Canyoneer, I was in awe of his Canyon reputation. I didn't get to know him beyond class. In subsequent years and after many off-trail and below-the-rim miles attempting to follow his terse guides, I was mystified as to who he really was. Thanks to Butler and Meyers, I have finally come to know him. And what a great arm-chair adventure getting to "know him" has been!

"Grand Obsession" is not only a fine addition to the ever enlarging literature of the Grand Canyon, it is a fittingly great biography of a little known but great western explorer.

Harvey Butchart was the first person to thoroughly explore the Grand Canyon on foot since Native American times. Obsessive by nature, he took detailed trip notes, and incorporated his notes in a trail guide that is still unrivaled. Butchart was the first person to walk the length of the park below the rim, and his tips were what enabled Colin Fletcher to become the first person to walk through the canyon in one season. Colin Fletcher's The Man Who Walked Through Time: The Story of the First Trip Afoot Through the Grand Canyon made Fletcher, and later Butchart, famous.

Elias Butler and Tom Myers have produced an engrossing book on many levels. Most of the book is about events from the 1950s into the 80s. The hiker climber authors followed several of Harvey Butchart's routes while researching the book. Their personal stories lend a feeling of suspense to what would otherwise be a historical account. The book is a biography of a man, an exploration of a hiker's obsession and its effect on his family. Other books cover Colorado River exploration, but this is the first one I have seen that documents Grand Canyon exploration by foot. Researching the book was a fifteen year effort, and it is well documented with footnotes, photos and supplemental notes.

As a long distance hiker myself, I was caught up with the multiple aspects of the book. The authors managed to impart the addictive nature of endurance sports, and the ramifications of a sport that consumes many hours. While Harvey hiked, his family grew up and moved on, seeing little of him.

Hikers and Grand Canyon enthusiasts are certainly going to enjoy this book, but I strongly recommend it to anyone getting into a sport that consumes immense time away from family.

...or you'll never get to sleep!

Grand Obsession is a riveting biography of one of the most interesting characters ever to set foot in the Grand Canyon. An author himself, many hikers are familiar with Harvey Butchart's series of "guide books", Grand Canyon Treks. Even though Harvey somewhat vaguely reveals the secrets of the Grand Canyon in his books, he himself has remained a mystery until now.

It is evident that the authors put an amazing amount of work into writing this biography. Every detail of Harvey's life, from his childhood in China, to "settling down" in Sun City, has been clearly and interestingly explained. The biography takes the reader on a roller coaster ride of emotions, from the elation of summiting a virgin butte to the heartache his frequent forays in the Canyon caused his wife.

The authors break up the biography with the tale of their own adventure; following the footsteps of Harvey Butchart to the summit of Wotan's Throne. Their quest, a series of triumphs and failures, mirrors the life Harvey Butchart and helps the reader understand what Harvey must have felt in an even more profound way.

I didn't want to put this book down. Every page was a new adventure, leaving me hungry for more, and making me want to go to the Canyon and follow the footsteps of Harvey Butchart myself!

Harvey Butchart is held high on a pedestal with the majority of Canyon hikers and deservedly holds the respect of all for what he accomplished through shear grit and determination. Knowing that he had a wife and family in Flagstaff, I was always curious how he was able to balance family, his work as a Northern Arizona University mathematics professor and his passion -- no, his obsession -- with the Grand Canyon. Elias Butler and Tom Myers did an EXCELLENT job in researching and writing about Harvey's life from early childhood in China to missionary parents until his death in 2002.

Be warned; you will learn that Harvey was human. A person cannot be a super human explorer of the Grand Canyon and still maintain healthy relationships at home. His family life did indeed suffer; how could that be avoided? Several of my friends were disappointed to learn of this, but it only makes sense. You cannot be obsessed with something and not have other aspects of your life get neglected. I feel the authors dealt very fairly with this. They did not paint Harvey as malevolent or saintly; they just stated the facts and very tactfully. The book is well written and the story of Harvey's life is extremely interesting. I highly recommend this book!

The title says it all, I got the book just a few days after placing the order, and it's like new!

A visit and Mule Ride to Phantom Ranch in the Grand Canyon spiked my interest to learn more about the trails. This book was recommended in the Park Literature and has provided a very interesting read about the Canyon and a special person whose love for hiking knew no bounds. An excellent read.

Grand Obsession was an interesting look at someone who's books and Grand Canyon exploits have always interested me. Harvey was definitely not your average math professor! The authors managed to weave Grand Canyon history, Harvey history, and general GC hiking history into an interesting, hard to put down story of obsession, stubornness, and hair-raising adventure. I recommend the book to anyone interested in Harvey Butchart or the Grand Canyon.