A Walk in the Park

De: Kevin Fedarko

Narrado por: Kevin Fedarko

* Winner of the National Outdoor Book Award in Outdoor Literature * Winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction * Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, Air Mail, Smithsonian Magazine, and Financial Times

“A triumph. Fedarko doesn’t describe awe; he induces it.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Passionate…memorable…life-affirming.” —The Wall Street Journal

This New York Times bestseller from the author of The Emerald Mile is a rollicking and poignant account of an epic 750-mile odyssey, on foot, through the heart of the Grand Canyon.

Two friends, zero preparation, one dream. A few years after quitting his job to pursue an ill-advised dream of becoming a whitewater guide on the Colorado River, Kevin Fedarko was approached by his best friend, National Geographic photographer Pete McBride, with a vision as bold as it was harebrained. Together, they would embark on an end-to-end traverse of the Grand Canyon—a journey that, McBride promised, would be “a walk in the park.” Against his better judgment, Fedarko agreed, unaware that the small cluster of experts who had actually completed the crossing billed it as “the toughest hike in the world.”

The ensuing ordeal, which lasted more than a year, revealed a place that was deeper, richer, and far more complex than anything the two men had imagined—and came within a hair’s breadth of killing them both. They struggled to make their way through the all-but impenetrable reaches of the canyon’s truest wilderness, a vertical labyrinth of thousand-foot cliffs and crumbling ledges where water is measured out by the teaspoon and every step is fraught with peril—and where, even today, there is still no trail spanning the length of the country’s best-known and most iconic landmark.

Along the way, veteran long-distance hikers ushered them into secret pockets of enchantment, invisible to the millions of tourists gathered on the rim, that only a handful of humans have ever seen. Members of the canyon’s eleven Native American tribes brought them face-to-face with layers of history that forced them to reconsider myths at the very center of our national parks—and exposed them to the threats of commercial tourism. Even Fedarko’s dying father, who had first pointed him toward the chasm more than forty years earlier but had never set foot there himself, opened him to a new way of seeing the landscape.

And always, there was the great gorge itself: austere and unforgiving, yet suffused with magic, drenched in wonder, and redeemed by its own transcendent beauty. A singular portrait of a sublime place, A Walk in the Park is a deeply moving plea for the preservation of America’s greatest natural treasure.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Listeners can sense the excitement, awe, and frustration in the author’s chronicle of his “walk” through the Grand Canyon. Kevin Fedarko does double duty as author and narrator, and his narration adds notes of authenticity to the production. His voice is clear and pleasant, and he changes things up to fit particular passages. For instance, he increases his pace slightly as he recounts navigating the Colorado River in a raft. And he slows it down during poetic descriptions of his surroundings. He gets louder to express experts’ incredulity at his plan to navigate the canyon on foot without years of training. And he grows quieter in describing Native Americans’ spiritual ties to the canyon. The audiobook is part travelogue, part history, part autobiography—and wholly enjoyable."

Enraptured from start to finish

This is a narrative that hooks the reader from the get-go & doesn’t let go until the last word. I was mesmerized throughout the time I climbed into my virtual hiking boots, donned my virtual backpack & trudged alongside the author & his band of cohorts through the magic & majesty of the Grand Canyon & into the Colorado for some rafting/boating adventures. Fedarko weaves a beautiful and, at times, hilarious tale of hardships, adventures and an accurate history of the land and the original inhabitants whose ancestral claims to the land were thieved mercilessly by the U.S. government and other usurpers for shameful greed & gain.
This is a book that needs to be in every historical curriculum in high schools across this country. For sure, no one would sleep through that class!

A grand adventure

I was so excited to see this book had finally been published! I read the National Geographic articles about their trek back in 2016. I have hiked to the river and back multiple times over the years on some of the less crowded trails and the Escalante route. The author’s vivid descriptions take me back to this incredible place and help me picture what it would be like to go off trail. He weaves in the geology, human history and modern politics of the canyon to an incredible adventure story. His self-deprecating humor and appreciation of the experienced hikers who made the trek possible are best narrated in his own voice. Makes me so stoked to be going back this fall on a thru hike of the AZT!

Inspiring

The author’s reverence for wild places and for the indigenous people who preceded us. Awesome story and great narration!

More than walk

An author that cares and can convey that to the reader and listener. A great work.

Great Listen

What a pleasure, a fine and informative tale well told, enjoy. .. .. .. ..