The Grand
Canyon remained one of the last unexplored wildernesses in the
mid-20th century West. Enter math professor John Harvey
Butchart (1907-2002).
In 1945, Butchart moved his
family to Flagstaff, Arizona to take a job at Arizona State College
(now Northern Arizona University). Following a routine tour bus stop
at the South Rim, Butchart found his life’s great purpose: to plunge
into the Canyon and decipher its mysteries, rediscover the spider
web of prehistoric Indian routes crisscrossing the gorge, climb its
peaks and buttes, and record his findings for those who would
follow. Obsessed and physically gifted, Butchart led the way by
walking over more of Grand Canyon than anyone else has, living or
dead.
Harvey Butchart at Grand Canyon by
Walter Maeyers Edwards, 1968
In his 1,000 days of hiking and
exploration of the Grand Canyon, Butchart covered 12,000 miles on
foot, found 108 approaches to the Colorado River from the rims, and
climbed 83 summits. He also became the first man to walk across
Grand Canyon National Park, doing so just ahead of writer Colin
Fletcher in 1963 (Fletcher famously documented his relationship with
Butchart in the book The Man Who Walked Through Time).
Butchart carefully documented all of these explorations in logbooks,
which led to the first Grand Canyon backcountry guidebooks, Grand
Canyon Treks I, II, and III. The Arizona Board of Names in 2008
designated a rocky summit in Grand Canyon National Park "Butchart
Butte" in honor of Harvey Butchart.
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Harvey Butchart in Grand
Canyon
by George Billingsley, 1968 |
Grand Obsession:
Harvey Butchart and the Exploration of Grand Canyon
is the result of collaboration between Tom Myers (co-author
of the national park best-seller Over the Edge: Death in
Grand Canyon) and Elias Butler (a professional writer
and photographer). Grand Obsession was named a winner
of a 2008 National Outdoor Book Award, and a 2008
Independent Publishers Book Award.
Here for the first time, after
15 years of research, is Harvey’s life story: his years as a
fatherless child in the mountains of China, his struggles in
America during the Great Depression, and, finally, his
all-consuming drive for greatness by exploring the last
major unknown wilderness in the American West. Lace up your
boots and follow along as the authors retrace Harvey’s
footsteps on dangerous cliff edges while chronicling his
thrilling exploits, heart-breaking tragedies, and lasting
triumphs. Part biography, part modern-day adventure,
Grand Obsession will take you deeper into the soul of
this fascinating man–and Grand Canyon–than you imagined
possible.
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This 1-1.5 hour presentation
will include many photographs, stories, and video and audio. Signed
books will be available for sale.
