Western United States - Travel Essays & Descriptions, Kayaking & Rafting - General & Miscellaneous, Colorado - Travel, Mexico - Travel

River

Name: River
Author: Colin Fletcher
ISBN: 9780394574219

by Colin Fletcher

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Overview

From its Green River source in Wyoming to its black conclusion in Mexico's Gulf of California, the 1,700-mile Colorado is America's second-longest river and the one with the most beautiful vistas. For Fletcher this was an opportunity to perform aesthetic and emotional geology on the landscape (and on himself), and to treat the reader to a host of dramatic, moving and hilarious experiences. We see sandhill cranes and great blue herons; we experience many miles of whitewater challenges that stretch Fletcher's rafting capabilities to the limit; we float through stupendous canyons and open desert, pass mountains and abandoned villages; we flyfish for rainbow trout. We meet the people who live along the river, other adventurers, tourists. We wake up every morning to fresh views and the rewards of wilderness solitude. And finally we come to know this feisty curmudgeon who in his late sixties achieved the journey of a lifetime.

The backpacking guru and consummate observer of nature whose previous treks through the American West are recounted in The Man Who Walked Through Time and The Thousand-Mile Summer--now takes readers on a 1,700-mile, six-month journey down the entire length of America's second longest river, the Colorado. 41 photos. 15 maps.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly - Cahners\\Publishers_Weekly

An incredible journey does not necessarily translate into an incredible read, as Fletcher's new book illustrates. The respected 74-year-old author (The Thousand Mile Summer and The Complete Walker) tackled 1700 miles of the Colorado River by raft and on foot, but his language doesn't match the grandeur of the journey. More than half of the book is not about the Colorado River at all, but about a tributary, the Green, where Fletcher begins his trip. Another difficulty is that he tries to combine an adventure narrative-the story of a man and a river over a period of six months-with a memoir. Although such a parallel construction is not impossible (for example, as in Doug Peacock's Grizzly Years, 1991), it requires a considerable amount of discipline and craft to achieve. The autobiography that Fletcher attempts is fascinating-the story of a man psychologically wounded during World War II who seeks lifelong refuge in nature and on solitary wilderness trips-but many of the passages read like hurried journal entries. Only in a few places does the prose shine with that old Fletcher radiance, as when the author describes his raft plunging through the dangerous rapids of the Grand Canyon. Still, although this uneven effort doesn't hold up to Fletcher's own earlier masterpiece on the Grand Canyon, The Man Who Walked Through Time (1968), it is a disappointment well worth pondering. Fletcher's journey is about making peace. In the end, as he rides out into the Gulf of California ("our salt-sea mother"), he concludes, "If that's how dying was-well, all right."

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

An incredible journey does not necessarily translate into an incredible read, as Fletcher's new book illustrates. The respected 74-year-old author (The Thousand Mile Summer and The Complete Walker) tackled 1700 miles of the Colorado River by raft and on foot, but his language doesn't match the grandeur of the journey. More than half of the book is not about the Colorado River at all, but about a tributary, the Green, where Fletcher begins his trip. Another difficulty is that he tries to combine an adventure narrativethe story of a man and a river over a period of six monthswith a memoir. Although such a parallel construction is not impossible (for example, as in Doug Peacock's Grizzly Years, 1991), it requires a considerable amount of discipline and craft to achieve. The autobiography that Fletcher attempts is fascinatingthe story of a man psychologically wounded during World War II who seeks lifelong refuge in nature and on solitary wilderness tripsbut many of the passages read like hurried journal entries. Only in a few places does the prose shine with that old Fletcher radiance, as when the author describes his raft plunging through the dangerous rapids of the Grand Canyon. Still, although this uneven effort doesn't hold up to Fletcher's own earlier masterpiece on the Grand Canyon, The Man Who Walked Through Time (1968), it is a disappointment well worth pondering. Fletcher's journey is about making peace. In the end, as he rides out into the Gulf of California ("our salt-sea mother"), he concludes, "If that's how dying waswell, all right." Photos and maps. (Apr.)

Library Journal

Solo backpacking legend Fletcher's newest book will likely strike a chord with his many fans, including a generation who grew up reading his classicsThe Complete Walker (LJ 10/15/68), The Man Who Walked Through Time (LJ 2/15/68), and The Thousand-Mile Summer (Random, 1989). Here, the aging-yet-spry Fletcher recounts his attempt to traverse the Colorado River from its source in the mountains of Wyoming to the Gulf of California. Traveling by raft when possible and backpacking the nonnavigable stretches, he embraced six months of solitude in spectacular scenery and gained an appreciation of the river. The reclusive author also offers some personal history and reflections on topics ranging from religion to evironmentalism. Expect strong demand, especially among public and environmental collections. [A BOMC selection.]Tim J. Markus, Evergreen State Coll. Lib., Olympia, Wash.