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February 18, 2009

"Grand Obsession: Harvey Butchart and the Exploration of Grand Canyon"

by Author and Photographer Elias Butler

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.


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.

 

This 1-1.5 hour presentation will include many photographs, stories, and video and audio. Signed books will be available for sale.

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