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Sign up todayA Walk in the Park
Narrator
Kevin Fedarko
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Length
14 hours 40 minutes
Language
English
Bookseller recommendation
“The lifelong obsession of the Grand Canyon led to Kevin Fedarko’s memoir. It is about him and his bestfriend Pete McBride’s journey along the length ofthe Grand Canyon, a 750 mile path. This was a grand adventure of survival. They had limited access to water and no through trail. They were very unprepared with little hiking experience and they faced excruciating physical hardships. There was never a dull moment. I learned so much about the Grand Canyon. I especially enjoyed the historical and archaeological aspects about the canyon and the indigenous people. The descriptions of the canyon’s beauty, plants and sounds were epic. The author was quite funny at times. Very inspiring, it definitely deserves 5 stars. ”
— Sandra • Underground Books
Bookseller recommendation
“Read by the author, Kevin, this book is full of adventure and humanity, humility and history.”
— Jennifer • Between the Covers
Bookseller recommendation
“This story of Fedarko's and McBride's multiple attempts at the canyon that 'will kill you', as people like to say, is like sitting down in camp after a long day hiking, or on the river, and listening to one of the best raconteurs ever. Fedarko just writes that way....like you could be right next to him while he tells you about his bleeding feet that he decided duct-tape would be a good fix for, or the searing heat, or hiking in and out of the hundreds of side canyons that made their hike at least twice as many miles as the river's path. All of it...his descriptions of the flora, the sandstone ledges, the shale poking through his deflated air mattress into his back, hiking until he throws up...you're right there for it. Kenton Grua, from Fedarko's debut book The Emerald Mile, shows up in this book too, as his barefoot through-hike of the Grand Canyon was the inspiration for Fedarko's & McBride's endeavour. Put this on your reading list for spring. You won't be disappointed. If you are inspired to hike the canyon though, please do your homework first. Lots of it!”
— Marya • Out West Books
Bookseller recommendation
“A truly lovely, nearly spiritual, account of two men’s trek through one of the most recognizable, yet strangely alien, landscapes on Earth. The reverence Fedarko holds for human connectivity is evident in every page, and the canyon itself is not only the dominant presence in the narrative, but also the vehicle the author uses to encourage deeper thought about the human condition. Written with staggering empathy and gorgeous prose, A Walk in the Park will leave its reader breathless with wonder. As an audio production, Kevin Fedarko is a gifted reader who takes his audience with him on the ups and down of the canyon walls, and whose narration style fits the story he wrote magnificently.”
— Jenna • Off the Beaten Path
Bookseller recommendation
“Wow, buckle up for a wild adventure in the Grand Canyon! Chapter one grabs you right away, and your throat will feel parched through the entire audiobook. From hours spent capturing water with a syringe to the enthralling history of the Indigenous People, A Walk in the Park will keep your interest .... and emotions at high alert the entire time. ”
— Sara • Roundabout Books
Bookseller recommendation
“A beautifully written, at times hilarious tale of two friends’ 750-mile thru-hike of the Grand Canyon. Their year-long adventure unveils the canyon's hidden depths, perilous terrain, and rich history. This is both a tribute to the canyon's transcendent beauty and a call to protect it from commercial threats. ”
— Erica • Author's Note
Winner of the 2024 National Outdoor Book Award in Outdoor Literature
Shortlisted for the 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction
“A triumph. Fedarko doesn’t describe awe; he induces it.” —The New York Times Book Review * “Passionate…memorable…life-affirming.” —The Wall Street Journal
From the author of the beloved bestseller The Emerald Mile, a rollicking and poignant account of an epic 750-mile odyssey, on foot, through the heart of America’s most magnificent national park and the grandest wilderness on earth.
Two friends, zero preparation, one dream. A few years after quitting his job to follow an ill-advised dream of becoming a 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 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 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 along the length of the country’s best-known and most iconic park.
Along the way, veteran long-distance hikers ushered them into secret pockets, invisible to the millions of tourists gathered on the rim, where only a handful of humans have ever laid eyes. 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 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 canyon 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 but 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.
Kevin Fedarko has spent the past twenty years writing about conservation, exploration, and the Grand Canyon. He has been a staff writer at Time, where he worked primarily on the foreign affairs desk, and a senior editor at Outside, where he covered outdoor adventure. His writing has appeared in National Geographic, The New York Times, and Esquire, among other publications. His first book, The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon, which won a National Outdoor Book Award and the Reading the West Book Award, was a New York Times bestseller. He lives in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Kevin Fedarko has spent the past twenty years writing about conservation, exploration, and the Grand Canyon. He has been a staff writer at Time, where he worked primarily on the foreign affairs desk, and a senior editor at Outside, where he covered outdoor adventure. His writing has appeared in National Geographic, The New York Times, and Esquire, among other publications. His first book, The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon, which won a National Outdoor Book Award and the Reading the West Book Award, was a New York Times bestseller. He lives in Flagstaff, Arizona.
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