Grand Obsession: Harvey Butchart and the Exploration of Grand Canyon

Winner of a 2008 National Outdoor Book Award, a 2008 Independent Publisher Book Award (IPPY), and named a Book of the Year by the Pima County Library, "Grand Obsession" continues to gather recognition for its striking portrayal of a man who felt compelled to do what no one had dared attempt in modern times: explore the deepest, most inhospitable reaches of the Grand Canyon, crown jewel of America's national parks - something which took decades to achieve and exacted a great personal cost.

Writers Elias Butler and Thomas M. Myers (co-author of the book "Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon") poured 15 years of research into this book. Legendary Grand Canyoneer Harvey Butchart climbed, hiked, floated and bushwhacked 12,000 pioneering miles below the rim during a 42-year obsession with the world-famous gorge. He became the first man to walk across Grand Canyon National Park, doing so in 1963 just ahead of writer Colin Fletcher, who famously described Butchart in his classic adventure book "The Man Who Walked Through Time."

Here for the first time is Harvey's life story: his early years as a fatherless child in a mystical, rugged mountain range in China, his struggles in America during the Great Depression, and finally, his all-consuming drive for greatness by exploring one of the West's last unknown wildernesses. Butchart's accomplishments found favor with the public, but also led to the death of his favorite hiking partner and took a decades-long toll on his marriage.

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 have ever been before.

Contains over 170 photographs, many never-before-published, and Harvey Butchart's hand-stenciled maps showing his treks in Grand Canyon. The paperback edition contains black-and-white maps, the hardback edition contains color maps.

Butchart's feats continue to receive recognition, most recently by the Arizona State Board of Names, which in 2008 designated a rocky summit "Butchart Butte" within Grand Canyon National Park.

Elias Butler is a writer and photographer living in Flagstaff, Arizona. Butler has written for Backpacker, National Geographic Adventure, The Fretboard Journal, the Las Vegas-Review Journal and the Arizona Daily Sun. Butler's photography has been published in USA Today, Reader's Digest, Arizona Highways, and Backpacker . This is his first book.

At age 19, Tom Myers began celebrating the dawning of each new year by hiking in the Grand Canyon. It is a tradition he and his wife continue to share with their three children. He has co-authored two previous Canyon books, Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon (with Michael Ghiglieri) and Fateful Journey (with Larry Stevens and Chris Becker).