The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon

One of the best books I've ever read. So well written and easy to read. This is a must read for anyone doing, or is about to do the Grand Canyon in a Raft. What a story and friggin amazing and Brave river guides and river runners in an amazing place.

I have hiked to Phantom Ranch twice, and never realized there was someone to thank for the opportunity to even get the chance to do so. The Colorado River could be one great big lake, but it is not! Hiking that small part of the Canyon is next to the greatest religious experience one can have. I can't imagine those brave individuals who first ran the Colorado River not knowing what challenges were ahead, to those 3 young men seeking the greatest challenge in the Summer of 1984. The life of the Dory river runners is incredible, and those who went with them were crazy! Just WOW! Tons of history woven into an amazing story. I learned a lot, and now I only hope the Emerald Mile is still in the rafters for me to find on my next trip to the Canyon.This is one of the best books I have read, which include Into Thin Air, The Last Season, and Into the Wild.I'm keeping the Emerald Mile on my bookshelf!

Let me count the ways I love this book! Lol, just kidding (barely). Okay. Specifically, this book is about the 1983 flood that washed down the Colorado Basin into Lake Powell, forcing a massive, unprecedented flood down the Colorado River and through Grand Canyon. The flood caused two states of crises for two groups of people fundamentally at odds with each other - the engineers at Glen Canyon Dam and the river runners in the Grand Canyon. On the engineering side, the rapid and uncontrolled rise of Lake Powell put the Dam at risk of catastrophic failure. When all was said and done, the pent-up fury of the Colorado wreaked havoc on the dam to the tune of $32 million. Downstream of the Dam, the massive amount of discharge presented the opportunity for a trio of the best river runners the Canyon had seen to not only set the speed record, but to run the river as Powell had - unfettered, wild and free.More broadly, this book encompasses such a wide range of topics that I don't know if I have ever read another book quite like it. It begins with the white man's first recorded discovery of the Canyon by Cardenas, who had deemed it to be "of no economic value." It then takes us through Powell's wild ride, the creation of the Bureau of Reclamation, the wild, strange, and marvelous moods of the river itself, the heyday of hydroelectric power in the West and the history and mechanics of dam construction (if you think that learning about the inner workings of the Glen Canyon Dam could not possibly be engrossing or easy to understand, think again! Fedarko is really that good).It covers the beginnings of the Sierra Club and how they went from a group of "weekend picnickers" to the environmental powerhouse we know it as today. The book covers it's role in the loss of Glen Canyon and their first major victory in the prevention of two more dams literally in Grand Canyon.It covers the rise and heyday in river running through the Canyon, the only company to develop the operation of a dory into truly a work of art, the clash between wood boats and rubber boats, oar power and motors.By the way, if you are looking for a female figure in this book, look no further than Georgie White. She was the only woman to head up her own outfit. She ran the biggest motorized monstrosity in the Canyon, a 50 foot long pontoon boat made out of, like, giant industrial truck tires, hired a squadron of LA firefighters as her guides, and floated the river in a leopard print swimsuit with a tail on it and a can of Coors in hand, because hell yes she did!In sum, this book covers the lives of characters who float in and drift out of the river's current. It is a love letter to the Colorado itself. No one singular event defines it. The flow of the book, in the beginning, had me asking, "Why is this important? Why am I reading this?" But as the book went on, and the characters and events flowed together into a culmination of this massive event, I realized that every seeming 'side story' was important to the whole. Particularly, I greatly appreciate the author's willingness and ability to explore so thoroughly the lives of the people fighting to save the dam and his discussion of what the dam and river means to them. His views are fair, nuanced, not preachy, and you are left to form your own opinions. He takes you through the visceral love that the river runners possess for this space deep inside the earth and their willingness to give their entire beings over to it.And, lest I lose the point, if you find the beginning to be slow, just power through it. I promise, the adventure of the second half is worth it. A word of caution - the adventure would not be what it is without the rolling history of the river itself, so skip any part of this book at your own peril.History, travel, technology, adventure, passion, and heartbreak reside here. Don't think about reading it - just read it.

From beginning to the end a gripping read. Having recently visiting the area including Page, the GC and surrounding areas the book came to life. The historical background was great.

Thanks Mr. Fedarko for capturing this true story, I gifted it to many other outdoor adventuring friends.

With a few hiccups, this was a very good and enjoyable read, eventually becoming a page-turner.You get, ultimately, the story of the three rivermen and a dory that ride the crest of the flood release from Glen Canyon in 1983. But you also get a great deal of context: of the Colorado River, the Colorado basin, the people who live on the river in the Grand Canyon, the (dam!) people of the Bureau of Reclamation and, to a lesser extent, the ranger staff in the park. Primarily, though, the narrative resides with the river folk, the bureau folk, and a small boat.The writer does a great job of bringing the characters - human and otherwise - to life on the page. The dory, Emerald Mile", for example, has more lives than a street cat and this story captures that loyalty to re-build her (over and over again) very well.The people of the Bureau aren't demonized; the author spends many pages introducing the reader to some of the main players at the bureau who dealt with the '83 flood and gives a good grounding in what transpires over that fateful Spring.The riverfolk -- really only men inhabit the main stories -- are captured very well and given life on the page and the reader gets a very good sense of who they were and what drove them.The Colorado River with its many features and, above it, the Grand Canyon, were, I thought, captured quite well. Let's say, instead, they were captured well enough. But this is primarily a story of people and a small boat and that's where the narrative focused. Very successfully.I was reminded, while scanning some other reviews, that the author is adept at very descriptive prose and the writing, at times, does become very poetic. Which is a good thing.It is a fine complementary read to other books about the Southwest, dams, rivers, and water.I highly recommend it.The hiccups:1. On a few occasions, the author will spend way too much time, it seemed to me, on setting context to motivate what ends up to be a very short passage in the book.2. In the epilogue, the author gets into philosophizing about American patriotism and likens the dam-controlled Colorado and the Glen Canyon dam as some kind of Yin/Yang analogy of what America is. It didn't work for me - at all - and fortunately didn't last long.3. Sometimes it seems the author puts words in the mouths or thoughts in the heads, of the characters in a way that seemed false and done simply for narrative effect which resulted in passages becoming, to my mind, historical fiction. For example, when one of the Bureau's "head office" guys sees first hand what is coming out of the spillway at Glen Canyon and says (paraphrasing) "Jiminy Cricket", which really meant "Holy Mother of God." It happened often enough that it was distracting.I am a Canadian white water kayaker, who has travelled & hiked all around the canyon lands, hiked down Bright Angel to the river, missed a chance to kayak the canyon (Doh!), and has read a few books about the deserts, the rivers, the dams.

IT also delved into the history of shooting the Colorado River

Just finished it and I am exhausted - what a beautifully crafted story. It took me a while to understand the author was painting a broad picture of the background leading up to the main event, and after my initial impatience to get to the adventure, began to really enjoy the detail of the lead up to the speed run. The unprecedented weather, the inner workings of a dam, and how threatening it was to downstream USA. But the author truly loves the Canyon and manages to invoke the magic and captivating essence of that wondrous place, something only a boatman with many years of living in it can do. Beautiful writing, simply beautiful. I reread some passages just to revel in the prose. Especially some of the descriptions of the river and its currents, eddies and rapids. Lots of analogies and philosophising that long nights gazing at the night sky from the bottom of the Canyon leads too. I have been hugely privileged enough to do the trip 3 times in my life as a passenger on the big rigs, so it brought me right back there. A wonderful, satisfying read, and a great job in getting this tale of camaraderie, adventure and courage - beauty and the river culture down on paper in such a though well researched way. Brilliant!

The author personally knew most of the "characters" that appear in this well researched, beautifully written, appropriately humorous expose on all things Grand Canyon. From dam technology and politics, to wooden dory building, to reading rapids - you name it - all tied together and culminating in the most amazing feat by an unlikely crew of 3 fascinating and very different individuals. A great read.

Since I ran the Grand Canyon last winter I have been unable to think about much else , a truly life altering experience. The attraction of this book was based on my experience and the idea of running it at that kind of water level. It was a pleasent surprise to find it so well written with a great history of the dories and the evolution of the guiding culture in the Grand Canyon. It was such a great read almost whimsical at times in it's approach to this great story. If you have ever been there or are considering going there. Or if you just like a well written adventure story , buy this book.

Well written and researched, this book is a white-water thrill of a ride.