The Emerald Mile, Kevin Fedarko
The Emerald Mile, Kevin Fedarko
8 Rating(s)
List: $29.99 | Sale: $21.00
Club: $14.99

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

Author: Kevin Fedarko

Narrator: Kevin Fedarko

Unabridged: 17 hr 40 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/28/2024


Synopsis

From one of Outside magazine’s “Literary All-Stars” comes the thrilling true tale of the fastest boat ride ever through the Grand Canyon, atop the legendary Colorado River flood of 1983.

In the spring of 1983, massive flooding along the length of the Colorado River confronted a team of engineers at the Glen Canyon Dam with an unprecedented emergency that may have resulted in the most catastrophic dam failure in history. In the midst of this crisis, the decision to launch a small wooden dory named “The Emerald Mile” at the head of the Grand Canyon, just fifteen miles downstream from the Glen Canyon Dam, seemed not just odd, but downright suicidal.

The Emerald Mile, at one time slated to be destroyed, was rescued and brought back to life by Kenton Grua, the man at the oars, who intended to use this flood as a kind of hydraulic sling-shot. The goal was to nail the all-time record for the fastest boat ever propelled—by oar, by motor, or by the grace of God himself—through the heart of the Grand Canyon atop the Colorado River from Lee’s Ferry to Lake Mead. Did he survive? Just barely. Now, this remarkable, epic feat unfolds here, in The Emerald Mile.

About Kevin Fedarko

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 GeographicThe New York Times, and Esquire, among other publications. He is the author of The Emerald MileThe Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon, which won the Reading the West Book Award, and A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon, which won the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. Both books were also New York Times bestsellers and winners of a National Outdoor Book Award. Fedarko lives in Flagstaff, Arizona.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Sharon on October 07, 2024

My favorite quote about reading is from Kevin Ansbro: A book should grab you by the lapels and kiss you into tomorrow. The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon did just that and then some! June 25, 1983. "The biggest flood in a generation t......more

Goodreads review by Daniel on December 07, 2020

This is terrific narrative nonfiction. One of the best I've seen lately.......more

Goodreads review by Casey on May 06, 2014

Ok, if you have an issue with whitewater, don't read this before going on a Colorado River trip. Granted, the waters were coming out of the dam at 94,000 cfs rather than 6-8,000 cfs but can't you drown in a bathtub? Other than scaring the shit out of me before my Grand Canyon trip, it is a great his......more

Goodreads review by Jake on June 16, 2013

Unlike the record-chasing canyon run recounted in The Emerald Mile, I did not race through this work. That is not to say it dragged. The book was engrossing and often quite intense. Author Kevin Fedarko captures the high stakes nature of this historic time in the Grand Canyon's history. He ably pull......more

Goodreads review by Annk on October 28, 2020

This is a great story interrupted for most of the book by endless meandering. The author violates the Chekhov rule (if you put a gun on the mantelpiece, it should go off by the second act) vs giving us the action (or at least a summary of it) before launching into the back story. He also really need......more