Colin Fletcher (1)Rezensionen

Alone on a raft on the Colorado. Six months on the river of the west.

I read this in the mid-70s. It forever changed the way I look at the wilderness and how to move in it. Outdated as far as gear and tech., but the "Joys" of hiking and backpacking will never age.

Another book about and adventure I'd never want to try, but one that was fun to read about.

Interesting account of a man's hike through the Grand Canyon. Quite an ordeal. He also talks about the wreckage of the airline that crashed there in the fifties.

Lots of great insider advice from two experienced hikers/backpackers. Thick book, covers a lot of ground.

When I first read this book I thought it was wonderful and potentially life-changing. But that was fifty years ago; I've gone elsewhere in the intervening half-century.

Fletcher's book is more about his mental journey than the hike. I'm pretty sure there are more pages devoted to his rest days than to the actual walk, though I've no intention of checking that statement. What is certainly true is that his mental state is often his actual subject; he's not so much communing with nature as he's contemplating the meaning of life. Or lives, I suppose; he's often musing about the differences between everyday life outside the canyon with his in-the-canyon freedom from that life.

A good book, still, and an interesting account of a journey. But I liked it better in 1970, when I was a youngster in an army uniform, stationed on Mount Tamalpias north of San Francisco.½

Before Cheryl Strayed wrote Wild and her book was made into the movie of the same title, was Colin Fletcher. There wasn't even a Pacific Crest Trail yet. Thus, in an era when backpacking gear was primitive, Fletcher put on his pack and walked the length of California -- south to north. His experiences of places, people and inner thoughts is worth the read.

Over a two-month period in 1963, Colin Fletcher became the first man to walk the length of Grand Canyon National Park below the rim of the canyon. Before his trip, no one was even sure whether a passable route existed through the whole canyon. In this book, he talks about his experience, how he accomplished his goal, and what he learned before, during, and after his trip.

I was really excited to read about this book when I first found it since I love nature and would love to have had this kind of experience; however, the book didn’t live up to my expectations for some reason. There was a lot of technical explanation and geographical descriptions that I didn’t really understand. I also think that the impression this kind of experience makes on a person isn’t something that can easily be put into words, so that may have been a reason the book fell flat for me. I did really like his explanation of how geographical time works on a completely different scale than human time. The idea that humans have existed for such a small part of the universe’s life is something that I’ve been running into a lot lately, and the Grand Canyon is just another example of the billions of years it takes for really significant natural changes to occur.

I thought I'd like this and at the very beginning, I did. But really, although the author did something pretty cool, it wasn't overly daunting. There was not the amount of danger you come across in some other extreme nature challenges (or if there was, he didn't clearly give that impression. And really, it wasn't a book so much about the canyon, but about Colin Fletcher's own quest...and he annoyed me a little.

He went into so much detail about what he was carrying and little things he saw - he went into detail about how annoyed he was when he saw signs of man in the canyon at times, but he doesn't go into detail about what happened to all the trash he generated from supplies grabbed at arranged air drops. And there's no way he was carrying it out.

Beyond that, there was just a tone that ended up grating against my nerves. I could imagine he wouldn't be the best travel companion. I'd take Bill Bryson over this any day for the humor, or other more serious travel adventure for the level of talent in the writing and the lack of egotism.

covers everything, explains gear choices and usage.

The Complete Walker IV is touted, right on its own cover, as "the Hiker's Bible." While this trope is frequently bandied about, it is well earned in this case. This book really is the definitive volume on hiking, and it should be on the book case of anyone interested in it.

In this fourth edition, long time author Colin Fletcher takes on a co-author, Chip Rawlins. Chip (in the book, they use their first names, and so I will follow suit here) tends to discuss modern equipment, and both talk about technique, practice and the very nature of the activity. My use of the term "talk" is quite deliberate. The book is setup as a conversation, with each taking turns discussing the topic at hand. One really feels that you are at a local mountain shop, listening to the old hands discuss hiking and gear. Not only is it endlessly informative, but it is also really entertaining.

Much of the book is made up of discussion and review of equipment options. While this part of the book is rather dated (a lot has happened in the world of hiking gear since 2002), the section is by no means unhelpful. Rather than simply picking models and reviewing them, Colin and Chip discuss the theory behind the products - what they are meant to do and how new technology helps achieve those goals. While you may not turn to them for a tent recommendation, you should turn to them before looking for a new tent. They arm the reader with the right questions, the right set of standards for judging new equipment.

One weakness of the conversational format is that they do occasionally stray into some rather weak defenses of their way of thinking about hiking (e.g., Colin's opposition to hiking guidebooks). In the text, Colin especially, explicitly points out that he does not have an argument, and that he has heard from thoughtful critics of his views. Yet, the case he wants to make in these instances remains substantially underdeveloped, and are, as a result, rather forgettable asides.

Despite this complaint, this is a book that should be in every hiker's library. It provides you with an excellent introduction to the theory of gear selection, it provides you with some tips and instruction, it provides you with ample discussion of the value of hiking, and best of all, it is overflowing with the love of walking and the outdoors that drives us. Highly recommended.

A great look at some on who spent a life walking while considering philosophy, history, and methodologies.One of my favorite saying from Colin is: Hell is where the police are Italian, the politicians are French and the cooks are English......

A great look at some on who spent a life walking while considering philosophy, history, and methodologies.One of my favorite saying from Colin is: Hell is where the police are Italian, the politicians are French and the cooks are English......

Colin Fletcher's account of walking the length of the Grand Canyon (or at least that part of it that lies in the National Park) is less about the physical details of his journey and more about his quest for a change of perspective among the Canyon's solitude, and in particular his attempt to understand, fully and viscerally, the immense age of the Canyon's rocks. At times his philosophical musings may seem a bit repetitive or unoriginal, but they are appealingly honest and, I believe, quite valid. And some passages are highly evocative, vividly painting a mental picture of the vast evolutionary web of life, or recalling strongly to my mind the sensations and emotions of my own, infinitely less ambitious, desert hiking experiences.

One thing that is a bit disappointing, though, is the lack of pictures. Fletcher correctly points out that relying only on sight gives one a woefully incomplete feel for a landscape like the Grand Canyon's, and that taking pictures can be a bad distraction from actually living your experiences. But he does mention taking photos during the course of his trip, so the reason why they fail to appear in this 1967 paperback is almost certainly economic rather than philosophical. And it's a shame, as I think they would have helped to enhance the reader's sense of making that journey with him.½

Reading this one a little at a time & almost done with it now. Many surprisingly beautiful passages for a reference book about hiking. Example: the description of the author's experience of very briefly feeling empathy for a snake because he witnesses it yawning & napping.

In this book, Fletcher's attitude is a little different. In his "Complete walker, and his book on hiking the grand Canyon, he hiked to see the wild places all through the hike. In this book, Fletcher mor often has a destination and wants to appreciate the wildness of the destination. This is different than apreciating the entire hike equally. Fletcher now wants to stay in the wild place, not to keep hiking to check out what is around the bend. Hiking is now a tool. In "The Complete Walker" hiking was more the goal, not the tool to the goal.

The stories are as usual, great.

The Man Who Walked Through Time is about Colin Fletcher's 1963 solo backpacking trip through the Grand Canyon, it is considered a classic of Outdoor Literature ranked #45 in National Geographic's 100 Best Adventure Books. It was first published in January 1968, almost exactly 40 years from the date of this review - the author was 41 when he took the trip, I am 41, and Fletcher emerged from the trip declaring "life begins at 40", adding the journey had offered him the "key to contentment." Like Dante's descent into the Inferno in media res (age 40), Fletcher descended into the Abyss of the Canyon and emerged a spiritually changed man, changing the landscape of outdoor recreation with him.

Colin Fletcher (1922-2007) was a Welshman and WWII vet who moved to California in the 1950s. An avid backpacker, he is best known for The Complete Walker I-IV (1968-2001), which for a generation or two has been the singular bible of backpacking - "Colin was sort of the founding father of modern backpacking, the first person to write about going out for an extended period and being self-sufficient." (Annette McGivney, editor of Backpacker Magazine). In 1968, the same year he published the first edition of The Complete Walker, he also published The Man Who Walked Through Time, recounting a 1963 trip in which he was the first person to walk the length of Grand Canyon National Park 'in one go' (second to complete the whole journey). More than an adventure journal, it inspired a generation to take up (create) the backpacking lifestyle as a way to fill a spiritual void and escape the confusion and chaos of Vietnam-era America. As Backpacker Magazine contributing editor Buck Tilton recalls "After Vietnam, I was trying to figure out what to do with my life. So many of my friends had died from bullet holes. I read The Man Who Walked Through Time, and it was the only thing that made sense to me. Fletcher's words gave meaning to backpacking. I loaded my pack exactly the way Fletcher did and carried a walking stick like his. He was my hero."

Fletcher wrote about what he saw in day to day events, none are death defying or edge of the seat, what set it apart was Fletcher's inner journey of discovery as a metaphor of the vast expanse of time in the geology of the Grand Canyon. "I saw that by going down into that huge fissure in the face of the earth, deep into the space and the silence and the solitude, I might come as close as we can at present to moving back and down through the smooth and apparently impenetrable face of time." Fletcher found peace and solitude in removing himself from the "piercing arrows" of the modern world.

The Man Who Walked Through Time is essentially a Romantic work in the tradition of Robert Louis Stevenson's Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes (1879), highly influential with an earlier generation of bohemians (Stevenson invented and describes the first sleep bag in outdoor literature). Fletcher re-fashioned his account for a new generation of drop-outs who wanted to find inner solitude and discovery in the outdoors. I see in Fletcher a sort of proto-hippy, he shed his clothing and walked bare naked with a bamboo cane, floppy hat and scraggly beard. He ate pemmican and lamented the loss of the martial spirit of the natives. He found value in nature and disparaged the dam builders who would destroy it. He was a key element in the burgeoning environmental movement - The Man Who Walked Through Time will be "forever" a permanent mark in time of a movement and a generation. In February 2008, almost exactly 40 years from the books publication, the National Academy of Sciences published a report saying "Camping, fishing and per capita visits to parks are all declining in a shift away from nature-based recreation.. the replacement of vigorous outdoor activities by sedentary, indoor videophilia." The times are changing and 40 years ago today seems about 180 degrees in difference. Perhaps by 2048, 40 years from now, we will see a re-awakening of Fletchers vision of vigorous outdoor challenge, solitude and self-sufficiency in nature.

--Review by Stephen Balbach, via CoolReading (c) 2008 cc-by-nd

Nicely illustrated, well written, and broken down into logical subjects. I read, or rather skimmed, an older version, Complete Walker II or III. Outdoor gear changes so much that those additions aren't much use anymore. In this addition the original author has brought in a second, younger author to help keep the information up to date. What's more they've turned it into an almost conversational volume. It's like sitting at the feet of two experts and listening as they chat, simply soaking in their wisdom.

A good solid read- still.½

8.0