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

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.

Author: Kevin Fedarko
Publisher: Scribner Book Company
Published: 05/07/2013
Pages: 432
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.30lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.00w x 1.60d
ISBN: 9781439159859


Award: Reading the West - Winner
Award: National Outdoor Book Awards - Winner


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 05/13/2013
Kirkus Reviews 05/15/2013
Outside 08/01/2013 pg. 24
Outside 10/01/2013 pg. 97
Outside 06/01/2015 pg. 87

About the Author
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. He is the author of The Emerald Mile: The 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.