David Ross Brower (1912–2000)

I was a hitchhiker/drifter (what today might be called a "traveler kid") from 1970-1972. In September of '72, I descended into the Grand Canyon from the South Rim by myself carrying a half cup of hot tea, w/ light clothing on, no hat & no sleeping bag or other gear. All around, there were signs warning against going into the Canyon w/o water & food & a hat. It took me 9 hrs to descend to the Colorado River. Once there, a German tourist gave me a ground cloth to sleep on, some water, & some crackers to eat. The next day I walked out again. That took 11 hrs. As I came over the rim to the surface, 2 young girls sharply exclaimed that I was the skinniest person they'd ever seen! I probably weighed around 95 pounds at the time, age 19, 5 feet, 8 & 1/2 inches tall. It was like a self-imposed initiation rite for me. I proved that I cd do it.

17 yrs later, in 1989, I went back in from a more remote spot on the South Rim w/ 2 friends: Peter Zahorecz & Jake True. For safety's sake, we were supposed to tell people that we were entering, but we didn't. This time, my right knee gave out from the constant descending over rough terrain but I still kept walking. We didn't make it to the Colorado but we camped out by a stream that fed into it. There were warnings not to drink the water but we did. None of us got sick. We were probably park ranger nightmare material but all went well.

In 1998, etta cetera & I went back there & shot parts of a filmstrip called "In Perplexing Pursuit of the Prodigy Paleontologist". We barely went into it at all. The filmstrip is one my favorite things that I've ever made.

I suppose this bk is a typical Sierra Club type thing - w/ high quality fotos of the sort one might imagine on a calendar. Mainly I like it b/c it's about the Grand Canyon, but it doesn't really convey the intense feelings that I had there. To call the Grand Canyon "majestic" wd be an understatement. To say that I'm in awe of it wd be an understatment.… (meer)