NEED TO KNOW

'Grand Obsession' chronicles Grand Canyon legend

By Susan Spano, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
02:01 PM PST, November 28, 2007

There's a special word for finding your own way around the Grand Canyon without following established trails: "butcharting," an homage to Harvey Butchart, who covered 12,000 miles on foot, climbed 83 summits and found 108 approaches to the Colorado River from the North and South rims between the time he first saw the big ditch in 1945 and his death in 2002.

"Grand Obsession," a new book by Elias Butler and Tom Myers, tells the story of the mild-mannered math teacher who became a canyon legend (and, against all expectations, died in bed). Along the way, the authors chronicle some of Butchart's most daring routes, such as Fossil Canyon and Wotan's Throne. "Grand Obsession: Harvey Butchart and the Exploration of the Grand Canyon," by Elias Butler and Tom Myers, $29.95, Puma Press, Flagstaff, Ariz.