Colorado Books

I purchased several copies of this book and sent them to my friends and relatives across the country.

Everybody loved it.

Eric's photography shows his ultimate commitment to artistic perfection. Each photo is a work of art and carefully composed. The essays capture the meaning and beauty of the mountains of Colorado. I am honored to be his uncle.

This is one of the better Colorado photography books out there. While the photos are not consistently great, they are consistently good. Wunrow spent a lot of time hiking to remote areas of Colorado, which is to be commended. I do recommend 'Colorado II' by David Muench over this book, but I have ranked 'Mountains of Colorado' as the third best book on my list of 'Best Colorado Picture Books' (which can be seen by clicking on my name and looking at the Listmania lists).

I moved to Colorado in 1989. Without fail, when friends and relatives come to visit, they marvel at the beauty of the scenery, awesome landscape and amazing sights nature has handmade in Colorado's mountains. This book has made a perfect holiday gift for all those friends and relatives who only dream of being here in Colorado every day! From winter to summer, the Mountains of Colorado has it all! Without a doubt, the most beautiful photpgraphs I have ever seen!

Catch a glimpse of some of the more rare and overlooked vistas that this amazing state has to offer. Wunrow offers an incredible visual aesthetic in both photography and book design that takes the reader on a voyage to all corners of this wonderfully diverse state. A keen eye for composition, combined with strenuous backcountry hiking to areas unknown to even avid backpackers like myself, the images are striking and sometimes haunting. Former Governor Lamm's essays are engaging and well written, and form a wonderful complement to the photographs. Highly recommended for anyone looking to enjoy the most uniquely magnificent and previously unpublished views of America's most beautiful state.

The perfect combination of wonderful pictures and superb story-telling. After having seen and read more than 15 books of the Southwest/Glen Canyon area, this is definitely one of the best. Jack Dykinga and Charles Bowden have done a wonderful job. Also, in the end of the book the raise the very necessary topic of how to (better) preserve the Colorado Plateau.

STONE CANYONS OF THE COLORADO PLATEAU contains 81 color photographs. Each of the photos occupies from 50-80% of the page. The book is large, 10 ¼ by 11 ¼ inches.

Most of the photographs are from Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, a little known park overlooked by most publications dealing with the American Southwest. Vermilion Cliffs encompasses Paria Canyon, Coyote Buttes, and a stone formation called "The Wave." The stone formation called The Wave seems to be in an area about a quarter the size of a city block. Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness is noted for its conical, haystack-like stone formations. The book contains plenty of photos of artistic merit.

Page 5 shows a few cones at close range and a dozen cones in the distance. Where the desert floor is made of stone, the stone is striped like a candy cane. FIVE STARS for this photograph.

Page 9 shows Bryce Canyon, with snow-covered cliffs in the distance, and dark clouds overhead. FIVE STARS for this dramatic photo.

Page 20 shows snow-covered buckwheat and a dead juniper. FOUR STARS for this depictions of the texture of the snow residing on top of the buckwheat.

Page 26 shows a hoodoo in the sun. The hoodoo consists of a dark pancake of stone supported by a an orange, funnel-shaped pedestal. Half of the photograph is in deep shadow, a sloping hill of stone.

Page 35 shows an arch with a garden of cottonwoods beyond. FIVE STARS for this rare image of pastoral beauty.

Page 45 shows a close-up of two cones at Paria Canyon. One of the cones looks like a little house.

Page 45 shows an angled stone formation in a canyon wall at Paria Canyon. The crazy angles resemble those of a Kandinsky painting.

Page 67 (also seen as the cover photo) shows a pond at The Wave. This is one of the greatest landscape photographs ever taken in the history photography. FIVE STARS.

Page 69 shows a crazy, bizarre stone formation at Paria Canyon. What we see is a pancake consisting of a cluster of thin stone sheets, where the pancake is supported by two pedestals. This is one of the most bizarre landscape photographs taken in the history of photography. FIVE STARS.

Page 70 shows an excellent arrangement of cones in the distance, with swirling stone spirals, and a dead juniper in the foreground. The juniper has a spiraling grain. FIVE STARS.

Page 99 shows a slot canyon, where there are various qualities of light--a warming bath of glowing orange, a harsh white glare, an even indirect illumination with no shadow, and deep shadow. The image is reminiscent of those depicted in Bruce Barnbaum's astonishing book, VISUAL SYMPHONY.

Page 116 shows a dozen tiny waterfalls, where water spills from knife-edge stone formations that form the streambed. This unique image is somewhat reminiscent of David Muench's depiction of Havasupai Falls, in NATURE'S AMERICA (page 125 of NATURE'S AMERICA).

One wishes for more photos of The Wave. For those interested in more of The Wave, I recommend Reiner Sahm's book, CANYONLANDS PANORAMIC PHOTOGRAPHY. Reiner Sahm's book also introduces the reader to Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, and to Goblin Valley State Park, two other parks vastly underrepresented by books on the American Southwest. Also Laurent Martres has two books (two volumes) on Utah and Arizona. The second volume features a number of photos of The Wave.

The quality of the prints in Mr.Dykinga's book is quite good. With the naked eye, one cannot discern any grain in the color prints. However, with a loupe (5X magnification), the grain is readily evident. The grain does not resemble specks, but instead takes a form resembling that of woven cloth.

Fortunately, only a minority of the photographs in Mr. Dykinga's book are flower pictures. There are only eight flower pictures. Also, fortunately, none of the photos contains people, e.g., tourists, hikers, or indigenous farmers. As is the case with Ansel Adams, Bruce Barnbaum, David Muench, and a handful of other photographers, Mr. Dykinga takes extra care (and time) to wait for the lighting conditions to be perfect, before depressing the shutter.

Mr.Dykinga is an experienced photographer, as indicated by the fact that he won the Pulizer Prize. The prize, awarded to him in 1971, was for his photographs at the Lincoln and Dixon State Schools for the Retarded in Illinois, when he worked for the Chicago Sun-Times.

The number of photographic works exploring the nuances of the Colorado Plateau is seemingly endless. Many can be browsed once and left behind. This book is the scintillating exception.

Jack Dykinga's photographic work is simply exceptional, and beyond the pale. Each color photograph appears as exquisitely crafted as a piece of fine crystal, beginning with very cover of the paperback edition. One can only envy his great patience and expertise in composing each work.

Much of the photography comes from the Paria Wilderness, an area of the Plateau not usually treated to any degree in most works, and the novelty is refreshing. A particularly enjoyable facet of the book is that use of a telephoto lens has been largely eschewed, leaving a series of scenes that the enterprising tourist can find and view with his or her own eyes, just as depicted by the book.

Charles Bowden's accompanying text is evocative and hearkens a wild diffusion of images and memories of the fascinating region.
It is an apt companion to Dykinga's superb work.

If you are limited to five or less books about the Colorado plateau, let this be one of them. I enjoy it more every time I read it.

An hymn to the nature and it's landscapes, whose pictures are superb in both the technical and artistic plans.

In 1998 I'd seen a photo on a calendar of the Vermillion Cliffs in Utah, but had no idea where exactly it was located. I teach photography and my students and I had done some research to find it, but discovered it was a very large area. When I found Mr. Dykinga's book I was even more determined for my students to see and photograph the area. Needless to say, the book is truly inspirational thanks to Jack's remarkabe work.!
If you know a photographer or a traveller - this is the book for them! Enjoy the treat yourself as well.

Jeff Grimm
Bedford, TX

This book of 83 poems, each about 10 lines long, exposes extraordinary emotional depth through beautiful craftsmanship. Nutter's sensitivity to imagery, his feel for the sound and taste of words, and his imaginiative genius set "A Summer Evening" above many first books. Playing with themes from simple to complex, these poems unfold their meanings in joyful layers upon subsequent readings, leaving me stunned. You'll enjoy this book of contemporary poetry.

A Summer Evening creates a world of interlinked linguistic and imagistic elements that weave their way in and out of the individual poems, evoking a sense both of momentum and of a motionless eternity, a world turning and yet utterly still: "Because I can find no fault can this be named Paradise." Each poem represents a moment in time, and yet there is no progression, only succession: this summer evening is infinite, and can be entered or exited at any instant. Each of the end-stopped lines (largely declaratives, asserting "This is so"-as one line goes, "You said, `This exists,' you knew it existed") is both a complete poem in itself, a kind of occidental haiku--"In the evening the sun is a scientist," "The sky says Yes by landing in the tree," "The world is not round, it is more beautiful than that, a kind of blue gas," "Deep down, some predators may generate a purple light to hunt by"--and one of the building blocks of larger poetic units. As readers, we participate in the assembling of the poem, and in each poem's process of constructing the book's two sections ("A Summer Evening" and "Ming") and finally of the book as a whole, which is both a collection of poems and a single long, potentially unendingly ongoing poem.

A truly great book of poetry leaves me with few ways to speak about it except to say, "Read the book." Still have questions? Read the book again. It's like when you are on a bus in a town that is not your home and you overhear a stranger, who is just getting out, utter to someone who is not you the exact words you have been searching for all your life to describe the one thought and feeling you've been having for all of your life but have been unable to even formulate much less articulate it in any way, ever. The bus pulls back into traffic, and you're like, "Wait," but the moment has passed, and you can't remember the words when you go to tell somebody else what you just heard. That's "A Summer Evening."

This is a mysterious and singular little book. The poetry inside is neither "hard" nor "easy". Each 10-line poem has its own logic, and also relates in dreamlike ways to its bookmates. It reminds me of reading the Tao Te Ching, where one can find in every handful of lines both vexation and inspiration. You can amuse or stump yourself trying to untangle each little 10-line knot. Or you can just open the book at random and be taken to a specific, inexplicable spot that is the intersection of a memory, a mood, a place, a season, a smell, a thought, a history.

A truly great book of poetry leaves me with few ways to speak about it except to say, "Read the book." Still have questions? Read the book again. It's like when you are on a bus in a town that is not your home and you overhear a stranger, who is just getting out, utter to someone who is not you the exact words you have been searching for all your life to describe the one thought and feeling you've been having for all of your life but have been unable to even formulate much less articulate in any way, ever. The bus pulls back into traffic, and you're like, "Wait," but the moment has passed, and you can't remember the words when you go to tell somebody else what you just heard. That's "A Summer Evening."

The Mandy Dyer series just gets better and better. Her character is funny, original and well written. Johnson is a solid writer with a great sense of humor. Keep writing! Haven't read a mystery I enjoyed more than this one in a while. It was light but not trite! Humorous without being silly, and well plotted. Congratulations on another fine mystery.

This definitly has to be one of Dolores Johnson's best efforts in the Mandy Dyer Mystery series. I'm not going to give away too much, but now with that horribly stale relationship with Stan off to the side, there's room for a bit more!

I'm too excited for her next story to see where it goes, hopefully it won't be too long for the next episode.

Mandy is a delight and so are the characters around her. She is always getting herself in 'hot' water when she ends up trying to solve a murder. You can't help but like her as she is so human and likeable. It is a fun romp of a murder mystery. Good for a beach, plane ride or fun read.

It starts out as a straightforward dry cleaning problem. Mandy Dyer's cousin had a coat switched at a restaurant and she wants to get her own coat back. But when cousin Laura is involved in a hit-and-run as she leaves the dry cleaners, Mandy wonders if it could truly be coincidence. Coincidence is stretched past breaking when Mandy walks into an in-progress burglary at her cousin's apartment. With her matchmaking mother riding to the rescue, a hopelessly nerdy reporter falling for Laura, and a hunky detective causing problems for Mandy's heart, the problems look to be getting worse in a hurry.

Photographer Laura's restaurant photos seem a likely starting point. But who would have guessed that a small restaurant could cause so many problems--a man dining with a woman who isn't his wife, another couple confronted with news of the woman's unexpected pregnancy, a woman stood-up by her business partners, and a strange ghost-like double-exposure which could be just about anyone. Mandy presses on in her investigation--although occasionally her motives are more to get away from her mother than to solve the crime.

Author Dolores Johnson delivers a spunky heroine, amusing characters and dialogue, a very different background for her sleuth (I haven't seen any other dry-cleaner/detectives) and a well-written story. I enjoyed TAKING THE WRAP a lot.

While Laura was at the Rendezview Restaurant someone took her coat while she was taking photographs so she borrowed the last coat that was on the rack. In Laura's coat was a role of film she would like to get back and in the stranger's coat is a stamped envelope, a bottle of aspirin and a box of matches. Laura wants her friend Mandy, owner and proprietor of Dyer's Cleaning, to call other cleaners in the area to see if they have her coat. She figures they might be able to identify the other coat owner by tracing the laundry logs.

When Laura leaves the cleaning store, a car deliberately hits her, breaking her le:, Mandy rushes her to the hospital. When Laura is released, Mandy goes over to her apartment with some Chinese food to cheer her up only someone in the apartment hits her from behind. Mandy thinks that her unknown assailant is looking for the photos or the coat and starts another one of her investigations that almost gets her killed.

TAKING THE WRAP is an upbeat, often funny amateur sleuth mystery due to the heroine's mother's visit to take care of Laura and help Mandy in her investigation. All that does is make a bad situation worse when she tells people things they don't need to know. In between her botched matchmaking efforts, Mandy does the impossible and finds the coat that belonged to Laura's friend who no longer needs it because someone killed her. Two other people who were at the Rendezview also turn up murdered, leaving Mandy to connect the dots and find the perpetrator before Laura joins the morgue.

Harriet Klausner

The Dukes stories started with the duet called "Honeymoon Hideaway" - #424 The Case of the Vanished Groom [Ross Duke] and 425 The Case of the Bad Luck Fiance.

This second Elk River, Colorado story is 35 year old Janine Duke. She is being stalked by some character called "Pinky" - he or she has a penchant for pink. She is also the general manager of Elk River Resort, a family endeavor.

She decides to contact J.T.'s boss, Daniel Tucker, once a victim of a female stalker. Also the owner of a couple of martial arts studios where J.T. McKennon now teaches.

Pinky supposedly loves Janine and to prove it he is ready to get rid of the colonel, her father, so that they can live happily ever after.

Janine will do anything to protect her father, Colonel Horace Duke, the owner of the Elk River Resort. She wants to throw a party for her mother, Elise and father on their 40th wedding anniversary.

Trouble starts with Daniel posing as Janine's new boyfriend and they almost get killed in a fire - then Daniel's new truck tires are slashed.

These incidents bring in the law - Mr. Helmsley and Sergeant Mike Downes, another friend of Janine's. There is conflict between Dan and Janine as attraction [or lust] grows and she is fighting it. She has been married before to Eric and the divorce is a source of conflict between her and the Colonel.

They search high and low trying to find the hidey hole of Pinky. But all comes to a head with the party and a snow storm.
Ross and his wife show up with their twins. J.T. McKennon and Frankie, a cousin, show up with little Jamie, J.T.'s son. Sister Megan and Tristan show up with some happy news. Sister Kara has given up on snagging Daniel.

When Elliot Damsen, a man Janine has been seeing these past 4 years, shows up at the party I figured him to be highly suspicious.

Actually a highly intriguing plot with enough characters to make it more than interesting - you have to experience the gumpyness of the Colonel and Elise trying to make peace - the sharp give and take between Daniel and Janine and her insecurities. I just wish they had explored some of the hidden rooms in the basement. Boy, that must have been a big place.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - wish I had the first two books - maybe????

I really enjoyed the humour in this book. The two characters had sarcastic personalities which I enjoy. The sexual tension was good, not over done. I normally hate Harlequin Intrigues but this one really was entertaining. I would definitely read another book by Sheryl Lynn.

I was amazed at how well this book was written. I have been a Sheryl Lynn fan since her first book Double Vision. Daniel Tucker, the hero, was a riot. Making you laugh one minute and being completely frustrated the next with Janine. I was on the edge of my seat trying to figure out who the stalker was. I was wrong. I always am! Ms. Lynn has a way of teasing the readers that keep them dying for more. I look forward to another winning book from her and the next is SURE to win a Rita.

This was the first Harleuin Intrique I ever read. And I am hooked

"Undercover Fiance" is a must-read, a well-written tale that's even better than Sheryl Lynn's first "Elk Ridge, Colorado" book. As usual, Ms. Lynn's writing is distinctive and filled with great descriptions and action sequences. In her capable hands, the final confrontation becomes a true nail-biter. I loved the characters of Janine and Daniel, two original, likable people with a lot of depth and intelligence. The sexual tension between them is nice and steamy. Even more incredible is the way Ms. Lynn makes Janine into a heroine. In the earlier books, she had always come across as kind of nasty and mean-spirited; in this book, Ms. Lynn doesn't so much change the character as she makes us understand what makes Janine tick. She becomes a lot more human, and a true heroine. This is a great book that should win Sheryl Lynn a lot more fans.

If your into hiking mountains or just like looking at them this is the must book for you. When I am locked to the city, and want to get away for a few minutes all I have to do is pickup this book. Todd is definitly a true 'Rocky Mountain High' photographer.

This book is absolutely my all time favorite coffee table book. The beauty of the photographs and depth of the writing captures the passion for the peaks that most of us mountain lovers carry inside. Todd's photography is exquisite and Walt's writing is entrancing.....

This new book written by Walter Borneman and Todd Caudle is a great addition to my coffee table! The photographs are not only breathe taking but they manage to catch a unique prospective of the 14ers, something that many other photographers can not do. The captions explain not only the photographs but they include the history and interesting facts behind each mountain. This book is not only great for those of us who love the 14ers, but will also make a great gift.

What an amazing book! The photographs are so breathtakingly beautiful. Todd Caudle has caught the wonder and beauty of nature at its very best. With Walt's writings and Todd's photographs, this is a must have for every person interested in the majestic "Fourteeners" or the Colorado mountains. I am so pleased to have this as the centerpiece of my coffee table.

I am not going to give a synoposis of the story-it has been done by more intelligent and literate than I.
however, this story is a romp of laughs in the saga of Letty and Eulis. A stand
alone story although part of a triology it is best read in bed so you have room
to laugh and kick up your heels. I highly recommend this book and the other two
readalongs. As long as Sharon does this I will be first in line to buy.

This sequel to Whippoowill is even funnier than the first book. When I read parts of The Amen Trail I was laughing so hard I was glad I was at home because if I had been in public people would have thought I was crazy. Letty and her partner are even funnier than in the original book.

I am a Sharon Sala/Diana McCall fan. I have read most of her books. When I started reading "Whippowill" I was surprised and did not know at first if I would like it. When I read it, I laughed so much I fell in love with the book. Then I read "The Amen Trail". I read it in one day because I could not put it down. I had tears rolling down my cheeks because I laughed so hard. When the book was finished I felt bad because it was finished. I think Sharon Sala out did herself with this one. I hope she adds another book to this series. Thoroughly enjoyable. Laughter is good for the soul and this book really makes you laugh.

This is quite a departure for Sharon Sala. A wonderful departure. This is a sequel to Whippoorwill. I did not read the first, and had no problem getting into this story.

Lettie and Eulis are not the quintessential heroine and hero...at the beginning of the story. However, by the end of the story they are truly hero and heroine material.

Lettie is a reformed good-time-girl. Eulis is a reformed alcoholic. They are fraudulently presenting themselves as a nun and a priest. It may sound sacrilegious, but it is truly not. They have turned their lives around and are attempting to do good, bless the lives of the people around them, and make restitution for their sins.

The people they meet along to way to Colorado are wonderful. The blessings that Lettie and Eulis bring to the lives of the people they spend time with, and vice versa are priceless.

I laughed out loud as I read this story!

Please, read it - you won't be disappointed!

This is not a permutation of some other work ... this is a fresh, unique guidebook. After you have been through Gerry Roach's books, Dawson's, and related classics, you know a lot about the 14ers and the near-14ers. But how about the "best of the best" without regard to altitude?

For my tastes, I want to see those finest places, and not disqualify peaks that don't meet an altitude requirement. Like Bison Peak and Storm King. Places I would not know about from the most popular summit guides.

Thanks James Dziezynski! I may not be able to pronounce your last name, but I darned sure appreciate your hard work and great authorship.

Clearly, I recommend this book if you are looking for mountaineering ideas or exceptional climbs.

I really enjoy hiking and camping in the backcountry of Colorado and I'm always curious about new places to hike. So when I saw this book I was intrigued and very curious about what it had to offer.
Using this guide for a couple hikes its definitely become the best guide book I've used as it's very easy to use in the field, it's engaging with a unique author flare, thorough and very interesting. A definite "must have" to add to your guide book collection.
What attracted me to this book was the beautiful pictures on the cover and the diversity of hikes, many I've not heard of before, within its pages! Hike and Trailhead descriptions are written in an easy to follow manner and the directions have been thorough and very accurate. It's obvious that a lot of time was spent researching these aspects. It's also really helpful that the intro page to each hike has an elevation graph, a mile by mile break down of the hike, interesting things you'd expect to see on the hike and wheather its a good day hike or one for camping. Also what's made the book a great guide in my opinion are the maps with GPS coordinates and the interesting tid-bits of historical info. included at the end of each hike description. Even more are the fun trivia questions in the Appendix section of the book! I've learned some really neat things so far!
From cover to cover this a great guide and I am happy to have bought it!

Ever since meeting the author while hiking Mt. Powell (one of the chapters in this book), I have looked forward to the release of this book. It didn't disappoint! As an avid hiker/climber living in the Colorado mountains, I have hiked many of the peaks described in this book. The route descriptions appear accurate and full of useful detail.
I especially appreciate the detailed driving instructions, altitude profiles and optional routes. The "Why Climb It?" section in each chapter definitely whets the appetite for the hikes shown. Dziezynski interjects his rather off-beat sense of humor and personal experiences to make it more enjoyable and less of a "just the facts ma'am" sort of book. I highly recommend this book to both the seasoned mountain veteran and the casual tourist visiting the Colorado mountains for the first time.

James Dziezynski does a wonderful job of both engaging the reader and informing them of what to look forward to on the hikes described. I have traveled a couple of the mountains mentioned in the book and found the descriptions and recommendations to be quite accurate as to what to expect on each trek. James' writing has me very much looking forward to my next Colorado adventure so that I can explore some more of it's peaks. Huzzah!

This is the sweetest book about Boo Boo's and how to ake care of them.

Need to ease the trauma of a bloody elbow? Loosen up over the loose skin of a bulging blister? This book is for you!
Who knew scabs and blisters could be so irresistibly touchable? From the delightfully witty-and informative-verse, to the sticky, picky, bubbly, and band-aided catalogue of injuries, this is a must have for parents with a sense of humor and a desire to make every moment a learning experience. We received this as a gift for our toddler. After he got that first scraped knee, we took the book out and opened to the "SCRAPES" page, featuring a teary-eyed girl with a scraped knee. Big deal right?...but on further inspection, the scrape on her knee is in fact a sticky, red "boo boo." We all touched the scrape and screamed with delight as the page clung to our fingers! My son was instantly won over. It is certainly a favorite (not just for him...
The entire book is interactive-you can lift a flap of a cast to see an x-ray of a fractured arm, weave a ribbon to mimic stitches, connect the dots of a rash... you pick the injury, they have created a clever way to discuss how the body heals and what it looks and feels like.

Move over, Pat the Bunny. The Boo Boo Book has arrived. Through this delightfully interactive board book, young children can learn about the various minor mishaps that sometimes befall them. Many pages provide clever ways for children to explore further. For example, under the cast is an x-ray; beneath the hand is a real Band-Aid.

When I read this book to my four-year-old granddaughter, she told true accounts of her own "boo boos". We had a grand time recalling occasions when we had skinned our knees, ended up with blisters on our feet, and bruised our arms. We also talked about being brave when we get hurt. More importantly, The Boo Boo Book provided me with the opportunity to talk about being careful and "playing it safe". Children of all ages will love this welcome addition to their library.

As a pediatrician and a mother, I have been delighted with the Boo Boo Book! My four year-old daughter was given a copy and she is fascinated by this engaging, rhyming tale of bumps and bruises. I like reading it with her because the explanations are clear and kid-oriented. My daughter loves the interactive illustrations. Her favorite is the sticky red "blood" and I think the x-ray of a broken bone under the lift- a- flap cast is extremely cool.

Joy Masoff has hit upon a topic that is truly interesting to kids of all ages--and her rhyming explanations are both educational and entertaining. A great book!

Frederick Dellaenbaugh was a young man when John Wesley Powell tapped him to participate in Powell's second trip down the Colorado River. Powell had made the journey already a few years before, so the second voyage was less pure exploration and more science; the crew included Almon Harris Thompson (called affectionately "Prof." throughout), a professional geographer who also happened to be Powell's brother-in-law. With several boats and men of widely varying experience, the expedition sailed the Green river (thought at that time to be the upper Colorado) to its junction with the Colorado, and the Colorado itself as far as the middle of the Grand Canyon. Swirling rapids, maggotty food, blistering heat, sudden blizzards beset the adventurers, who still though it all made their geographical, geological, and ethnographical observations which resulted in (among other things) the first maps of the four corners region and the Grand Canyon (reproduced in the book).
While wild adventure, humor, and a real sense of the Old West permeate the book, there is a certain sadness, too. The Native Americans whom Dellenbaugh encounters are people clearly already defeated -- fearful, distrusting, sad. We catch glimpses of the Navaho trying to accommodate themselves to the new reality of white (especially Mormon) settlement, creating new networks of trade focused on growing frontier towns. But the seeds of the end are planted already in the irrigated fields of the Mormon settlers, and sometimes it seems as if the natives knew this too. Also, the topography through which the explorers travelled has now partly vanished behind the dams that have ruined Glen Canyon and other stretches of white water and canyon scenery. No one can now do what Dellenbaugh and his companions did; the sense of loss hovers unintentionally about every page.
Dellenbaugh was a keen observer (though perhaps a bit naive) with a talent for making even the monotony of running rapid after rapid spellbinding. One does feel that he may have veiled some of the conflicts that must have arisen in two (non-continuous) years of isolation, though if so this trait is refreshing in a world where we now expect everyone to tattle on everyone else. Every now and then just a shimmer of impatience with one of the crew seeps through. But the real hero who emerges from this book, somewhat surprisingly, is not the leader Powell -- the young Dellenbaugh seems never to have gotten close to him -- but rather the Prof., who rises to every challenge with decency and humaneness, and of whom Dellenbaugh seems to have been genuinely, and for good reason, in awe. Like Powell he is buried in Arlington Cemetery. He deserved that honor, but where he lives is in the pages of this book.

Love and respect for the Green and Colorado Rivers is greatly enhanced by Dellenbaugh's narritive of the 2nd Powell expadition. Well written, accurate history, and spell binding from start to finish. An adventure that can only be partially accomplished today is TOTALLY available in "A Canyon Voyage!"

This is an exceptionally well written account of a wonderful adventure through the canyons of the Colorado River. For anyone who loves the West's wildness, and writing most sensitive and humorous, this is a "must read". This book is illustrated with many fine original photographs and etchings.

At the time of the 2nd voyage down the Colorado, Dellenbaugh was on about 19 years old. He didn't write the book until many years later. What a wonderful/spellbinding look at the most beautiful place in North America (The Colorado Plateau). Not only that but I found it extremely hunorous as well. Great Great book!!!