I think Fletcher was fortunate in 1968 when both The Man Who Walked Through Time and The Complete Walker were published because the back-to-the-land-movement was going strong, so his books really got a boost due to this movement. Regardless, I enjoyed his books.

Thanks for the input.

I can’t, and won’t, argue whether Fletcher wrote well. Much like the question of favorite ice cream, it’s a matter of opinion. And not worth the debate. I will say that many people do not consider the 4th edition reflective of Flectche entirely. Chip Rawlins wrote most of that edition due to Flethcher’s declining health. As with many collaborations, it did not produce an entirely successful work.

Finally, you can’t effectively argue over “What may have been.” Fletcher is an author many people read and found inspiration through his writings. Whether another author would have the same impact is speculative and a potentially lively debate but no correct answer either way.

Perhaps he is similar to Ray Jardine, who came at the right place and time and can plug into the zeitgeist happening and effectively capture the moment for various reasons. But that, again, comes back to writing quality and strictly an opinion.

There are things I have done in the past that are no reflection of the person I am today. If you are honest with yourself, you will admit to the same. We are all human. We all have flaws. I will remember Fletcher for his exquisite writing, his way of capturing my imagination……his way of including me on his adventure. If I remember people only for a single mistake, I leave little room for good memories.

Yep, he caught a lot of heat for that. He later wrote that he regretted doing it, as he did sleeping in the Anasazi ruin and killing rattlesnakes.

I don’t think he realized what an impact telingl the world about tossing the bottle into the river would have. I do think what he was trying to explain was as the water Catherine-wheeled out of it his sense of time shifted and stayed that way all the way to Phantom Ranch.

Certainly by today’s ethics it was a bad thing to do. Perhaps we should remember that he was one of the people who established those ethics which back country travelers had not yet adopted.

Everyone I interviewed who knew him, both friends and nonfriends, said he was an extremely honest person who called things as he saw them whether or not they might be detrimental to himself in some way.

Somewhere he wrote that throwing that bottle was an ugly act and wished he’d not done it.

It is because of these actions, and others, that I approached the writing from the perspective of his personality quirks because some actions just don’t fit the image we have of him (either way, good or bad). So I did my best to present the full man, warts and all. I do know he would have wanted that although he may have squirmed a bit. The drafts of his autobiography revealed a lot more nasty stuff. Especially if he read the book while in one of his Santa Claus moods. Had he been Captain Bligh he wouldn’t have given any thought to it at all.

Best,

BW

The Man who Walked Through Time followed by River makes for some wonderful bookends. One book is what made Fletcher well known and is about walking through the Grand Canyon…the other jaunt was taken in his golden years and is about traveling on the Colorado River (and through the Grand Canyon).

It is wonderful how well they hold up so many years later. A type of outdoor writing that is not as common today. Much writing is either a dry engineering manual or #EPIC!