The Emerald Mile

The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History through the Heart of the Grand Canyon is the 2013 travel biography written by American journalist for Outside Magazine and part-time river-guide Kevin Fedarko. The book recounts the true story of the fastest boat ride to ever take place down the Colorado River and through the Grand Canyon. In 1983, following a devastating flood that led to one of the most disastrous dam wreckages in history, a trio of rafters launched a small wooden dory named The Emerald Mile just 15 miles from the failed Glen Canyon Dam. Headed for destruction, the oar-master named Kenton Grua rescued and repaired the boat, and determined to set the all-time fastest record by using the floodwaters as a hydraulic speedway to propel his way from Lee’s Ferry to Lake Mead. In addition to Grua’s personal journey, the book also charts the history of the Grand Canyon and those who sought to traverse the landscape in the past. Thematically, the book touches on man’s relationship with nature, environmental conservationism, and taking life-endangering risks. The Emerald Mile became a New York Times bestseller and won the 2013 National Outdoor Book Award.

The book begins with Fedarko describing the Grand Canyon in May of 1983. Massive floodwaters due to a large El Nino storm surge and ice-cap melting led to the destruction of the Glen Canyon Dam, a 710-foot concrete structure housing a power plant and control room at its basin. A surge of more than 70,000 cubic feet of water per second poured out. Three men, led by oar-master Kenton Grua, dropped their wooden boat named "The Emerald Mile" into the water in an attempt to set a world record for the fastest boating run down the Colorado River.

Fedarko backtracks to outline the history of dam building and boat riding down the Colorado River, through the Grand Canyon. Explorer John Wesley Powell and his men attempted such a course in 1869, suffering greatly along the way in the turbulent river. Fedarko chronicles the attempts in the late 1800s and early 1900s to engineer damns in the area to harness electrical power, focusing on the Hoover Dam specifically. In 1956, the Glen Canyon Dam was completed, much to the chagrin of conservationist Martin Litton, who would go on to own the rafting company where Kenton Grua works. Litton was responsible for replacing rubber rafts with wooden dories as a means of curtailing pollution.



Grua joined Litton’s company in 1969. As a curious and determined adventurer, Grua already set his own personal travel record by hiking the Grand Canyon’s 227 miles from front to end, a feat never before achieved. As time went on, Grua became fascinated by the dories in the river. After repairing The Emerald Mile dory, Grua asks Litton for permission to use the floodwater to do a speed run. Litton finally agrees after the Park Service superintendent fails to with approve or deny the request. Grua and his two mates, Rudi Petschek and Steve Reynolds, calculate a necessary rate of nearly 10 MPH to set a new speed record. This requires rowing night and day and repairing the boat along the way after sustaining damage nine different times due to harsh rapids.

As the crew approaches the unforgiving Crystal Rapids, Grua and company sneak past park rangers who have prohibited boating down the river. The men use every ounce of strength they can muster to make it through the rapids. The boat flips, tossing the men into the rapids, causing one crewmember to be sucked to the bottom of the river. The men fight their way back to shore, harnessing their body weight to drag The Emerald Mile back to land for further repair. After debating whether or not to continue, Grua and his men hopped back in the dory and continued their harrowing journey. Fedarko attributes Grua’s dogged stubbornness as part of his success.

Approaching Mile 205 of their 277-mile destination, Grua and company faced severe challenges when unintentionally falling asleep for over two hours, during which The Emerald Mile drifted off course. The men had to scramble to make up lost time, which they eventually did en route to setting the all-time fast record for a boat traveling down the Colorado River. Grua and his crew completed their mission of riding from Lee’s Ferry to Grand Wash Cliffs. It took them 36 hours and 38 minutes, shattering the previous record of more than 50 hours to accomplish the same feat. Grua’s record held until 2015, when a professional Kayaking crew completed the course in 35 hours and five minutes.



While Grua’s run was successful, many other rafters were not as lucky during the Crystal Rapids portion of the run. Georgie White’s boat capsized, sending crewmembers into the water until they were rescued. Chuck Mills’ raft also flipped, leaving one man trapped underneath the vessel until he had to be rescued. Another man named Bill Wert was killed when the boat he was aboard was ripped to pieces, causing a piece of equipment to crush his chest when the craft was hurled into his body. The remaining passengers sustained major injuries and required rescue. Following his record-breaking run, Grua stood trial for breaking federal law by disobeying the Park Service. While Litton tried to get the charges dropped, citing the superintendent’s lack of response as tacit approval of the run, Grua was found guilty and slapped with a $500 fine, which he mostly paid off by doing community service work.

In 2014, Lionsgate announced plans to adapt The Emerald Mile into a feature film. In 2016, Lorenzo Di Bonaventura was tapped to produce the film, with writer Justin Isbell hired to adapt the screenplay. As of 2018, the film was still in development.