EDITOR'S LETTER

editor's letter Time at the Canyon

There are 106 windows in Kolb Studio. That's a lot of windows, until you think about where the old building is located. “Kolb Studio is four stories hanging off the edge of the Grand Canyon,” says Dave Uberuaga, the superintendent of Grand Canyon National Park. He means that literally. Of all the historic structures on the South Rim, Kolb is closest to the edge. The only way to get any closer is to hike down. Thus, the 106 windows. Considering the location, location, location, it's understandable why Emery and Ellsworth Kolb would have installed so many windows when they built their photography studio in the early 1900s, but that excess comes with a price. Because of the accumulating decades and the harsh realities of weather on the Rim, the windows are deteriorating. And so is the rest of the building.

To help preserve it, the Grand Canyon Association is raising funds to rebuild the balconies, fix the roof and restore the wooden frames around all of those windows. And that's just the beginning. The restorations are expected to keep things intact for years to come. Meanwhile, Kolb Studio is still open, and it's one of the featured destinations in this month's cover story. I've been to the Canyon a few times - 109 as of this writing - but it wasn't until a trip last summer that I learned this unlikely statistic: About 75 percent of the visitors to the South Rim spend four hours or less in the park. The numbers are different on the North Rim, where the average stay lasts for a few days, but on the south side, the masses tend to zoom in and zoom out. Naturally, the Canyon demands more time than that, but if you're on a tight schedule, and four hours is all you can spare, there are some things you can do, and that's the gist of our piece.

Kolb Studio, which takes about an hour to tour, is on the list, and so are the Hermit Road (3 hours), Bright Angel Lodge (1 hour) and the hike to Santa Maria Spring (3.5 hours). We have mules in our story, too, but it's not the ride you're thinking of. There's a new tour that takes off from Yaki Point. “It's a wonderful ride along the rim,” Dave says, “without the scariness of riding down into the Canyon. Even if you've never been on a mule, it's easyyou just get on and go. The mules are so well trained that you can actually let go of the reins, look around and take pictures.”

Oxen are like mules. Although you probably wouldn't want to ride on one, they're very good at following orders. In fact, by definition, an ox is a steer that's been trained to work.

Andy Mayberry is fond of oxen. “When he purchased two Holstein calves for his daughter seven years ago,” Kelly Vaughn Kramer writes in Pulling Their Weight, “he knew what they'd ultimately become - gentle, working, Volkswagensized members of the family.” And so they have.

Cuddles and Fluffy are their names, and there's irony in that, because the two behemoths weigh approximately 2,200 pounds apiece and can pull up to 15 percent of their body weight for 10 hours a day. They work hard, but not too hard. That's because Mayberry is a gentleman farmer. “My dad was a cowboy, and he always wanted me to cowboy,” the son says. “I became a doctor instead.” When he's not seeing patients, May-berry is usually at home on his farm, fol-lowing the plow. It helps him wind down from the pressures of his day job. “This is my downtime,” he says.

Harvey Butchart liked downtime, too, but instead of farming, the math professor would hike the Canyon. In all, he logged more than 12,000 miles, climbed 83 inner-Canyon summits and navigated more than 100 rim-to-river routes. And along the way, he spent the equivalent of three years inside the park - that's at least 6,570 times more than the average South Rim visitor.

Sadly, Harvey died in 2002, but his legacy lives on in the form of Butchart Butte, which was dedicated a few years after his death. According to Elias Butler, it's a summit that's “easily seen but not easily reached.” Nevertheless, our writer recently attempted to climb it.

In This One's for Harvey, you'll read about Elias' adventure. You'll also learn about how rare it is these days to get your name on anything in the Grand Canyon - Butchart Butte is only the second summit to be named in the last 37 years. It's uncommon, but if you spend more than four hours at the Canyon, it's possible. And if you spend 26,280 hours up there, the odds are even better.

Here's to you, Harvey.

COMING IN AUGUST...

Some of our favorite summer drives; the story of elk in Arizona; and a portfoliolio by Marie Baronnet, the French photographer we sent to Monument Valley.