Dammed, polluted, and redirected to sustain ever-increasing demand from cities and agriculture, the mighty Colorado River now runs dry more than a hundred miles from where it once met the ocean.
Witness to Water chronicles McBride’s source-to-sea journey down the Colorado and his mission to fight for conservation and restoration of the river, as well as a similar source-to-sea journey along the Ganges, and the infamous 750-mile hike through the Grand Canyon that would become the subject of New York Times bestseller A Walk in the Park by Kevin Fedarko.
McBride paints a riveting picture of the water crisis in which we find ourselves and what we risk if we don’t do the work to fix it.
The Colorado-born photographer makes a stirring case for the preservation of an iconic American waterway — some 40 million citizens use its supply daily — battered by overuse and climate change, but still magnificent through his lens.”
For two decades, McBride has documented the Colorado River, from source to sea and always with a camera in hand. The Colorado River is the most comprehensive look at this challenged resource that supplies drinking water to forty million Americans and supports five percent of the country’s GDP.
Through McBride’s photography and his own words, as well as essays on climate change and river overuse, we witness the stark reality of our water crisis but also the remarkable beauty and resilience of this ephemeral source of life.
National Outdoor Book Award Winner 2024
In a world ever more congested and polluted with both toxins and noise, award-winning photographer Pete McBride takes readers on a once-in-a-lifetime escape to find places of peace and quiet—a pole-to-pole, continent-by-continent quest for the soul.
National Outdoor Book Award Winner 2022
A mesmerizing tribute to wanderlust and a soothing gift for those who miss the bliss of the beyond."
"This seven-continent visual tour of global quietude will both inspire and calm."
Award-winning photographer Pete McBride takes us on a gripping adventure story through stunning, never-before-seen photography, along with powerful essays from best-selling authors Kevin Fedarko and Hampton Sides. Through his “walk in the park” hiking the entire 750 miles of Grand Canyon National Park — from the Colorado River to the canyon rim — McBride captures the majesty of this natural wonder as he calls on us all to protect America’s open-air cathedral.
This large format book is more than a collection of beautiful photographs — although, it certainly is that — rather it is a moving, visual story of an amazing 750-mile hike from one end of the Grand Canyon to the other.
Award-winning photographer Pete McBride takes us on a gripping adventure story through stunning, never-before-seen photography, along with powerful essays from best-selling authors Kevin Fedarko and Hampton Sides. Through his “walk in the park” hiking the entire 750 miles of Grand Canyon National Park — from the Colorado River to the canyon rim — McBride captures the majesty of this natural wonder as he calls on us all to protect America’s open-air cathedral.
