For the man who hustles so much culture in Sitka — everything from the Wearable Art Show to the Monthly Grind — Jeff Budd is surprisingly reticent to push “Canyon Dance” into readers’ hands. “Let the buyer beware!” he says. (KCAW photo/Robert Woolsey)
A Sitka author has just published an account of his five-month, global journey to hike into the deepest canyons on each of the seven continents.
Jeff Budd works at the Sitka Historical Society, and spent the last couple of years coordinating the 150th Anniversary Commemoration of the Alaska Transfer, which concluded this past October. But if there’s a way to get out from behind a desk and travel, Budd will find it.
He stopped by KCAW to speak with Robert Woolsey about his new book: “Canyon Dance.”
Note: Author Jeff Budd will show slides from his trip to the deepest canyons on each of the seven continent, and read from his book Canyon Dance, at 6:30 p.m. tonight (Wednesday, November 15) at the Sitka Public Library.
Typically I don’t interview an author unless I’ve read a good chunk of their book. I was caught completely off-guard when I learned that Jeff Budd had published an account of his attempt to become the first person to descend into the deepest canyons on each of the seven continents.
So I requested an interview with Budd completely cold, because he’s a prominent figure in the Sitka arts scene, and a great talker.
Imagine my surprise (and embarrassment) when he began to tell me the story of “Canyon Dance.”
Budd – So I went and did this trip, I tried to visit the deepest canyon on every continent. This was 1999-2000, five months’ worth of traveling around. And I came back and spent a year typing up my notes and all that kind of stuff. And I showed it to you and you read it and said, “There ain’t no Jeff Budd in it.” And I think that was a pretty good evaluation… what’s the word I’m looking for?
KCAW – Assessment?
Budd – Yessir. A pretty accurate assessment.
KCAW – You must have been pretty discouraged, but I was young and naive then.
Budd – (Laughing) I was not discouraged. It was the most right-on thing you could have said. It was perfect, because it was the truth.
Budd says it took one-hundred inquiries to publishing houses, and ten outright rejections, until he finally sat down with his manuscript a couple of years ago, rewrote it, and self-published on Amazon.
Budd says writing a book has always been on his list, but it wasn’t necessarily the goal at the time he decided to plan and execute his epic trip.
The backstory is: I’m hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. You have plenty of time to muse on whatever because all you’re doing is walking and looking at scenery. And it came to me one day, Why don’t I try to go to the deepest canyon on each of the seven continents. Because — what’s his name? — Dick Bass and some other guy (David Breashears) were the first people to go to the highest peaks on each continent within a year, and I thought, Well I can’t do that — it’s too expensive and I don’t have the skill. But maybe I could go down to the deepest canyon on each continent — which as far as I know still has not been done — so that became the goal. So it took five or six years to plan it, and then I went and did it.
That’s right. Budd entered the deepest canyons on only six of the seven continents. He went to Asia’s deepest canyon, on the Yarlung Tsangpo River, but was not permitted to enter because it lies on the militarized border between Tibet and India.
Nevertheless, Budd made it to some even more difficult destinations, like the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica.
That was a Russian helicopter trip.
A Russian helicopter trip, mind you, only eight years after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The only way that you’re going to get to the Dry Valleys is to mount your own expedition, which is going to cost you a half-million to a million, or this outfit called Quark, and they did this deal with the Russians to get two of their icebreakers that were decommissioned when the Soviet Union collapsed. So you could go with them and if the weather was right, and if you got lucky, and if the helicopters were working, et cetera et cetera, they would fly you to the Dry Valleys. That was part of their itinerary, but there were no promises. But we got lucky and the weather was okay, and we went.
Budd says it’s unlikely that he’ll write another book. “Canyon Dance” is a check mark on his bucket list for now. But travel is another matter. Visiting seven continents in five months only reminded him that it’s good to see the world.
People everywhere were more alike than we are different. People were friendly and helpful. Either they felt sorry for me — or whatever! But I don’t know that we in this country would be that open and giving to help people out.
And no matter where he goes — either on the map or in print — I would bet that there will be plenty of Jeff Budd in it.
