Scott Thybony Commentaries

Theodore Roosevelt was a larger-than-life presence on the American scene in the years leading up to Arizona statehood. Commentator Scott Thybony tells us about the president's first, and most momentous, trip to the Grand Canyon. It would set the stage for the Canyon to become a national park.

Only two people have hiked the full length of the Grand Canyon on both sides along the Colorado River. Flagstaff Commentator Scott Thybony tells us how the first person to accomplish the goal nearly died trying.

Commentator Scott Thybony began putting down roots in northern Arizona when he herded sheep for a Navajo family in the winter of 1972. That spring, he switched from a hogan to a tent on the South Rim and has continued to explore the Grand Canyon ever since. Scott Thybony reflects on the beginning of a lifelong love affair with the Canyon.

 A music teacher from New York state headed west in 1894 and fell in love with a canyon guide.  Ada Bass, I learned, became the first pioneer woman to raise a family at Grand Canyon.  Beyond that I knew little about her, so arranged to meet her great grandson to find out more.  “The Canyon holds a lure,” Robert Lauzon tells me.  “The beauty of the place caught the women.  They were struck by the magnificence, and by the roughness. ”

Flagstaff, AZ – Some places can overwhelm the senses. They're too vast and too beautiful to absorb too often. Commentator Scott Thybony encountered this on a trip to Grand Canyon's remote Point Sublime.

Flagstaff, AZ – People who travel to the Grand Canyon rarely regret turning their backs on the outer world and its endless stream of events. But they still pay attention to one event - sunrise at the rim. Before dawn they gather at Hopi Point, or Bright Angel Point on the north side, waiting expectantly with hushed voices. As commentator Scott Thybony describes, they see it through the lens of a camera, and through the eyes of a scientist.

Scott Thybony – Just this week, a kayaker died in the Grand Canyon. People disappear there all the time. But as commentator Scott Thybony recently learned, traditional Hopi have a different take on those so-called accidents.