When renowned cartographer and mountaineer Brad Washburn visited the Grand Canyon in 1969, he discovered that existing maps of the area were "inadequate" for either popular or scholarly use. Never one to be deterred, Washburn set about making one. This is the story of his 7-year-long effort, done in close collaboration with the National Geographic Society, Switzerland's Federal Office of Topography, and scores of supporting characters, to satisfy his desire to produce the best map of the canyon -- more precise, more detailed, more beautiful -- than anything that had come before.