Southwestern Backpack Information

For over 40 years Bob has been actively involved with on-foot exploration of Grand Canyon National Park. During the late '70's, usually with his older son Robert or wife, he backpacked most of the north and south rim trails and routes to the Colorado River while connecting a inner canyon route from Lees Ferry to Lava Falls. These exploratory trips were multi-day loops with duration as short as three days and as long as a couple of weeks.
In 1980, he and Bob Cree walked the 225 river miles from Diamond Creek to Lees Ferry. This was probably the first continuous upstream trek through Grand Canyon. The trip took 55 days and resulted in each of them losing 25 pounds. His contacts with professional boaters during that trip convinced him to become a private river runner so his future access to these wondrous places might be both easier and more frequent.
Susan was a long time member of a local climbing club and rock climbed extensively in Arizona during the early eighties. For many years she led dayhikes for the cities of Tempe, Chandler, and Gilbert. Bob organized and led troop backpacks for Phoenix Boy Scout Troop 800 while his sons, Robert and Scott, were growing up. Both have led seven day backpack and van trips for the National Sierra Club.
We've both hiked and backpacked extensively in the Colorado Plateau country of eastern Utah, western Colorado, and northern Arizona. Buckskin Gulch/Paria Canyon, Dark Canyon, Grand Gulch, Escalante Creek, Slickhorn Canyon, Zion Narrows, and Rainbow Bridge are Southwestern USA trips that we've especially enjoyed and repeated frequently. At this time in our lives, Bob's knees preclude arduous backpacking activity but we are still pretty active desert hikers.