Wandering Souls: Backpacking Adventures – I am thrilled to assemble and work with this all-star mentoring team. Each is an expert backpacker and guide – they combine extensive first-hand backcountry experience with a passion for learning, excellent people skills, relationship-able family and work life, engaging story-telling and required medical certifications.
Since the program was founded in 2011, I have led 109 trips and spent 511 days in the field with clients. In the first five years, I guided every single trip (58) and spent 76 days in the field. The program has grown significantly since then, but I guide as often as practically possible while staying married and maintaining overall quality—it’s the most fun and rewarding aspect of my work.
Wandering Souls: Backpacking Adventures
My goal on every trip is to empower clients with outdoor skills and knowledge so they can be self-sufficient, lead a group, and confidently undertake their own future trips. It is an added benefit if I can learn from my group, have fun and explore a new setting.
Meet Our Hiking And Backpacking Guides
In my thirties, I focused on high routes and long distance running. I wrote guides and guides to four off-trail backpacking routes in the High Sierra, Wind River Range, and Colorado Rockies. I completed six 100-mile races, and set the fastest known time on the Pfiffner Traverse. In my forties, I haven’t slowed down yet — I ran 2:27:59 (5:38/mile pace) and placed 83rd in the 2022 Boston Marathon.
I grew up in Dallas, Texas but spent most of my childhood summers in Colorado, where I fell in love with the great outdoors. My career as an outdoor educator began in the summer between college when I began leading canoe expeditions through Quetico Provincial Park, just north of the boundary waters.
After graduation, I traveled and worked internationally, taking long biking and hiking trips during the week. During those early years, I developed a deep respect for adventure travel, as well as the wilderness experience, and I firmly believe in the innate connection between outdoor exploration and self-reflection and growth. By the time I moved to southwestern Utah in 2018, I had lived and worked on several continents, with most of my time spent in Catalonia, Spain, Zambia and Zimbabwe, Patagonia, and Southeast Asia.
Southern Utah’s dramatic landscapes deepened my love for rock climbing, and it was also here that I discovered a new passion: canyoneering. I find exploring slot canyons intoxicating, and have been privileged to share that passion with others for the past six years as a canyon guide and AMGA climbing instructor based in Zion National Park. This will be my first season working with Andrew Skurka Adventures, and I am thrilled to teach technical rope skills in a multi-day backcountry setting. Time spent outdoors is a great way to pass the time, and the connections you make with others along the way are some of the strongest bonds I’ve ever had.
How To Hike The Ausangate Trek Without A Guide
When I’m not working as a guide or instructor, I plan my own outdoor adventures with friends. In the past two years, those escapades have included climbing big walls in the Spanish Pyrenees, backpacking the Wind River Range, backpacking the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, and bikepacking the White Rim in Canyonlands National Park.
I started with Andrew as a client in 2018. Less than a year later, I got my first guiding assignment in West Virginia after helping Andrew convince me that understanding and appreciating the landscape go hand in hand and should be an important component of any backpacking curriculum. . This is especially true in the east where there isn’t a lot of scenery, but there sure is a lot of plant life.
My guiding goals on every trip are to bring the landscape to life for the clients; to impart my knowledge of the geology, vegetation, and social history of West Virginia; And above all, to spark wonder and curiosity.
I am excited to return to WV for my sixth consecutive season making me the longest serving Skurka guide in this part of the world. My personal backpacking resume includes loops of the Long Trail, Sierra High Route, West Highland Way, Cotswold Way, and Wind River High Route and the Piffner Traverse, as well as countless other trips on both coasts and all points in between. My most recent personal project is climbing all 14 of the Colorado, and I’ve completed about 49! In my 9-5 life outside of backpacking, I run Carbon Capture Inc. I am the Director of External Affairs. A startup company that is designing, manufacturing and deploying machines to filter carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere.
Alpine Wander:lust — Soulflower
I have been involved with Andrew’s program since 2020 in multiple capacities including logistical support, program design, instruction and mentoring for the Plan Like a Pro course. In a previous life, I was a Foreign Service Officer at the State Department and had the opportunity to explore more than 60 countries while serving at the US Embassies in Egypt, Cyprus, and Pakistan.
As a Registered Maine Guide for Whitewater and Recreation, I lead rafting trips, wildlife canoe tours and guided hikes in the Pine Tree State. I enjoy sharing my passion for the outdoors and helping others push the boundaries to understand that valuable, positive and memorable backcountry experiences can be had anywhere with the right skills and mindset.
Along with a 98-day thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail, I summited Mount Kilimanjaro, hiked the West Highland Way, Fastpack in the Himalayas and trekked around New Zealand, South Africa and the US, which I picked up while abroad. Passionate about endurance athletics and regularly competes in ultramarathons around the world at 50k, 50-mile and 100-mile distances. I write about hiking, trail running, and fastpacking at publications like Fit For Miles, TheTrek, and TheStringbean.co. .
This coming season will be my fifth year guiding with Andrew, but for twenty years I have taught backpacking skills for NOLS and helped develop the NOLS lightweight backpacking program. In that capacity, I have had the honor of backpacking and training a diverse range of participants, including NASA astronauts, MBA students, US Marines, and Google executives. I am also a river guide rowing expedition rafting trips in the Grand Canyon. As a mentor, I am inspired by the fact that our lives are richer for the experiences we share with others and I believe that expeditions either succeed or are largely unsuccessful together.
The Sangre De Cristo Range Is Not For The Casual Hiker
When I’m not guiding I do a little personal adventuring. In 2021 I completed almost all of the off-trail end-to-end hikes of the Grand Canyon in 52 days. Additionally I enjoy long packrafting trips in the Arctic and canyoneering explorations of the Colorado Plateau. Plus, it turns out that lightweight backpacking systems work exceptionally well for bikepacking and backcountry elk hunting! When possible, between backcountry trips, I serve on the command team of my local search and rescue unit in Wyoming.
I grew up in the lowland woods of PA and fell in love with the alpine when my family first started backpacking on the grassy Appalachian Bald. Since then, I’ve spent my life trying to stay above the treeline.
I moved to Colorado for college, where I studied ecology and journalism and started guiding. Since 2011, I have guided over 220 days in a wide range of mountain sports: rock climbing, mountain biking, mountaineering, whitewater, backpacking, backcountry skiing, map and compass, photography, etc.
In my free time, I’m always planning my own adventure routes – in summer, remote off-trail routes along glaciers and summits; In winter and spring, backcountry ski traverses and linkups. Over the past few years, I have:
Wandering In The Himalayas: A Trekker’s Paradise
When I’m not guiding, I work in natural resource conflict resolution and as a freelance photographer and writer, on stories about the relationship between people and place, particularly as it relates to identity and mental health. In 2023, I earned a masters degree in environmental journalism and natural resource conflict resolution.
As a mentor and storyteller, I am empathetic, prioritize clear communication, and love to collaborate and empower people with new information and skills. I love sharing experiences with others in the backcountry and I’m excited to see you there!
Ready to be a guide in the Brooks Range even if the storm is blowing! June 2023.
Since joining ASA in 2021, I have spent 126 days in the field with clients in Utah, Alaska, California, Colorado, and West Virginia. In early 2023, I assumed the role of Co-Director of the company.
Two Roaming Souls
As a guide and outdoor educator, my goal is to empower individuals with the knowledge, experience, and confidence to safely make their own trips. I enjoy teaching risk-management, sharing about local flora and creating a group environment where everyone feels safe.
In addition to mentoring and co-director at ASA, I run my own business as a holistic health coach, where my mission is to help others feel their best – on trial and off. I am the creator of the Backpacker Academy online courses and the author of the backpacking guide Adventure Ready: A Hiker’s Guide
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