Who am I and what am I doing here?  

I was born in Wyoming amidst the cowboys and sagebrush, grew up in Iowa with its vast fields of soybeans and corn, and graduated from the University of Wyoming with a degree in anthropology. Several summers of archaeological research led me to the far corners of Wyoming, Montana, and Mexico; then a cross-country bicycle trip led me down a new, unexpected career path when I went to work for the Adventure Cycling Association in Montana. My most recent cycling-related achievement was mapping Adventure Cycling's Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, a 2,700-mile off-pavement "bikepacking" route that follows the Continental Divide from Banff, Alberta, to Antelope Wells, New Mexico.

I've also worked as a ranger at Devils Tower National Monument and as a wildlife researcher in northwest Montana's Kootenai National Forest. There my duties ranged from the prosaic, such as counting piles of elk droppings, to the far more exciting--like helping to relocate orphaned grizzly-bear cubs from Glacier National Park.

I've explored every national park and monument, national forest, and national wildlife refuge in the Northern Rockies. I've covered--by car, foot, bicycle, horseback, or cross-country skis--more than a million miles in the region over the past four decades. This I've concluded: I like it here. Along the way, I also realized I'd garnered enough geographical knowledge of the region to write a guidebook about it. So that I did--again and again. (Click here to see what I mean.)

Today I live in Teton Valley, Idaho, with my wife Nancy and our critters of the canine and feline variety. It's a great place to be based out of for a guy who thrives on spectacular mountain scenery, deep dry snow, and good people.

You can also check out my blogs, Biking Without Borders and Life in the Tetons. Thanks for tapping in!