All Wilderness Volunteer's leaders are volunteers
who generously give of their time and experience to plan and lead
the trips. They are the heart of Wilderness Volunteers! If you
are interested in becoming staff,
read
this
. Sit back and read about this incredibly talented
group of adventurers!
|
| Jane Beckwith's introduction to wilderness
and the active and solitary opportunities that it offers, began in the mid
seventies when she and her young family went west to Oregon. Coming from
the corn fields of Indiana, she had never experienced wild, beautiful and
vast public lands. She gradually moved from "using" them to working
to preserve them as an activist, serving with various environmental organizations
in Oregon. She's thankful Wilderness Volunteers allows the opportunity to
give back to these lands she's grown to love so much. |
|
Ed Belove
hikes, backpacks, paddles,
snowshoes, skis and volunteers in his home mountains of New England
and almost anywhere else that has mountains, desert or canyons (with
a particular fondness for the red rocks of the Southwest). At other
times, he is a technology consultant in Cambridge, MA who enjoys
reading and traveling to places that have interesting museums and
good food. |
|
Tammy Bernardi
was born and raised
in southwestern Pennsylvania and shortly after college took a temporary
job in Colorado and never left! After an extensive career in environmental
consulting, a career change now has her in the evidence section of
a local police department. Her trips with WV serve her ever-increasing
need to escape to the sights and sounds of the natural surroundings
of the outdoors. |
| Carter and Robin Bland are recent transplants
to the Western Slope of Colorado after living and working for many years
in New York City and the Hudson Valley. They have been involved with WV since
2004, and volunteer time for numerous other organizations including Roaring
Fork Outdoor Volunteers, the NY-NJ Trail Conference and the Appalachian Mountain
Club. They are experienced kayaking instructors and enjoy all aspects of
skiing, hiking, biking and paddlesport. |
|
Brian Bone’s
childhood
spent in the hills of East Tennessee made him an avid outdoorsman.
Growing up in Chicago, he always felt drawn to places with vertical
relief – not the steel-and-glass kind – and that pretty much meant
anything but Illinois. In 1998 he headed West with stops in Los Angeles,
then Las Vegas where he learned to love the desert and the mountains
of Utah, and finally to Colorado in 2005, where the Rockies are almost
literally outside his front door. As a mountain biker, backpacker,
backcountry snowboarder, and general trail user, he’s found a great
way in Wilderness Volunteers to give back to the outdoors that have
made him who he is. |
|
Pat
Cohen is a native New Yorker who discovered the great outdoors
later in life. She is currently working in as a naturalist for the
county education system teaching outdoor education to kids and adults,
on a part time basis. Additionally, she works in an acupuncture office,
does volunteer tutoring of ESOL and Literacy to adults, and teaches
two courses as an adjunct professor at Farmingdale State College.
She has been traveling and working with Wilderness Volunteers for
many years and has enjoyed every trip in this journey called life. |
|
Steve Cole
is a retired engineer currently living
in the wide open spaces of the California Desert just outside Joshua
Tree National Park. Steve is an experienced rock climber and ice
climber, and he wandered all over the Sierra Nevada for 15 years
before discovering the desert. He now spends a couple months per
year on the Colorado Plateau doing WV trips, descending technical
canyons and just being there. |
|
Eileen Duncan
lives in San Francisco
and teaches fifth grade in Oakland, CA. She loves backpacking, exploring
remote places, running with the Hash House Harriers, practicing yoga,
rolling big rocks, crushing granite, and identifying wildflowers.
WV gives her the unique opportunity to connect with others while
celebrating the great outdoors and giving something back. |
|
Debra
Ellers
grew up on a farm wandering around the hardwood
trees and fields of eastern Virginia. She now loves wandering the backcountry
of the west with her husband Dale and big dog Syri. Debra has been backpacking
for over 25 years in wild places such as the Seven Devils and White Clouds in
Idaho and the redrock country of Southern Utah. When not backpacking, Debra enjoys
mountain biking and cross-country skiing. After twenty years of working as an
attorney, Debra left corporate life and moved to the mountains where she lives
near McCall, Idaho. She is currently the Executive Director of the Sagebrush
Habitat Conservation Fund, a non-profit organization working to save sage-steppe
landscapes of the American West to benefit native wildlife through voluntary
conservation.(Top) |
|
Clarence Elstad
took an early buy out from Verizon Communications and retired in Mukilteo, WA.
He has been involved in volunteerism since 1994 and is currently a certified
leader of hiking, backpacking, scrambling, snowshoeing, cross country skiing
and kayaking. He’s led
trips for WV for in several places in the SW, WA, ID and MN for the past 11
years as well as WTA (Washington Trails Association) for several years. One
of his real loves is canoeing the "Lewis and Clark area of the Missouri
River in MT. He
is also busy doing several international trips a year. |
|
Julia Estigoy’s
work as a massage therapist
keeps her grounded along with her commitment to service and volunteerism.
It’s those things that teach her compassion. Her love of all things
Hawaiian, especially hula, keeps her joyful. She’s eager to learn
new things and discover hidden talents but not driven to master any
of it. The journey alone is enough. It is the way she walks through
life…by living small and being kind, by treading lightly and giving
back. Her goal is not to leave a big footprint but rather to blend
in with the colors of life. |
|
Stephanie Flores
lives in Houston,
Texas and works full time for the hometown airline Continental. When
not working, she loves to travel the world and is always up for an
adventure. New addiction: Triathlons. |
|
Dale
Grooms
lives in the mountains outside McCall Idaho. There,
he spends time with his best friend, companion and wife Debra
and their Kuvasok Syri (big white dog). Together, they
are fun dogs, loving sports that use muscle, wind or gravity.
In his prior life, Dale was an engineer for a large company that
swallowed him up, leaving little time for personal creativity.
Now he is trying to free his artistic side and really enjoys
spending time with the great people he meets with WV.
(Top) |
|
Fred Hanson
lives
in Bloomington, Indiana and does computer work for Indiana University.
He hikes in the Hoosier National Forest or various state forests
most Saturdays. He has participated on more than 15 trail building/maintenance
trips mostly in the west and has been the co-leader on three Buffalo
National River trips. He also enjoys amateur astronomy and learning
to play the dulcimer. |
|
Susan Holling
combines a love of food
and cooking with an outdoor experience to find her little bit of
heaven. A native Oregonian, she loves to be outside and especially
meeting other outdoorsy people who don't mind working hard. She has
several WV trips under her belt and looks forward to many more. |
|
Peyton
Hutton
lives in Northern Virginia, and friends call him a
"bulldozer in hiking boots" when clearing paths along the Appalachian
Trail. He enjoys backpacking, canoeing, and mountain biking,
and has learned that vegetarian food isn't all that bad. |
|
Bob
Jackson
lives in Grayslake, IL (a suburb of Chicago). He has
led a number of trips in the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness of
Northern Minnesota/Canada and backpacking trips in the west and in the midwest. He enjoys canoeing, fishing, hiking, biking,
skiing and most anything outdoors. |
|
Jen
Jackson
lives
in Moab, UT, where she tries to balance life as a writer, wilderness
explorer, environmental activist, and reference librarian as gracefully
as possible. She is madly in love with her redrock home and is likely
hiking its expanses as you read this. |
|
Richard
Johnson
lives near Seattle and spends far too much time writing
software. He has a chronic attachment to trail maintenance and likes
it almost as much as hiking. |
|
Steve
Jones
enjoys living in SW Montana and exploring
the Yellowstone backcountry with family and friends in all seasons.
Blacksmithing and timber framing keeps him in blisters and splinters.
(Top) |
|
Maidie Kenney is from Oregon and Northern California. She has been
backpacking since 1970, and is always looking an opportunity to be in the wilderness.
She also enjoys photography and travel. She works at REI and loves to share
her knowledge and enthusiasm with others. She is excited to have found a venue
of stewardship for the lands she enjoys. |
|
Jennifer
Konop
lives in Omaha, Nebraska. She enjoys doing
anything active including hiking, running, biking and daily gym workouts.
Jennifer has considerable experience hiking in the Green and White
Mountains in the East, and has participated in trips in the Sierrasand
the Grand Tetons. She looks forward to any opportunity for travel
andoutdoor experiences. |
|
Bill
and Sue Koenig are from the Chicagoland area. They are
active in hiking, biking, running, swimming, and canoeing. They
have lead WV trips to Arizona, Michigan, Colorado, New Mexico
and Wyoming. Sue had also volunteered on WV trips to Washington
and California. Sue and Bill have also participated in service
trips with other volunteer organizations including helping out
in New Orleans, Cedar Rapids, and Nashville after those areas were heavily flooded. |
|
Misha
Kokotovic
is hopelessly addicted to the red rock canyons
of the Colorado Plateau, where he once worked as a park ranger. Though
he has also been known to scramble up the occasional peak in the Sierras
and the Southern Rockies, he requires regular fixes of Navajo sandstone.
He currently supports his habit by teaching at the University of California,
San Diego.
(Top) |
|
Tom
Laabs-Johnson
has been camping since childhood; horse pack
trips, canoeing, hiking, biking, but solo backpacking is the favorite.
He lives outside of Salt Lake City, working in a psychiatric children's
hospital where his office walls disappear into posters and pictures
of Southern Utah.
(Top) |
|
Mike Leonard
hails from northern New
Jersey and spent his childhood enjoying the outdoors - which, contrary
to popular belief, do exist in the Garden State. He's been involved
with Wilderness Volunteers since 1999 after stumbling across a brochure
in an outdoor store, and has been hooked ever since. Having taken
trips through New Mexico, Montana, California, Idaho, and Colorado,
he's looking forward to heading to Alaska someday soon, and is excited
about getting young people onto the trail. In between his graduate
studies at Columbia University in New York City, he enjoys photography,
hiking, canoeing, and wrestling - and the occasional trip to the
Bronx Zoo. |
|
Frank
MacMurray
was a Forest Service smokejumper before attending
law school. He enjoys flyfishing, birding, hiking and rafting. He's
volunteered for a number of outdoor organizations, and is currently
a Wilderness Volunteers Board member.
(Top) |
|
Dudley
McIlhenny
is originally from Manhattan where he was a management
consultant, only at ground level when walking to work. Since relocating
to Utah, he has turned to volunteer activities but, more importantly,
has discovered the wonders of hiking, rafting, and back country skiing/snowshoeing
and is now much more connected to the earth. |
| Dennis McKane was born and raised in southern New Jersey. He enjoys hiking, backpacking, paddling and skiing. In addition to serving as a WV leader, where he gets to see and spend time in wild places nationwide, Dennis also volunteers for the Appalachian Trail Club and Habitat for Humanity, and is a member of Adirondack Mountain Club, Appalachian Mountain Club and New York-New Jersey Trails Conference. |
|
James McLean
has been
doing WV trips for five years and has loved every one. He’s a pre-med
microbiology student working for University of Arizona Medical Center
as a patient care technician and is an Arizona state certified EMT.
He spends free time rock climbing and training in mixed martial arts
with a focus in Brazilian jiu jitsu.
(Top) |
|
John
McLean
is an
Arizona native, who has been hiking and climbing throughout Arizona
and California for over 35 years. He loves to crush rocks and destroy
invasive species (but in a good way).
(Top) |
|
Gayle
Marechal
is a retired English teacher who promises not to
make you work harder on his trips if you use a double negative
or split an infinitive, but he will cook you a great meal after
a hard day’s work and tell you where to find good, cheap eats in
Portland, Oregon, where he lives with his wife and two cats. Gayle
has been leading WV trips since 2000 and prior to that was a trip
leader with the Sierra Club. He’s an experienced backpacker and
an avid hiker. When he’s not leading WV trips he’s hiking somewhere
in or around Portland, skiing, snowshoeing, road biking, or hanging
out at Mt. Tabor Park trying to get one more look at either Mt.
Hood or Mt. St. Helens.
(Top) |
|
Don
Meaders
lives in Albuquerque and is happily retired from his work in the commercial construction industry. Don has worked in North Kaibab
for over 20 years and has perfected the technique of "McClouding." He's one of the few who
can carry a 24-lb rockbar uphill for miles. |
|
Brian Miller
has been
a fan of the outdoors since discovering solace wandering the woods
of Michigan during his wayward youth. A brief stint in the Boy Scouts,
along with family vacations spent in a pop-up trailer, nurtured his
love of nature and exploration. Moving west after realizing the wonder
of California and its lack of dreary winter snow, Brian has spent time
hiking and backpacking in the Sierras, Rockies, the Great Basin,
the Colorado Plateau along with the Hawaiian Islands. |
|
Curt
Mobleyis an oceanographer living in Sammamish, Washington.
He has been leading Wilderness Volunteers and Sierra Club trips
for a decade and is a certified Wilderness First Responder. His
main outdoor activity these days is sea kayaking in exotic locales
around the world, although his next big adventure will be a trek
in Nepal in the fall of 2011. He dreams of retiring and paddling
from Seattle to Juneau.
(Top) |
|
currently works at Grand Canyon National Park
as the Volunteer Coordinator; he misses his time
as the Backcountry Ranger at Saguaro National Park - but seasonal
life was just too iffy. Now that he is in the mountains, he
can get some serious training in for the Tour de Tucson (111miles)
-- it will be number six.
(Top) |
|
Ashely
Northcutt
lives in Mesa, AZ, where she bides her time between
adventures. She likes skiing, hot springs and surly cats. She's done
WV trips in WA, AZ, CA, HI and MN.
(Top) |
|
lives in Flagstaff, and has a passion for exploring the Colorado Plateau by foot, raft
and bike.
(Top) |
|
was born and raised in the only state in the union
without a National Park or Forest. Reports indicate that his recovery
is coming along nicely.
(Top) |
|
Dave Pacheco has led WV trips since 1998 and has worked for over 20
years as a grassroots environmental organizer. Dave enjoys meeting new people
with interests in volunteering, exploring new wild places, fishing, hiking,
and snowshoeing. He proudly gives something back at his day job as Executive Director for Wilderness Volunteers from his home-office in Salt Lake City. |
|
is recently transplanted to northern Arizona from Oregon,
and is enjoying exploring her new digs on the Colorado Plateau. She
works for the Kaibab National Forest as a Recreation/Wilderness Specialist,
and has been involved in wildland management for 21 years. When she
doesn't get out of the office enough she likes to get her Wilderness
fix by volunteering on restoration, cleanup, archaeological site protection,
and trail maintenance projects. She dabbles in just about every human-powered
outdoor activity you can legally do in wild places, and is a self-proclaimed
solitude junkie.
(Top) |
|
Ruth
Rosenstein
is a native New Yorker who enjoys the freedom of
backpacking in the wilderness. Always looking for an excuse to travel,
she is an avid camper and hiker seeking wildflowers, mountain lakes
and grand vistas. In her sparetime, she is a triathlete and a Boy
Scout leader.(Top) |
|
Rick Russman
has hiked, biked or kayaked
in every area of the United States and when not playing in the White
Mountains of NH, leads trips in the southwest and Rocky Mountains.
He is a certified Wilderness First Responder.(Top) |
|
Ruth Sarvis
works as an insurance agent
weekdays and spends weekends exploring Western Washington with her
family. She is an avid hiker in the
Cascades and is encouraging her daughter and nieces to explore the outdoors year round. |
|
Patricia
Schaffarczyk
retired from working for Fremont Unified School
District. She loves to hike around the Bay area where she lives, and
backpacks in the Sierras. For a number of years she has participated
in Wilderness Volunteer trips in Hawaii, Oregon, and Arizona, to join
others in giving back.(Top) |
|
Bill Sheppard
has staffed over 100
trips for the Sierra Club and Wilderness Volunteers since 1990. These
trips have been in wilderness areas spanning the continent and have
involved trail construction and maintenance, invasive species removal,
fence repair and removal, archeological survey and documentation,
and many miles of backpacking, hiking, and canoeing.(Top) |
|
Shelly Steadman grew up in Wyoming and has lived in Colorado
for the past 10 years. She enjoys exploring and the adventures of backpacking,
bicycling, running, skiing and triathlons (and just about anything else that
can get her to the outdoors!). She is a past participant and has been a leader
with Wilderness Volunteers for the last couple of years, and is excited to work
with and meet people who share the same passion for the outdoors.(Top) |
| David Taylor lives and grew up in the Coeur
d’ Alene, Idaho area. He takes advantage of the abundance of hiking and biking
opportunities in the North Idaho area and the easy access to camp and hike
in the National Parks of the Northwest and Northern Rockies with a special
affection for Glacier National Park. |
|
Mark Viglianco grew up in North Carolina and moved to Arizona in the
early 1990's after getting a taste of the West on a "temporary" work
assignment. He was hooked on Wilderness Volunteers after his first service trip
to the High Sierras in 2001 and has been leading trips annually ever since. Mark
takes to the outdoors whenever possible, whether it be hiking, biking, or skiing,
and especially enjoys exploring the Wilderness Areas, National Parks, and other
public lands that WV serves. |
|
Cheryl
Walczak
originally from Chicago, has been interested in
the beauty and history of the West since family vacations as a child.
Now based in Utah, she has been associated with Wilderness Volunteers
since 1999, enjoying trips in Utah, Texas, and Oregon. She'll explore
just about anywhere her two feet will take her.(Top) |
|
Jeanne
Whiting
is a lifelong resident of California. She scuba dives
and has explored several marine areas in the western world. She has
rafted 4 different Alaskan rivers, one above the Arctic Circle. Jeanne
has participated in a number of Wilderness Volunteer trips, occasionally
adding surprise desserts to the menu.
(Top) |
|
Paul
Whiting
is a native northern Californian who has hiked and
backpacked extensively in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and is an avid
historian of the northern Sierra gold mining camps. He enjoys locating
and navigating lost trails to forgotten mines and camps. Paul enjoys
just about any activity that takes him into the wilderness. |
| Caroline Williams lives and works in the shadow
of Pikes Peak. The transplanted former Army Brat enjoys mountain & road
biking, hiking, camping, skiing, and exploring the outdoors as much as possible;
and has a weird knack of getting injured, operated on and stitched up exclusively
on the left side of her body. She got hooked on WV in 2008 and is becoming
fast-addicted to giving back. |
Kathleen Worley
grew up in Reno, Nevada, which perhaps explains her love of the
high desert as well as the granite spires and crystal clear lakes
of the Eastern Sierra Nevada. She has done WV trips in Nevada,
Utah, Oregon, California, and Hawaii. When not outdoors, she is
either onstage or teaching theatre at Reed College in Portland,
OR.
(Top)
|
