Wilderness Volunteers Trip Leaders
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| John Bauer lives in Portland, Oregon, where he is transitioning from the hi-tech world to the environmental sciences. He has backpacked throughout the west, and enjoys mountain biking and birding, but not at the same time. His goal is to arrange a service trip that involves snowshoes. |
| Ruth Claypool Sarvis works for a major insurance company headquartered in Seattle. She is an avid backpacker who enjoys exploring the Pacific NW Mountains and scuba diving the Puget Sound waters. Her husband, Jeff, and dog, Madison often accompany her on the hikes, but want nothing to do with cold water diving. (Top) |
| Pat Cohen is a native New Yorker who discovered the great outdoors later in life. She is currently working in an acupuncture office, volunteer tutoring ESOL and Literacy to adults and teaching management at Farmingdale State University. She has been traveling with Wilderness Volunteers for many years and has enjoyed every trip in this journey called life. |
| Roger Coleman retired in 2001 from Engineering/Program Management in defense missile technology, and more recently, computer product development work. He lives in Sunnyvale, CA. with his wife, Gitte, and cat, Misty. Currently enjoys hiking in the coastal mountains of the Bay area, ski touring in the Sierra's, and traveling to the Northwest to visit grandchildren and helping their parents. He has explored numerous wilderness areas in the past, backpacking within Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and California. Has given back to nature on several WV trips in Washington and Oregon since September 2001. He also enjoys watercolor painting. (Top) |
| 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. |
| Joyce & Rudy Duncan live in Syracuse, New York where both are social workers. They are active in hiking, canoing and backpacking in Canada and in the west. Rudy, a fifth degree black belt, teaches karate and tai chi out of his own studio. (Top) |
| 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 dogs Kaz and Syri. Debra has been backpacking for over 20 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, windsurfing and backcountry skiing. After twenty years of working as an attorney, Debra recently left corporate life and moved to the mountains where she lives near McCall, Idaho.(Top) |
| 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) |
| Ron Harton lives in Fresno, CA. He enjoys backpacking, skiing and snowshoeing in the Sierra Nevadas. He is also into cactus, birds and wildflowers. (Top) |
| John Hoving has recently retired from 25 years of corporate confinement and now can be found hiking, camping, backpacking, canoeing, snapping pictures, enjoying service trips and generally wandering about the American Southwest. |
| 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 Park Ridge (a suburb of Chicago). He has done a number of trips in the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness of Northern Minnesota/Canada. 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. |
| Janet Johnson, a nature writer and educator, is also a Climb Leader for the Mazama Mountaineering Club in Portland. She is an experienced backpacker, biker and crosscountry-skier. (Top) |
| 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 lives in Cincinnati, Ohio (el.540'). Enjoys time with family and friends hiking, camping, canoeing, skiing (a recent free heel convert) and snowshoeing. Other interests include local habitat projects and helping schools utilize renewable energy and sustainable building design. (Top) |
| Jennifer Konop Stevens 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. |
| Minott Kerr Derailed from an academic career studying medieval church architecture and archeology by the lure of whitewater kayaking in Oregon, Minott now works for Metro, the Portland area regional government, specializing in GIS (Geographical Information Systems -computerized mapping and geographical analysis). In addition to boating, biking or hiking, in his free time he collects stove-top espresso and coffee makers, one of which he selects for each WV trip to insure there will be coffee strong enough to stun an ox. |
| Bill and Sue Koenig are from the Chicago area. They are active in hiking, biking, running, swimming, and canoeing. They have done WV trips to Washington, Arizona and Colorado. Sue has also participated in service trips with other volunteer organizations. Bill has been a Boy Scout volunteer and leader for over 18 years. (Top) |
| 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) |
| Jim Lowe has returned to his native roots in the Smoky Mountains after a long career teaching entomology at the University of Montana. Jim has hiked, climbed and paddled throughout the west, as well as in the Appalachians, on his own and as leader of youth and scout groups. Among his many current projects, he serves as a volunteer entomologist with Discover Life in America, has established the Friends of Joyce Kilmer Slick Rock Wilderness. (Top) |
| 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) |
| Tim Manion is an avid cyclist (known for crashing both road and mountain bikes with equal enthusiasm), backpacker, a fumbling 5.7 hardman on the rock, kayaker, and a passionate lover of all things outdoors. He has participated in and helped lead backcountry service projects in Washington, Utah, and Arizona. When not Out There, he lives vicariously and feeds the Habit as an assistant manager for REI in Tempe, AZ., where rumor has it he has sold his soul to the company on the flimsy premise of not yet owning enough gear. (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. |
| 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 has worked in North Kaibab for the past ten years when he can get away from his commercial construction job. He has perfected the technique of "McClouding" and can carry a 24-lb rockbar uphill for miles. (Top) |
| Curt Mobley is an oceanographer living in Sammamish, Washington. His main outdoor interests are road and mountain biking, sea kayaking, and hiking in the desert southwest. (Top) |
| Todd
Nelson 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 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) |
| Debbie Northcutt is the Executive Director of Wilderness Volunteers. She has a passion for exploring the Colorado Plateau by foot, raft and bike. She has the best job in the world, but would rather be outside than working on the website. (Top) |
| Bill Olmsted 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) |
| Robin Rose 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. |
| 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. |
| Janet Sherman lives in Portland and stays fit with yoga, weight training, running, hiking and cycling. She has done wilderness trips in Utah, the Pacific NW and Hawaii. When not working out, she is actively involved the daily care of her very young grandchildren and she studies the art of cake/cookie decorating. |
| John Sherman has received numerous awards for volunteer conservation work. He's an experienced backpacker, canoeist, sea kayaker and XC skier. He has led service trips for the Sierra Club, Oregon Natural Resource Council and Portland Audubon. |
| Bill Swanson been a backpacking enthusiast for more than 30 years, spending most of his time in the Cascades with his dog, who also carried a pack. Thanks to the WV trips he has discovered that a person can actually survive on a vegetarian diet. He derives a great amount of satisfaction from removing barbed wire from Wilderness areas and intends to continue doing so. |
| Mark Viglianco moved to Arizona in the early 1990's after after getting a taste of the West on a "temporary" work assignment. Since then he's spent his free time exploring the region on foot, bike, and skis. He's enjoyed working with Wilderness Volunteers for the past three years on trips in the High Sierra's, Saguaro National Park, and the Escalante. |
| 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. |
| Vince White-Petteruti is an experienced backpacker and service trip leader. He lives in Chicago where he works with a community based nonprofit organization. Vince met his wife on a service trip 20 years ago! Vince is a founding Board Member of Wilderness Volunteers. |
| 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. (Top) |
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Kathleen Worley is an actor
and a professor of theatre at Reed College. An experienced backpacker,
she has a special love of the high country of the eastern Sierra.(Top) |
