Hermit Loop Backpacking: Canyon Stories

Melanie Miles, originally a native of England, was a teenager when she first visited the Grand Canyon and immediately fell in love with its landscape, geology, and natural & cultural history. From her home base of Prescott, AZ, she has more than 30 years of experience as a teacher and naturalist. Melanie leads groups throughout the world, teaching natural history, earth science, climbing, environmental education, and backcountry skills.

Lisa Kearsley came to love the Grand Canyon while spending her childhood summers on the North Rim as her father studied Kaibab squirrels. She moved to Arizona in the 1980s to earn a master’s degree in biology at Northern Arizona University and, like many who have come to Arizona, she never left. She has worked for the National Park Service at Grand Canyon as an interpretive park ranger and as a researcher, studying the effects of Glen Canyon Dam on the river, and she wrote and published a river guide book, the San Juan River Guide. She eventually found that introducing people to the Southwest is her true calling. She now focuses on helping people experience the Grand Canyon by getting them prepared for Grand Canyon river trips and by leading hikes and backpack trips into the canyon. She also is a natural science illustrator, working with pen and ink and watercolor. 

Melissa Giovanni has been exploring the southwest for over 20 years, considers herself a true desert lizard, and loves the heat! She first visited Grand Canyon during her undergraduate geology field camp at the University of Arizona, where she ultimately earned her B.S. in geology. Melissa then moved to UCLA for her Ph.D., also in geology. While her doctoral studies focused on the geological evolution of the Peruvian Andes, she discovered her passion for teaching and while still a graduate student, led her very first field trip to Grand Canyon.

During a decade of teaching geology at two different universities, Melissa was able to develop her field teaching skills in locales all around Arizona, Utah, and Nevada. Currently a professor at the College of Southern Nevada, she teaches both environmental science and geology. She has been invited to speak at public seminars and for private groups all around the Grand Canyon region.

Since joining the Field Institute in 2016, Melissa's love for Grand Canyon, the Colorado River, public lands, and conservation continues to grow exponentially. She comes out to hike the canyon as much as possible - her favorite spots are, well, everywhere she has been so far.

Alexi discovered his love for the outdoors growing up in the hardwood forests of New England. After finishing a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in evolutionary ecology he worked as a seasonal field ornithologist for several research institutes, including the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center before discovering the canyon country of the southwest.  Enchanted by the landscapes and cultures of the Colorado plateau, Alexi has been exploring the geology, flora, fauna, and human history of northern Arizona and southern Utah as a backpacking guide and fervent student of the outdoors.  In addition to guiding, Alexi also contributes to subterranean bat surveys for Bat Conservation International.  Alexi now lives in Sedona, Arizona and spends most of his time in Grand Canyon or recreating in the desert with his dogs.