Scott Morris

Scott grew up in the suburbs of New York City and discovered nature through the Boy Scouts. Growing up as a scout, he learned to plan and lead backpacking trips on the Appalachian Trail for his friends and peers. These outdoor lessons grew into his passion, and his career. Scott’s first job was leading five-day canoe and hiking expeditions in the northern Adirondacks.

These young pursuits ultimately led him to pursue a degree in adventure education and environmental history at Green Mountain College in central Vermont. Scott's history thesis examined Vincent Schaefer and New York's Long Path, including changing priorities in recreation policy and land management during the 20th century. But his other interests include frontier history and the larger-than-life personalities who established our cultural idea of the American West as a place of unbridled freedom. After college, Scott worked for the National Outdoor Leadership School, and later as a trip leader for student programs in Australia. He is currently pursuing an MFA in creative nonfiction at Goddard College, where he writes personal essays and narrative nonfiction about the outdoors.

Scott guides our Southwest Canyons trips, and is passionate about bringing these austere landscapes to life through the lens of his dad's old Olympus OM-2n camera, as well as the natural and cultural histories inherent in each arroyo and stand of sagebrush. When he isn’t guiding folks through the desert canyons, you’ll probably find him trail running or reading a book next to an alpine lake in his home range of the Sierra Nevada.

Upcoming Adventures with Scott:
Canyons of the American Southwest
Canyons Photography in the American Southwest

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