A year or so before the Beatles release of “Rubber Soul,” Mark first experienced the magic of the Yosemite backcountry. In the many years and miles since, he remains convinced that few of Earth’s wonders can compare to Yosemite National Park. Besides its unforgettable landscape, Yosemite is remarkably accessible and enjoyable year-round thanks to California’s temperate climate.

Mark is an engineering geologist and geotechnical engineer by profession and has taught college courses in both the Earth Sciences and Civil Engineering. Though born and raised in California, his travels and adventures have taken him to several remote corners of the globe. Mark has spent many seasons in the Alaskan Arctic and lived with the Sherpas of the Himalayas. He has explored the villages of India and rafted Fijian rivers in a hand-made bamboo raft. He has even worked tending camels in the Australian outback and sheep in New Zealand. Mark now lives in the Sierra with his wife and twin daughters, where he enjoys the opportunity to explore backcountry trails and to rediscover the wonder of the mountains through the fresh eyes of his children. He is grateful for the opportunity to guide for Y*Explore and share Yosemite adventures with new friends.

Mark has a keen interest in Yosemite geology and enjoys discussing rockfalls, earthquakes, and the ice-age glaciers that carved and polished Yosemite’s granite. Mark is an avid backpacker and plays the banjo (…badly!) His enthusiasms also extend to “map and compass” navigation, a skill he has practiced for years through the sport of “orienteering.”