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| “Grant’s enthusiasm for the country was
nothing less than infectious. It was a rare treat to spend time with
someone who loves a place so much. Everything was so well organized
. . ” —Terri, October 1997 |
Back in the 1970s, Grant was working as a uranium miner at the far end of the Burr Trail between the Little Rockies and Waterpocket Fold when he first stumbled on the Escalante Canyons and Boulder, Utah. Back then Boulder was a small ranching community of less than 100 people. Grant was 20 when he moved to town and hired on locally. For $10 a day and a place to live he moved sprinkler pipe. A rancher gave him work tending cows in the calving season. He collected seeds in the desert for reclamation and stabilized ruins in Grand Gulch and other places but mainly he explored the Escalante Canyons. He spent those first 15 years hiking and riding his horse, sometimes with friends, sometimes solo, connecting places and trails up and down the river. Back then the old ranchers who wintered in the desert with their stock told stories of years in the canyons and had wonderfully vague trail descriptions: "where that one green tree leans against the canyon wall, head up between the two red boulders..." |
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In the late 80s Grant and Sue were spending Thanksgiving down on the Escalante River when they began to shape Grant's goal of exploring the canyons and sharing it with others. They bought some gear, did a few practice runs on friends and launched Escalante Canyon Outfitters in 1991 with a small string of horses, Grant as head guide and Sue as cook and guide. |
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Many years later, Grant is still in the field from March to October leading all company trips and he wouldn't have it any other way. Grant's enthusiasm for the country and the people who hike with him has never waned. |
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Erika Unhold started guiding for ECO in 2005. She is lured into the canyons spring and fall. In the summer, Erika is a river guide rowing through the Grand Canyon and on rivers in Idaho. In the winter she works ski patrol in northern Utah. Jill Trombley, from Wyoming, joined ECO in 2008 and amazed everyone with her hard work, good cheer and innate understanding of running a back country kitchen. |
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With the birth of Grant and Sue's daughter, Claire, Sue retired from the field in 1996. She runs the office and keeps the wheels turning in the background for ECO. Occasionally, Sue and Claire join a summer trip with other families. For many years, Sue has worked for the Canyonlands Soil Conservation District and is on the Boulder Community Foundation Board of Trustees working on sustainable agriculture initiatives for the Boulder Community Alliance.
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Our guiding force and company philosophy is pretty simple: the more comfortable you feel in the wilderness the better you're able to enjoy these beautiful red rock canyons. Over the years that philosophy has not changed but the world around us has. Exploring the wilderness, the untrammeled earth where we are visitors, is more important than ever. The Escalante Canyons are a wilderness for us to visit, to explore, to soak up, an opportunity to step into silence and beauty. |
 Grant, Doug & Erika in the Camp Kitchen |
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These days you read about green companies and businesses, reducing the carbon footprint, offsetting environmental impact. Here at ECO this is very close to home. Not only are we conscientious back country guides but we strive for low impact in our everyday lives. |
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Growing food for ECO, our family and for the community is a big part of our commitment to a sustainable local food chain. We have farmed organically for over 20 years. If you've been on an ECO trip during the growing season you have, no doubt, eaten from our family farm. We grow many varieties of cucumbers, corn, potatoes, herbs, peaches, nectarines, melons, carrots, scallions, eggplant, zucchini and more but Sue's passion is heirloom tomatoes and sweet red italian peppers. This year Sue and Claire joined other producers from Boulder at the weekly farmers/community market held every Saturday morning at the Burr Trail Grill.
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 Garden |
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In 2007 we moved the company office to our home outside of Boulder and into the rock house that Grant created out of a dome of Navajo sandstone. The rock house is Grant's on-going art project and a demonstration in sustainable architecture. Started in 1995, the interior space, over 5,000 square feet, is now carved. Slowly it is being finished room by room. The interior of the rock, an amazing thermal mass, is cool in the summer and warm in the winter. The Escalante Canyon Outfitters' office, a beautiful and spacious work space, was the first room to be completed in the rock house. |
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Renewable energy, a small hydro turbine installed on our irrigation system, supplies all of our electricity. Communication from the office is via satellite for the internet and cellular for the phone. |
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One place, one focus, one specialty. We don't offer a multitude of activities spread across the globe. We just offer one thing and we do it very well; we explore the Escalante Canyons of southern Utah. |
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