Third year Returning Guide
This will be Tom's 6th year in the San Juan Islands and 3rd year guiding for Outdoor Odysseys. He graduated from Lawrence University in 2003 with a degree in Biology. After graduation Tom spent a year and a half overseas, traveling through India, working for an NGO in Nepal, and teaching elementary students science in the outdoor classroom of the Swiss Alps. He enjoys sharing his knowledge and love of the area, and of paddling, with novices and seasoned paddlers alike. The San Juans now hold a place in his heart and he can't help but return year after year.
Solid or liquid, water keeps Tom busy. In the winter, when not paddling on the ocean or the river he enjoys hiking for deep turns in Utah's Wasatch and the Colorado Rockies. This summer, when he isn't on the water, look for him having dinner on the beach with friends or chasing Suzie's Mopeds up Bailer Hill on his bike.
Most amazing outdoor and or wildlife experience you've ever had?
“I would have to say that one of the most amazing wildlife experiences I have had was in the San Juans. We were packing up the boats after breakfast; a seagull with a broken wing had been pacing the shoreline all morning. As I was loading one of the boats I looked up and there was a bald eagle talons extended swooping in to snatch the seagull away. It was an amazing example of a predator prey interaction.”
Most amazing whale sighting?
“Last year on an overcast day I was leading a day trip with a family of three. The four of us were practically the only people on the west side of San Juan Island. We were paddling about a hundred feet off the shore to ride the tidal current. Two resident orcas looked as if they were going to pass between us and the shore but instead turned toward us and passed beneath our two boats as we floated in the current rafted together.”
