Meet the Team
“After my first hike with Morgan many years ago, I thought to myself, ‘She's got it!’ Over the years she has immersed herself in all of the things that make Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument extraordinary: archaeology, history, geology, riparian ecosystems, paleontology, and politics. Morgan lives there. She knows the land, the people, and the stories. If you want to explore the Escalante region, you won’t find a more knowledgeable or capable guide. Whether you spend a day or a week with Morgan and Glen Canyon Backcountry Club, the experience is certain to be something special.”
Steve Allen, Author of Canyoneering 3: Loop Hikes in Utah's Escalante and Utah's Canyon Country Place Names.
Morgan Sjogren
Co-FounderMorgan Sjogren is an award-winning author, journalist, and intrepid desert explorer. For over nine years, she’s devoted her life to studying the Colorado River watershed’s complex landscapes on foot, by boat, and in the archives. Morgan, our route mixologist, loves to plan memorable trips that connect geological features and watersheds with human history.
In 2021, she retraced the 1929 Bernheimer Expedition route, the driving force behind Path of Light: A Walk Through Colliding Legacies of Glen Canyon, which won a Utah Book Award and Library of Congress Great Reads Selection. She is the author of two hiking guidebooks, including The Best Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Hikes. Morgan is the winner of the 2026 Ellen Meloy Desert Writer's Award to support her forthcoming books.
Her desert stories and environmental reporting are published in Adventure Journal, Arizona Highways, Backpacker, bioGraphic, Patagonia, Reasons to be Cheerful, Sierra Magazine, and Trails Magazine. Read more at Wild Words (Substack) and MorganSjogren.com.
In 2016 & 2017 Morgan placed in the top-10 at U.S. Trail Running Half Marathon and Marathon National Championships in Moab. She loved running through the canyons so much that she quit racing, and her job, to fully commit to desert exploration.
Morgan is eager to share the value of nurturing a relationship with the desert, both as a human home and critical habitat, through your Glen Canyon Backcountry Club trip.
Aaron Crosby
Co-FounderAaron Crosby is an experienced outdoor educator, backpacker, and public lands steward.
Aaron moved to Utah a decade ago to work with the Escalante River Watershed Project to remove invasive Russian olive. He draws from this experience to share knowledge about the watershed’s ecological wonders and ongoing riparian restoration.
Aaron previously worked as a Forest Service Backcountry Ranger in the Eastern Sierra's Inyo National Forest. He has logged countless stewardship hours with Wilderness Volunteers throughout the West.
Born and raised in New England, Aaron’s hiking career began in the rugged White Mountains of New Hampshire where he summited all 48 of the 4,000-foot peaks. Aaron spent his twenties exploring the urban canyons of New York City. He has traveled off the beaten path all over the world with his backpack.
A natural born entertainer, there is never a dull moment hiking with Aaron. His attention to details, from water sources to the tiniest insect, will ensure you leave your trip with a lasting impression of this unmatched desert landscape.