Mike was raised in the suburbs of Portland, Oregon in the shadow of Mt. Hood (whenever the Pacific Northwest skies cleared enough to allow such things as shadows). His mother didn’t drive, so walking was a way of life for her, as it was for her young son in tow. When Mike reached driving age, he began to explore further afield, hiking, backpacking, and climbing in the Cascades of Oregon and Washington. He further honed his outdoor skills while attending Seattle Pacific University. After college, Mike relocated to the high desert of Reno, Nevada, where he was drawn to the beautiful and sunny Sierra. This opened the door to many fine adventures, which included hiking forays into the four corners of his adopted state of Nevada. In the early 1990s, Mike left his last “real” job (with an engineering firm), and began writing full time about the outdoors. His first project for Wilderness Press was an update and expansion of Luther Linkhart’s classic guide, The Trinity Alps. He then authored Nevada Wilderness Areas and Great Basin National Park, followed by the Snowshoe Trails series and Top Trails Lake Tahoe. Mike was also a contributor to Backpacking California, and has written articles for Sunset and Backpacker magazines, and the Reno Gazette-Journal. Mike passes on his accrued outdoor wisdom to students in hiking, backpacking and snowshoeing classes at Truckee Meadows Community College. He continues to live in Reno with his wife, Robin, and their two boys, David and Stephen, along with their yellow lab, Barkley.