Here’s the thing about Grand Canyon: No matter how many glossy brochures try to convince you otherwise, it’s not a leisure travel destination. You can’t actually experience the canyon through the windows of a well-appointed rental car.
You need to get outdoors. Grand Canyon is a place for adventure travel. And that’s what Canyonology Treks provides: Actual adventure travel.
What you’ll experience
On the canyon rim, humans are a permanent presence. In the unspoiled inner canyon, humans are only visitors. Canyonology Treks takes you deep into Grand Canyon on your own two feet, where you can sleep under the stars and experience true wilderness.
On a trip with Canyonology Treks, you’ll traverse Grand Canyon’s backcountry with a knowledgeable, professional guide. You’ll experience firsthand what most people will never even read about. The sound of rapids near a Colorado River beach, the sight of trailside Paleozoic fossils, the sublime beauty of a lingering canyon sunset.
Millions of people visit Grand Canyon every year. Canyonology Treks serves the adventurous few who know that wilderness can’t be experienced from a roadside overlook. It’s actual adventure travel.
What makes us unique
Canyonology Treks is different from other guiding services. We’re about more than just hoofing it to that night’s campsite, pitching your tent, and drawing water.
Unlike other providers, Grand Canyon is our bread and butter: We lead trips exclusively at Grand Canyon National Park. There are countless stories about the history, geology, and ecology of Grand Canyon, and we love telling those stories. It’s the difference a ho-hum hike and traversing across a 500-million-year-old lithified seafloor.
Perhaps the biggest difference? We’re a small business. Your guide isn’t a seasonal employee new to Grand Canyon. He’s the company owner. When you hike with Canyonology Treks, your guide is invested in a great trip.
Our story
After leaving a decade-long career in computational chemistry, Mike Campbell founded Canyonology Treks in 2014. Although Canyonology Treks is a young company, it has a long backstory. Before moving to northern Arizona, Mike and his wife Amanda were avid hikers living in Portland, Oregon. When they met, Mike and Amanda had already spent years living, hiking, and camping across the West. When a job opportunity presented Amanda with the opportunity to return to the Grand Canyon area, they made the leap together. Today, Amanda teaches in Arizona and Mike is a full-time guide.
Mike Campbell is probably the only hiking guide in Grand Canyon who’s benchmarked molecular force field models, instructed chemistry workshops in South America, and swapped a Vanagon transmission in an Iowa barn. In between guiding Grand Canyon hiking trips, Mike has written for various canyon-related publications, including Canyon Views, the quarterly publication of the park’s official non-profit partner organization. He regularly leads classes for the Grand Canyon Association Field Institute, and he also works for the Petrified Forest Field Institute, Grand Canyon Whitewater and Arizona River Runners.