All over the map! I was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on August 22, 1947. At the age of thirteen months I was on a ship heading for Panama. My father was an engineer in the Air Force, so we moved every two or three years. From Panama we moved to Falls Church, Virginia, where I started school. By third grade we were living in Anchorage, Alaska. We moved to northern California during my fifth grade year. My first three years of high school were in San Antonio, Texas, and then I graduated from high school and college (Stanford University) back in California.

Did you like school?

It was hard being “the new kid” so much, but I liked school just about everywhere we went. I had some terrific teachers. The best part of school for me was reading, whether I was doing it for a class or just for my own enjoyment. I liked natural science and social studies quite a lot; math was always a struggle.

What were your favorite books?

Call it Courage, the Doctor Doolittle books, Marguerite Henry's horse books, the Jim Kjelgaard dog books, the Hardy Boys and the Tom Swift books, the science fiction of Jules Verne. I liked Tom Sawyer a lot. My all-time favorite was Treasure Island.

Did you play sports?

Mostly just sandlot baseball, pickup basketball, and touch football. Baseball was my favorite—I was an outfielder and a pitcher. I peaked early, when I pitched a championship game in the Alaska Pee Wee leagues and was awarded a ball signed by the Seattle Rainiers. In Little League I struck out the side in nine pitches once. Maybe I should've kept at it, but I was drawn more to adventures in the back country—hiking, fishing, canoeing.

Did you always like hiking and camping?

Yes. In California I went to camp for two weeks every summer in the Sierras. My first long backpack trip, when I was 12, was near Emigrant Gap, where there were all sorts of artifacts from the pioneers lying around. That sure made an impression on me. When we were in Texas, my Explorer group did a two-week canoe trip in northern Minnesota's Boundary Waters. It was fantastic! For four summers, mostly when I was in college, I was a ranger (guide) and camp director at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. One of those summers I had a horse. I would ride around the high country and take kids inside the richest gold mine in New Mexico history.

What were you like as a kid?

Sometimes I was outgoing, sometimes shy. My love for wild animals goes back to the bears, the moose, and the salmon runs in Alaska. In California, after I finished my paper route, I'd go exploring in the hills, mostly looking for gopher snakes and king snakes. My sixth grade teacher always wanted one for the classroom terrarium. When one was feeding, he'd stop class and let everyone watch. After awhile I'd let the snake go and replace it with another one.

If you could be an animal, which one would you choose?

That's a tough one! Let me be three, so I could switch from land to sea to air. That would be the ultimate. On land I'd be a griz, of course. You've noticed from my books that I have a thing about bears. In the sea, can you guess?

Giant squid?

That wasn't my first choice. I'd be a sea turtle. In the air, I'd be a peregrine falcon, so I could see the world.

What are your favorite foods?

Fresh fruit and Mexican food.

How about a favorite color?

I'd have to say blue, all shades of blue. I like turquoise, robin's egg blue, teal, light blue, navy blue, old blue jeans . . . you get the idea!

As a kid, did you ever do anything dumb that ended up years later in one of your books?

Once I bought a ticket for a movie and then stood in line with my friends waiting for the doors to open. When I finally got to the ticket-taker, I realized I had been chewing my ticket. It was now a spitwad. That happens to Clay Lancaster in my book, The Big Wander.

What are your hobbies?

Backpacking, whitewater rafting, sea kayaking, fishing (catch and release), truck camping in Canada and Alaska, gardening, reading, learning about archeology, natural history, and paleontology.

Where do you live now?

Southwestern Colorado. I've lived here since l973. I love living in this area because everything is so close: mountains, canyons, rivers. We're in the Four Corners area, where Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah all touch. Our house, which you can see in the photo, is at the very edge of Durango, bordering a large wildlife preserve. From our windows we see elk, deer, eagles, bears, even an occasional mountain lion.

Ten, rowing my own whitewater raft. It's usually an 18-day trip. I figured out once that I've spent over six months of my life in the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River.

What's the biggest adventure you've ever had?

Once my wife, Jean, and I rafted the Grand Canyon all by ourselves. I had run those big rapids before, but when you're alone down there, you're in a whole other dimension.

Is it true you were a teacher?

I sure was, for seventeen years. I taught reading and English, three years in high school and fourteen at seventh and eighth grade, mostly in Durango, Colorado, where I still live. I started writing full time in 1990, after my second novel was published.

Do you miss teaching?

I miss the relationships with the kids, but not grading papers. Teachers have homework too, you know!