Lisa Kearsley is a biologist, outdoor educator, and natural science illustrator. She worked for the National Park Service at Grand Canyon and conducted research along the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon for a number of years, then came to experience rafting on the San Juan. As she strove to learn about the San Juan, she compiled all the information she would like to know about it into this guidebook. She now leads outdoor and backpack trips mainly at the Grand Canyon. She lives in Flagstaff, Arizona, with her husband, Mike, and sons Ian and Jak.
Wayne Ranney is a geologist, river and trail guide, and author who lives in Flagstaff, Arizona. He supported his many years of formal geologic training by working on the San Juan River where he has completed well over 100 trips. Wayne is a former professor of geology at both Yavapai and Coconino Community Colleges and Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. He also lectures on numerous worldwide expeditions. He is the author of Carving Grand Canyon: Evidence, Theories and Mystery, which details the evolution of the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. Wayne still enjoys running the San Juan River and wrote the geology section of the guidebook.
Christa Sadler is a geologist and paleontologist, author, river and wilderness guide, and outdoor educator who has worked in Arizona, Utah, California, Montana, Alaska, Mongolia, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. In all the amazing places she’s been fortunate enough to visit and work, the San Juan River ranks near the very top. She’s been working as a guide on the San Juan since 1987, and she sees something new and wonderful every time she’s there. Christa is the author of Life in Stone: Fossils of the Colorado Plateau, which examines the extraordinary history of life in the Four Corners region through its fossil record. Christa wrote the fossil section of the guidebook.
Shiva Press takes its name from Shiva Temple in the Grand Canyon. In the 1960's and 1970's Lisa's father, Joseph Hall, studied Kaibab Squirrels on the North Rim, so her family spent summers there. In August 1963, Joseph and his brother climbed to the summit of Shiva Temple. The view and beauty of the Canyon from there astounded him, and Shiva Temple became the most revered place in the world for him. Many years later Lisa hiked to Shiva Temple with friends in honor of her father’s memory and to visit this special place. Because of these connections to Shiva Temple and in remembrance of her father, she has named this publishing company Shiva Press.
