Mad Desert Trekking Adventure Guides
Adventures guides for Mad Desert Trekking TM, Scottsdale, Arizona, are experts in outdoor trekking, with multi-discipline experience as professional guides in wilderness areas across the country. All Mad Desert Trekking lead adventure guides hold current certifications for CPR and First Aid, Wilderness First Aid or Wilderness First Responder Training.
Explore the desert wilds just like a local with a local Mad Desert Trekking guide who lives and breathes the Sonoran Desert in Phoenix and Scottsdale.
Matt Kalina | Owner and Operator + Adventure Guide
Matt Kalina grew up long-distance running, canoeing, and eating cheese in West Central Wisconsin before pulling up stakes and moving to the dry heat of Arizona in 1999. He has incorporated long-distance hiking, trail running, mountaineering, technical canyoneering and everything else in between, from multi-day backpacking and pack rafting to ultra running and standup paddle boarding into his outdoor exploration pursuits. He continues to explore Western wild lands, taking photos along the way.
Kalina is a professional Arizona adventure guide for a wide range of active-sports disciplines, including hiking, multi-day backpacking, climbing, canyoneering, rappelling, kayaking, stand-up paddle boarding and mountain biking.
Kalina holds outdoor certifications including PADI Open Water Diver, Basic Sailing and Wilderness First Responder. He is a public health volunteer for the Medical Reserve Corps of Maricopa County, an avid wilderness conservationist, member, former chairman and founder of the Canyoneering Committee of the Arizona Mountaineering Club, steward with McDowell Sonoran Conservancy for the McDowell Sonoran Preserve of Scottsdale, and founding board member of Friends of the Sonoran Desert National Monument. He is the first Wilderness Steward of the Arizona Wilderness Coalition assigned to a Wild and Scenic River and the 11,500-acre Fossil Springs Wilderness near Strawberry, Arizona. Kalina is a long-time member and outings leader for Sierra Club, Grand Canyon chapter, and an endorsed partner of the National Concierge Association, Arizona Chapter.
He is owner and operator of Mad Desert Trekking and founder of RadPrime, a marketing agency in Scottsdale.
He and his wife Lisa live near Old Town Scottsdale, Arizona, raise rescued cats, make pizza from scratch every week, run on the Indian Bend Greenbelt Path and ride their beach cruiser bicycles around Old Town Scottsdale, Arizona. They surf when they can, run foot races together across the country and are restoring a vintage 1960s 14-foot camping trailer. They are huge fans of all kinds of live music.
His most vivid outdoor experience? Fording a glacial river in Alaska’s Denali National Park. Matt’s all-time backcountry fear? Being faced with an empty bottle of hot sauce.
Michael Albrough | Adventure Guide
Michael Albrough is an Arizona transplant who grew up in Michigan and made his way to the Valley of the Sun in 2009 from Minnesota, where he spent 13 years in the cryogenic chamber known as the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
After thawing out, he resumed his passion for running, fitness and outdoor adventure. Albrough is a U.S. Army veteran, a long-time fitness professional, NSCA-certified personal trainer and an outdoor adventure guide. He has completed many successful adventure trips in and around Arizona, including hiking Grand Canyon rim to rim, the Nankoweap route — considered one of the most difficult named trails in the Grand Canyon — along with many other epic adventures throughout Arizona and Utah.
When Albrough is not out on the trail, he can be found in the gym, and enjoying time with family, friends and his pack of three beagles. He also runs and and raises funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as a St. Jude Heroes National Ambassador.
Megan Byers | Adventure Guide
Megan Byers grew up in Southwest Colorado, exploring the San Juan Mountains first with her father and later with her three children. Beyers has earned a Bachelor of Science degree in healthy lifestyles coaching from Arizona State University, a Master of Science degree in healthcare and healthcare administration from Colorado State University and currently is working on a PhD in kinesiology and sports nutrition.
Byers has experience as a personal trainer, health coach and in the behavioral health and social work fields. She has worked as an adventure guide in Moab, Utah, where she has lead hiking trips in Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, plus has guided UTV, Jeep and zip-line tours.
“My grandparents lived in Arizona as I grew up, and I always wanted to move here as well,” Byers said. “I moved to Arizona in early 2023 and have lead hiking, mountain biking, paddle boarding and kayaking excursions around the Phoenix area.
“In addition to sharing adventure and good health with others, I love any kind of adrenaline-filled adventure and exploring through travel.”
Jason Blackstock | Adventure Guide
Jason Blackstock grew up in Northern Arizona, but has a profound love for the desert.
“I’m an Arizonan with a love for traveling and adventure, because life is too short for dull stories,” Blackstock says. “Arizona is where I will always call home for its amazing weather and the geological variety.”
Blackstock, who holds a master’s degree in education from Northern Arizona University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona, has completed several trips to the depths of Grand Canyon and Havasu Canyon. Most recently, he has completed a five-day trek on the Inca Trail in Peru.
He and his wife have traveled to Europe, Central and South America, and all over the Western United States.
“Arizona is where I will always call home for its amazing weather and the geological variety,” he says.
When he’s not hiking, he’s typically camping with his family and loyal dog. Plus, he has two energetic sons who keep him busy with scouting and activities.
“And, at the end of a busy day, there’s nothing better than some music, a cold beverage and an Arizona sunset.”
Liz Bologna | Adventure Guide
Liz Bologna grew up in Minnesota and graduated from Iowa State University in 2016 with a bachelor’s of science degree in psychology with a minor in biology in a pre-med collegiate focus.
Bologna worked as a certified nursing assistant in college before moving back to Minnesota and working as a mental health associate and a certified ophthalmic scribe. She moved to the Grand Canyon State in September 2020.
She enjoys exploring the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, hiking, kayaking, standup paddle boarding and playing tennis, soccer and disc golf. She also is a big fan of music, playing the guitar and singing.
Dialinda Campos | Adventure Guide
Dialinda Campos grew up in Texas and moved to Flagstaff, Arizona, in 2004. A cardiovascular stress technician in Metro Phoenix, Campos has worked in the health care industry since 2010, including areas of cardiology testing, injury care and workman’s compensation care.
Campos, a mother of two children, is experienced at stand-up paddle boarding on the Salt River and ghost hunting as a lead paranormal investigator with Arizona Ghost Adventures at historical sites in spooky places, such as Globe, Arizona.
Her favorite areas to hike and explore in Arizona, include South Mountain in Phoenix, Superstition Mountain Wilderness and Grand Canyon National Park, where she has completed a rim-to-rim hike in nine hours.
“My favorite time of day to hike is always sunrise, heading out there under the light of a headlamp at the most ridiculous hours to catch the rising sun,” Campos says.
Jennifer Clack | Adventure Guide
Jennifer Clack grew up in Colorado as a fitness buff, teaching group exercise classes at the local YMCA. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Colorado Boulder before earning an MBA in finance.
Clack worked in the financial services industry for 30 years, spending her early mornings and weekends hiking, jogging and lifting weights. She has climbed the highest peak in Africa—Mount Kilimanjaro at 19,341 feet—and several 14,000-foot peaks in Colorado. She has led hiking teams on rim-to-rim trips in Grand Canyon National Park.
In addition to being a certified personal trainer most of her life, she has earned Wilderness First Aid certification and has trained in navigation and wilderness survival skills.
Clack enjoys volunteer work with her therapy dog CJ, and serves as a volunteer park steward on the hiking patrol team for the City of Phoenix. She participates annually in the Climb to Conquer Cancer at South Mountain Park, Phoenix.
As a hiking guide with Mad Desert Trekking, she enjoys meeting people from all over the world and helping them reach the mountain peaks of the hiking trails in the Valley of the Sun.
Kyndle Cottrell | Adventure Guide
Kyndle Cottrell, a Phoenix, Arizona, native, grew up exploring backcountry wilderness areas across the Grand Canyon State.
In addition to being a river guide for water sports on the Salt River, including rafting, kayaking and standup paddle boarding, Cottrell is an avid hiker, trail runner and backpacker.
She is a veteran Arizona adventure guide who has earned Wilderness First Aid certification.
As a hiking guide with Mad Desert Trekking, she enjoys getting to know travelers from all across the globe and helping people reach their goals whether it is trail mileage or summiting mountain peaks.
Michael Cooper | Adventure Guide
Michael Cooper, is a true local Southern Arizonan, growing up in Mesa, Arizona. He is an experienced hiker, kayaker and human-powered water sports enthusiast. As a certified swiftwater rescue technician, Cooper works as a kayaking guide on the Verde River near Camp Verde, Arizona. He also helps paddlers put in on and take out from the Salt River, near Saguaro Lake, the fourth reservoir on the river, also known as Rio Salado, northeast of Phoenix.
In addition to his wide outdoor leadership experience, Cooper is an avid skateboarder and experienced drone operator.
He has worked as an West Coast regional manager in Chino, California; as an operations manager in Ontario, Calif.; and as a transportation manager in Denver, Colorado, in the food products industry.
Cooper enjoys helping travelers of all abilities achieve their individual hiking goals and expand their outdoor knowledge while they experience the varied landscapes of the Sonoran Desert in the Grand Canyon State.
John Cressey | Adventure Guide
John Cressey, who has lived in Syracuse, N.Y., and Cincinnati, Ohio, traveled to Arizona in 2010 for a winter vacation and promptly decided to move to the Grand Canyon State.
After retiring early as an executive recruiter, Cressey successfully through-hiked the Appalachian National Scenic Trail in 2019, trekking 2,192 miles through 14 states from Georgia to Maine. He describes the backpacking journey as the greatest challenge, adventure and accomplishment of his life. When he is not guiding hiking adventures or trekking on his own, the favorite part of his day is going to CrossFit high-intensity fitness sessions.
Each holiday season in December, Cressey — as his alter ego Camelback Santa — hands out 7,000 candy canes to hikers who reach the summit of Camelback Mountain, Phoenix.
Caitlin Ford | Adventure Guide
Caitlin Ford, an avid hiker and outdoors explorer in Arizona, is enrolled in nursing school, aiming to become a flight nurse in the short term and to contribute to disaster relief efforts through FEMA. She also is undergoing training to instruct yoga.
Ford is a certified massage therapist, massage instructor and life coach, focusing on empowering others to build resilience and prioritize their well-being.
One of Ford’s proudest accomplishments is completing a 50k Spartan Ultra—an experience that pushed her to her limits and marked a major milestone in her personal growth. She is training toward earning a Spartan Shield..
“My journey is about empowering myself and others, embracing adventure and pushing boundaries—both in my career and in my personal pursuits,” she said. “I’m excited for what’s next as I continue to grow and inspire others along the way!”
Derek Gerson | Adventure Guide
Derek Gerson, originally from the Mitten State, a.k.a. Michigan, grew up exploring the northwoods while hiking, mountain biking and fishing. Gerson headed west after graduating with a bachelor’s degree with a parks and recreation management major from Ferris State University.
Gerson has spent his entire career working in the parks and land management field as a park ranger at the federal, state and municipal levels in Oregon, Washington and Maine, eventually landing in Arizona and making it his permanent home base.
Gerson is a CPR instructor with American Red Cross and a Certified Parks and Recreation Professional. He is a recipient of the Commissioner’s Citation for Lifesaving in 2006 from the Ontario Provincial Police for helping save a life on a backcountry canoe trip in Northern Ontario, Canada.
Gerson enjoys exploring the Sonoran Desert and Arizona high country hiking, backpacking and fishing. His favorite desert tree is the Elephant Tree, Bursera microphylla.
As an adventure guide with Mad Desert Trekking, he enjoys meeting new visitors to Arizona and helping them explore the Sonoran Desert and the Valley of the Sun.
Mike Hopkins | Adventure Guide
Mike Hopkins, a trail runner and photographer, has spent time in the outdoors while living in Arizona, New Jersey, Tennessee and Utah.
A higher education professional, Hopkins has worked in academic affairs and institutional research, and as an academic coach and advisor.
A Spanish language instructor, Hopkins has earned a master’s degree in Spanish literature at University of Memphis and a bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering technology from Thomas Edison State University. He also has studied at Brigham Young University and Cochise College. He was a masonry apprentice at Tumacacori National Historic Park.
Lisa Kelly | Director of Operations and Adventure Guide
Lisa Kelly, who has earned a bachelor’s of science degree from the University of Wisconsin-Stout, Menomonie, Wisc., majored in merchandising and management with a minor in business administration.
She was born in San Rafael, Calif., grew up in Anoka, Minn., and has worked in Atlanta, Ga., and Memphis, Tenn. She is an avid runner, hiker and backpacker, has completed several marathons, summitted fourteeners in Colorado and has completed a 14-day roundtrip trek to Everest Base Camp, Nepal.
She has volunteered at a no-kill cat shelter in Phoenix, she and her husband Matt raise three rescue cats near Old Town, Scottsdale, Arizona, and are huge live music fans.
David Roberts | Adventure Guide
David Roberts is an avid hiker and competitive ultra-distance trail runner. He enjoys exploring the outdoors in the Southwest and learning new skills. While running is his primary fitness discipline, he has experience in technical canyoneering, climbing and mountain biking as well.
After growing up in Kansas, Roberts moved to Phoenix with his wife Katie in 2014. He has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Kansas and nearly a decade of engineering experience.
His running pursuits have included finishing several 100-mile trail running events, including top-20 finishes in the Javelina Jundred, Mogollon Monster 100 and Eastern States 100, completion of the 2022 UTMB 100-mile race and a third-place finish in the Barkley Fall Classic 50k. In addition, he has earned several local Aravaipa trail-running course records.
Roberts has completed a considerable number of backcountry adventure trips, including multi-day pack-rafting trips in Montana, week-long backpacking trips in northern Arizona and technical canyoneering trips in Utah, including San Rafael Swell, Moab, Zion and Escalante. He has completed rim-to-rim-to-rim runs of of Hells Canyon, Idaho, and Grand Canyon, Arizona. He enjoys visiting U.S. national parks with his wife and friends in his free time and has ran hundreds of miles of their trail systems.
Jay Schaeffer | Adventure Guide
Jay Schaeffer, who is a hiking, biking and travel enthusiast, has completed marathons, sprint triathlons, running relays and wilderness explorations.
“I grew up in a time when exploring the unknown wilderness and the pioneering spirit was at the forefront of my reality,” Schaeffer said. “As such, I would venture out, experiencing wonder, awe and fear, feeling very much alive.
“After decades of working and watching my family grow up, I am rekindling my spirit of adventure, pursuing outdoor activities, learning more about the environment around me and reconnecting with nature.”
Schaeffer, who had built a career in automotive sales, including as sales director, is also a guide with Wild West Jeep Tours, Scottsdale, Arizona, a member of the Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix, Arizona, and a member of the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.
Joseph Schmidt | Adventure Guide
Joseph Schmidt grew up hiking and backpacking with his older brother in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
His all-time favorite outdoor activities include hiking, trail running, backpacking, standup paddle boarding and playing ultimate frisbee.
He has completed a number of hiking and backpacking trips, including treks in the Rocky Mountains of Western United States, Alaska and Iceland.
Schmidt, who is a Certified Financial Planner™ and a Certified Student Loan Professional™ for Sunrise Personal Finance. He moved to Phoenix, Arizona, in 2023.
His most vivid outdoor experience was feeling the ground shake beneath him while watching a volcano erupt in Iceland.
Henry Ward | Adventure Guide
Henry Ward is a professional adventure guide, ultra runner, running coach, outdoor enthusiast, writer and public speaker.
Ward has completed more than 20 ultra running events of more than 100 miles in distance, including Aravaipa Running‘s Cocodona 250-mile foot race, which has 41,546 feet of accumulative elevation gain.
He grew up in Waltham, Massachusetts, and lives in Chandler, Arizona, with his wife, 10-year-old son, dog and desert tortoise named Rocket.
Ward has written three books, including “Running Without the Devil,” “One Too Many Donuts,” and “One Inch at a Time.” He is a professional speaker and coaches runners of a wide range of abilities.
“I feel like it’s important to do what you want to do,” Ward says. “I am a chef by trade, felt completely burnt out and decided to take this leap of faith. It’s important for me to have the freedom to spend time with my family, train and continue on my writing journey.”
Ward said he looks forward to showing guests traveling from all over the world incredibly beautiful places in the Sonoran Desert of Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona.
Curtis Whipple | Adventure Guide
Curtis Whipple, Texan by DNA, Californian by birth and raised in Arizona, is a long-distance hiker and professional DJ, who has lived for short stints in Minnesota and British Columbia, Canada.
Whipple has worked as an operations manager for a large steel company in Los Angeles, DJ for weddings and corporate events, wedding officiant, host for trivia and music bingo games, cognitive music therapist at assisted living facilities, dueling piano player and entertainer of a cowboy dinner show.
He craves hiking, mountain biking, cooking, gardening, woodworking, collecting rare coins, going to live music and theater, plus reading a couple of books monthly.
Whipple — who first adventured in Arizona in the Boy Scouts of America — hikes 800-1,000 miles a year in the Southwest and typically completes a major multi-day trek or two each summer, including summiting Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, in 2023.
“‘I’m still coming down from the mountain in my heart on that one,” he says.
