Heath has always been an outdoors lover, wondering wherever he wanted and never getting lost. It all started from when he was in second grade living in the Mojave Desert. Heath’s family house was the last house before the open desert. He spent every minute away from school out there hunting snakes, lizards, jackrabbits, scorpions, desert tortoises, and more. A canteen, walking stick, and a natural gift for navigation is all Heath needed out there.
Around 1988 Heath was hired as a surveyor, building Solar plants even further out in the desert by Edwards Air force Base. Surveying seemed to be a natural for Heath. He learned how to stay found and excelled at setting and locating positions on the earth. Heath set control and grade for the construction of nine large Solar Energy Generating Stations (SEGS) from 1988-1992.
Heath began his inauguration into backpacking around 1992. He loaded up an external frame pack with 75 pounds of gear (he has learned so much since then) and climbed a very rocky mountain area that the locals called Sawtooth. Heath set up camp on a cliff edge overlooking hundreds of miles of desert. There was just nenough room for his tent and a fire. That night, Heath woke to something slapping him in the face. It turned out that a storm that had snapped the poles on his crummy 10 pound tent was causing the tent to slap him in the face. Heath had to pack up and hike out by the light of an REI candle lantern – which he still has for nostalgia sake. Heath remembers hearing coyotes howling in the near distance and was wondering if he was ever going to make it down that mountain, fighting the rain and wind. Well, he did.
Once the surveying at the SEGS dried up, Heath moved away to a surveying school in Denver, Colorado. After graduating, Heath became employed by many different surveying companies,working on a myriad of projects. The largest of these projects being the construction of the Denver International Airport. Heath surveyed freeways, mass rural and rugged lands, mining claims, subdivisions all over Denver, as well as pipelines and oil wells in Wyoming.
in 1993 Heath began off-trail navigation backpacking for the first time. Heath and 6 others were dropped off close to an overlook in Rocky Mountain National Park. Using map and compass, Heath led the group straight down, some two thousand plus feet, to the Big Thompson river below. The descend was so steep that the bottom of Heath’s pack kept hitting the ground and almost flipped him over and down the mountain. This trip took some real skill navigating once they got to the thick stuff in the bottom of that valley, bushwacking. A lean-to shelter was constructed, tables were made, and they lived off the land. a few of the fish caught were stolen by weasel-like Martins.
The hike out was just as grueling. There was a storm passing through, compete with thunder and lightning. There was also a spooked herd of about 75 elk running down the slope about 125 yards from Heath. What a thundering sight! Heath will never forget that trip. Heath’s time in Colorado was very conducive to his outdoor skills. Heath hiked many more off-trail trips and even managed to climb a few fourteen thousand foot peaks.
In 1996 Heath moved to Oregon. Oregon sure had tiny mountains compared to Colorado, but it has been the place he has honed his outdoor skills for decades. Ever since Heath’s family quartet came to Oregon in 1974 to sing at various churches, Heath had longed to live in Cascadia – where moss, rain, and green abounded. Heath lost no time growing his outdoor skills as well as his professional, backwoods surveying skills. And Heath continues today, backpacking, hiking, kayaking, guiding, and teaching outdoor and survival skills.
