Ashley Tennyson Brown

About me

I am a lover of all things outdoors. I mountain bike and dirt bike and hike. I love skiing and ice hockey and snowmobiling.

The Best Part of My Job

Sharing my love of the great outdoors with people who may or may not already have an appreciation for nature. Seeing people open up to each other on the river is incredibly rewarding.

How I found OARS

I started guiding right out of high school. I still look back on my first few summers guiding as some of the most fun times of my life, particularly because of the people I worked with. The other guides are my best friends, and I come back to the river year after year because of them.

My Favorite Spot on the River/Outdoors

It's difficult to choose just one river, let alone a single place. Off the river, I have found myself continuously enchanted by Escalante Grand Staircase National Monument. I live in the mountains now, but I am a desert dweller at heart.

My Lucky Charm

My brother gave me a pirate rubber ducky a few years ago, and I named him J-Dub, after John Wesley Powell. He has been on every Grand Canyon trip with me, and I rely on him to show me the way through the rapids, and he typically does a better job than the real John Wesley.

I Can’t Live Without

Skirts. Sun protection while boating, chafe-free hiking, or just changing out of nylon river shorts at the end of a long day, skirts are versatile and comfortable. One of my best pieces of clothing is a down skirt that I wear almost every morning in Idaho. It’s like stepping out of my sleeping bag into another sleeping bag.

My Fun Fact

My mom was a guide in Grand Canyon before joining my dad at Colorado Outward Bound School, where they were river program directors. Many of my aunts and uncles and cousins have worked as guides, my sister and brother-in-law worked for COBS, my other sister occasionally worked as a guide in Dinosaur National Monument, and my little brother is the managing river ranger at Arkansas Headwater State Park in Colorado. The trips I have done with my family members continue to be the highlight of my guiding career.