Wayne Ranney, geologic interpreter, author, and leader of educational tours to Southwest destinations on the Colorado Plateau: MNA Ventures

Ventures Home | MNA Home | News | Contact | Site Map

Hotel-based trips to Colorado Plateau destinations

Hiking trips with base camp support to Colorado Plateau destinations

Day trips to Hopi and other Southwest destinations

Custom educational tours in the Southwest

Wayne Ranney, Geologic Interpreter and Author

Wayne Ranney Wayne Ranney’s passion for Southwest geology took root during his years as a backcountry ranger in the Grand Canyon. His association with MNA began in 1978, as a research assistant in the Geology Department. In 1982, he joined the Ventures program and continues to be a stalwart trip leader in the Grand Canyon, Escalante, and other destinations. His degrees include a B.S and M.S. in Geology from Northern Arizona University.

Ranney has traveled the world as a geologic interpreter aboard ships and jets, as well as on various natural history expeditions. He has been to Antarctica (30 times), the Amazon, the Canadian Arctic, Greenland, the Gobi Desert, the Russian Far East, and the North and South Poles. Although he is an adjunct faculty member at Yavapai College in Sedona, there’s nothing he enjoys more than teaching in an outdoor classroom.

Ranney is an author who has written for Arizona Highways, Sedona Magazine, and Earth Magazine. His latest book, Ancient Landscapes of the Colorado Plateau, will be released in June. His other books are Carving Grand Canyon and Sedona Through Time. Ranney makes Flagstaff his home and enjoys traveling, hiking, river running, photography, and anything that allows him to get outside in the Arizona countryside.