
- Please note: This is a past event.
2024 Keynote Speaker: Frederick Swanson
September 27, 2024 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Before There Were Roads: Dave Rust’s Canyon Country Adventures


The spectacular topography of the Colorado Plateau has drawn adventurous travelers to southern Utah for more than a century, but in the early days it was no simple matter to find one’s way through this contorted land. Many sought the help of an experienced guide, and in Dave Rust they found one of the best. He not only made trail and cooked meals, but more significantly, he interpreted the landscape with a native’s long experience. From 1909 to 1941 Rust, an educator by profession, conducted a kind of roving outdoor classroom among the rocks and rivers of this fascinating region. From the fabulous viewpoints of the Grand Canyon’s North Rim, to the wilderness maze of the Escalante canyons, to the sublime reaches of Glen Canyon, Rust’s approach to travel emphasized understanding the geological and human stories behind the landscape. Dave Rust’s “unusual campout excursions,” as he called his month-long guided outings and Colorado River voyages, broadened his clients’ perspective in places both daunting and entrancing.

Frederick Swanson is the author of four books on western U.S. history, focusing on the exploration and conservation of public lands during the twentieth century. His book Dave Rust: A Life in the Canyons received the Utah Book Award for nonfiction, and he is the recipient of the Wallace Stegner Prize in Environmental Humanities. His most recent book is Wonders of Sand and Stone: A History of Utah’s National Parks and Monuments, published by the University of Utah Press. Fred and his wife Bessann, a watercolor artist, enjoy hiking, backpacking, and canoeing throughout Utah’s canyon country.