Gary Aguiar fell in love with Alaska on a 1983 trip to the Alaska Range, east of Denali. On that trip, it rained 12 out of 14 days, and the group ran out of food a day before the bush pilot returned to pick it up. Needless to say, Gary developed a healthy respect for Alaskan weather on that trip. Not all Alaska trips are like that, of course. Since then, he has led a number of Sierra Club trips to Alaska, developing trips that include day hiking and a casual travel itinerary so people of varying abilities can experience the Alaskan wilderness. Gary owns and operates a small environmental engineering firm that has been cleaning up contaminated groundwater in the San Francisco Bay Area for more than 20 years. In addition to hiking in Alaska, his recreational interests include long-distance running and open-water swimming in the bay.
