Matt Kalina grew up long-distance running, canoeing, and eating cheese in West Central Wisconsin before pulling up stakes and moving to the dry heat of Arizona in 1999. He has stayed upright and, on his feet, — for the most part — while expanding interests to include hiking, trail running, mountaineering, technical canyoneering and everything else in between, from multi-day backpacking and pack rafting to Ultra running. While doing all this, the most skilled of the Wild Bunch Desert Guides has explored the Western wild lands, taking photos along the way.
Matt is a professional Arizona adventure guide for a wide range of active-sports disciplines, including hiking, backpacking, climbing, canyoneering, rappelling, kayaking, stand-up paddle boarding and mountain biking. He and his wife Lisa raise rescued cats, make pizza from scratch every week, run on the Green Belt Path and ride their beach cruiser bicycles around Old Town Scottsdale, Arizona. They surf when they can, run marathons together across the country and are restoring a vintage 1960s 14-foot camping trailer. They are huge fans of all kinds of live music.
Matt holds outdoor certifications including PADI Open Water Diver, Basic Sailing and Wilderness First Responder. He is an avid wilderness conservationist, member of Arizona Mountaineering Club, steward with McDowell Sonoran Conservancy and founding board member of Friends of the Sonoran Desert National Monument.
By day, this Superman of adventure tour operators works as marketing communications manager for Tomcar All-Terrain Vehicles, which are manufactured in Phoenix, as well as the account director for a strategic marketing agency.
Matt was a reporter and editor of a daily newspaper in Wisconsin and a journalist specializing in economic change during his travels in Eastern Europe. Matt is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Communications Arts Department and former chairman of the City of Scottsdale Neighborhood Enhancement Commission. His most vivid outdoor experience? Fording a glacial river in Alaska’s Denali National Park. Matt’s all-time backcountry fear is being faced with an empty bottle of hot sauce.