Travis Keay

Travis has spent his whole life around wilderness and over twenty years’ experience with birds and wildlife in their natural habitats. He has spent time in sub-Saharan Africa, Thailand, and joined many expedition kayaking trips throughout the Inside Passage of southeast Alaska.

Travis spends his spare time studying, guiding, and lecturing. After his first trip with Quark, he discovered photography, which has allowed him to capture and share his experiences with fellow adventurers. He was born in Blackfoot, Idaho, and spent the first summer of his life at a fire lookout shelter in the Idaho Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness with his mother and father. Growing up the son of a wildlife biologist, his family relocated to Denali National Park in Alaska, where he attended high school. While studying at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Travis maintained his passion for adventure by studying and fighting wildland and municipal fire, as well as continuing to climb and explore the Alaskan outdoors.

Some of Travis's favorite memories include summiting Denali in 1996, floating the Gulkana River in a canoe, and gold panning on the shores of the Bering Sea in Nome. Travis is an environmental steward in his local community and works on habitat restoration projects and county water quality monitoring. He also leads birding trips for the National Audubon Society. When not guiding, Travis is a firefighter for the City of Seattle.