Ronald Bruce Adkison

August 25, 1959 ~ September 18, 2009

Ron Adkison, 50, died September 18, 2009 with family at his side.

Ronald Bruce Adkison was born August 25, 1959  to George and Francile Adkison in Upland, CA where he grew up and graduated from Upland High School in 1977. 

After attending Chaffee Community College in southern California, he bought property near Alberton, MT in 1982 and lived there for seven years before moving to Whitehall, MT where he operated a sheep ranch.

From the age of six, Ron started exploring the mountains and deserts which were literally only a few miles from the backyard of his home in Upland.  Thus began his love of hiking and backpacking in the wilderness. 

He decided to turn this love and curiosity about the wilderness into his profession of guidebook writer and photographer, writing 16 hiking guidebooks from 1983 to the present. 

His books covered areas in California, Washington, Wyoming, Utah, and Arizona, and he hiked over 12,000 miles and took thousands of photos while doing research for the books.  He also contributed articles to Backpacker and Outside magazines.

In September, 2003, he met the love of his life, Nancy, in southern Utah.  For the next six years they were inseparable, and spent many months camping and hiking in their favorite place, southeast Utah.  

They were married in June, 2005 and moved to Blanding in June, 2007 to live the rest of their lives in the most beautiful place on earth, San Juan County.

He loved the mountains and desert canyons equally, and that is why he chose to live in San Juan County, as it offered both.

Ron was kind, funny, loyal, very easy to get along with, and a genuinely good person.  Everyone who met him instantly liked him. 

He had an insatiable thirst for knowledge, and his hobbies included reading, listening to music, and cooking. 

He left us much too soon, as he had so much more he wished to do in his life.  He was loved dearly and will be forever missed by those fortunate enough to have known him.

He is survived by his wife, Nancy, of Blanding; his mother Francile; sisters Linda Adkison and Joanne Van Hook (Terry), all of California; and a grown son and daughter in Missoula, MT.  His father, George, preceded him in death in 1998.

He was laid to rest in the Blanding Cemetery on September 24, 2009.

“There are no man-made attractions in wilderness; the attractions have been created by nature.  And while you are in the wilderness, you’ll live by nature’s schedule of the passing of seasons and the rising and setting of the sun, not by the time clock, and the rewards are immeasurable.” 

Card of thanks
The family of Ron Adkison would like to thank the Seventh Ward in Blanding for all the food, expressions of condolence, and kind gestures, including yard work, that were extended to us during our time of sorrow.

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