About Us

In 1992, Dave Thayer, the company founder, attended a tour to Grand Canyon as geology expert. He was given the name “Canyon Dave” as a promotional stunt. The name stuck. Canyon Dave Tours was founded in May 2002.

Dave Dave first visited the Grand Canyon as a boy. By age 18, he was a frequent hiker and backpacker in the canyon, and by age 29 he had hiked over 3,000 miles in the Grand Canyon and earned an MS degree in geology. He moved to Prescott, Arizona, where he was professor of geology for eight years at Yavapai College. He then took the position of Curator of Geology at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, Arizona. Since then, Dave has written and published two books and many articles on Grand Canyon topics.

Dora While at the Desert Museum, Dave met his wife, Dora, who has her BS degree in field biology. Dora “the Explorer” joined Dave full time, operating their tour business at Grand Canyon. In 2004, Dave's son joined the company as marketing expert. Then, in 2005, the company began tours in Sedona, Arizona. By 2008, the business had employed two additional tour leaders, Tania Boeskin and Greg Webb (shown below). On January 1, 2008, the company incorporated. Canyon Dave Tours Inc is currently based in Williams, Arizona.

Tania Canyon Dave Tours combines the best features of the typical commercial tour and the non-profit tour such as that of a museum or university. The commercial tour caters to the customer, keeps abreast of changes in the wishes of its market, and is available on the guest’s own schedule. The non-profit tour educates and inspires, and it seems more serious and ultimately more worthwhile. By combining the best features of commercial and non-commercial tours, Canyon Dave Tours delivers a tour that more than satisfies.

We believe that we respond to an unfulfilled need among tour participants. We perceive this strongly in our own experiences and in the expressed wishes of our participants. We don’t enjoy tours that merely transport us and present information. We want dialogue, interaction, and learning. Our participants, both adult and child, are surprised to receive what they always wanted but may not have experienced before.

Because these principles direct our company’s culture, we offer something that cannot be obtained in any other way, and it is more than our guests expected. As a result, our guests feel lucky (and smart) to have chosen our tour.