Tom Stienstra has made it his life’s work to explore across California, the Pacific Northwest and far beyond, always out hiking, biking, fishing, boating, flying and exploring — and camping just about everywhere — always searching for the best of the outdoors and writing about it.In 2022, his book ’52 Weekend Adventures” was awarded second place in the nation as best outdoor book of the year by the Outdoors Writers Association of America. He also won OWAA’s highest Excellence in Craft Award for career achievement, the first outdoor writer from California to win the award. He was the fourth living member inducted into the California Outdoors Hall of Fame. He is the only member in the 90-year history of the Outdoor Writers Association of America to win 1st place awards the same year in newspaper, radio and television, and was awarded an Emmy by the National Academy of Television and Arts. He published his first story at age 8, “Searching for a lost friend,” in the Palo Alto Times. At 21, he survived a hatchet attack, after which he gained insights into Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and fulfillment through the outdoor experience, and the edge where every moment is valued.
Books
Tom Stienstra is the nation’s No. 1 bestseller of outdoor guidebooks. His new book for 2021 is “Moon 52 Weekends Adventures in Northern California — My favorite outdoor adventures” and debuted as a No. 1 bestseller for Pacific West Travel Books on Amazon.com. His book Moon California Camping is in its 21st edition, the longest running, most successful outdoors guidebook in America. Amazon.com has twice awarded Moon California Camping as the No. 1 selling outdoor guidebook in the world. In 2020, Moon California Hiking was a No. 1 bestseller in Sacramento, Santa Barbara and San Diego. New editions of Moon Pacific Northwest Camping, Moon Washington Camping, Moon Oregon Camping and Moon West Coast RV are also available. In its weekly review of bestsellers, the Portland Oregonian listed his book Moon Pacific Northwest Camping as a No. 1 on its bestseller list. His novel is “The Sweet Redemption, an Inspector Korg Mystery,” which is rated at 41/2 Stars at www.Amazon.com. He has published more than 30 titles in dozens of editions.
Newspaper
As the outdoors writer for the San Francisco Chronicle for 40 years, Tom is on top of one of America’s longest running, most-awarded runs in the industry. He has received more than 150 awards, including national awards from Associated Press and United Press International, won the Northern California Pulitzer Prize for a conservation series, was been nominated four times for the national Pulitzer Prize, and has been awarded the “President’s Award, Best of the Best,” from the Outdoor Writers Association of America, a record six times. One year he decided to try writing about winter sports, and the next year was named Far West Ski Writer of the Year.
His column, “Coping with death of a loved one,” was chosen as one of the 20 best stories about dogs in the 20th century and reprinted in the book, “Old Dogs Remembered.” Other stories selected for the book include features by James Thurber, T.S. Eliot, John Updike, William Wadsworth and others. A series about fishing for great white sharks was selected was one of the best features in the 20th century about San Francisco, and selected for reprint in the book, “Travelers’ Tales of San Francisco.”
Radio
Tom writes, records and produces the radio feature, “Great Outdoors,” which appears on KCBS-740 AM, 106.9 FM/San Francisco, Northern California’s No. 1-rated radio station. The show is featured at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 12:35 p.m. on Saturdays. He also appears live during drive time frequently on KCBS, the No. 1-rated radio station of any kind in the greater San Francisco Bay Area market.
Television
Tom Stienstra co-produced, wrote (and hosted) the television film, “The Mighty T – The Tuolumne River,” which was broadcast on PBS affiliates with 100-percent density in California households. The National Academy of Television awarded the show an Emmy for “Health, Science and Environment Special.” The show also won best outdoors show of any kind in California, best conservation show in America, and the OWAA President’s Award for best outdoors television show of any kind in America. Previously, he hosted a CBS weekly outdoors show, The Great Outdoors, which aired in San Francisco and Sacramento markets. He studied under Mike Rowe with two-minute specials on Evening Magazine on KPIX-5/San Francisco.
Photography
Tom Stienstra has illustrated his published stories, seminars and online posts with his own photography for more than 30 years. In 2018, he won first place for best adventure photo in America, second place for best flora photo in America. In 2011, he was awarded the “President’s Award, Best of the Best,” from OWAA for first place, best published image of any kind, and was the first to win both 1st and 2nd place for best newspaper feature photography. His online photo galleries of adventures have received more than 1 million page views many times.
Twitter, Instagram, Facebook
Tom releases a twitter feed at http://twitter.com/StienstraTom.
He posts photos on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/tstienstra.
His Facebook Friends page is filled at the limit of 5,000 friends, and a fan page is available at https://www.facebook.com/tom.stienstra.9/.
Philanthropy
As a member of Rotary International, Tom Stienstra has been involved in many projects and crusades to benefit the public. He was elected as the president of Mt. Shasta Rotary for 2021. After a landmark fire burned 35 percent of the town of Weed in Northern California, Tom personally raised funds to help rebuild the Weed Public Library. After picnic facilities were vandalized in Sisson Meadow in Mount Shasta, he also gave an outdoors seminar to raise funds to rebuild facilities. In 2017, he conceived a plan, which was then put into motion, to design, fund and build trout pens at Lake Siskiyou in Northern California, where trout are grown to large sizes over winter and then released in the spring to provide world-class fishing opportunities. He also gives wildlife watching seminars at schools, all grade levels, across California.
Seminars
Tom Stienstra has sold out the San Francisco Commonwealth Club and appearances at REI outlets, Barnes & Noble outlets and other book stores across the Western United States, and is an advertised draw at the International Sportsmen’s Exposition. He has taught writing classes at The National Writers Workshop. He also taught a series of writing seminars called “Impact Writing” at the College of the Siskiyous.
Conservation
Tom Stienstra was one of three co-founders of United Anglers of California and helped write legislation that created a new fund to restore Bay-Delta fisheries. He has been named conservation writer of the year in America six times.
Organizations
Tom Stienstra has been a member of the Outdoor Writers Association of America since 1980, is a two-term, six-year board member, and was voted by his peers as Board Member of the Year. He is the founding president of the Outdoor Writers Association of California. He was the local conference chairman for the OWAA national conference in Redding, and served on more than 20 OWAA committees, and wrote a dozen bylaws that streamlined OWAA operations. He is a member of Mount Shasta Rotary, Siskiyou Land Trust and Mt. Shasta Trail Association.
Education
Tom Stienstra graduated with Special Distinction with a B.A. from San Jose State University, 1976. He graduated with an A.A., Special Merit, from Foothill Community College, Los Altos, in 1975. He was awarded the “Academic Who’s Who In America For Scholastic Achievement” from the nation’s colleges in 1975.
Personal life
Tom Stienstra is married to Denese Welch Stienstra. They live in the wild lands forest of Northern California. He has two stepsons that he helped raise since their youth, Jeremy, who hiked the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail and fishes Alaska as a commercial salmon fisherman, and Kris, who graduated from UC Berkeley with a major in global political economy.
Fandom
His followers have posted the following biography on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Stienstra.
Contact
tomstienstra2021@gmail.com
“What sets you free? Hike. Bike. Camp. Fish. Boat. Wildlife watch. Explore.”
Travels
Tom has explored all of California and most of Oregon, Washington and Western Canada. As a pilot certified to fly complex, high-power aircraft, he has covered thousands of miles quickly across the Western U.S. and Canada. In the process, he has seen the landscape from a unique perspective, which inspires future trips on the ground to seek out little-known spots. This is how he first saw the Kern Canyon, Independence Lake, headwaters of the Owhyee near the Jarbridge Mountains in Nevada, and thousands of other spots.
He has hiked 45,000 miles and ventured to thousands of lakes, rivers and mountain tops, has boated much of the California Coast. His scope of adventure spans from the Costa Rican jungle to the Arctic Circle in the Northwest Territories.
Tom Stienstra’s Top Catches
- Sturgeon, (30-pound line) 400 pounds
- Seven-gill shark, (wire line) 178 pounds
- Sailfish, (14-pound test line), 160 pounds
- Tarpon, (14-pound line) 125 pounds
- Halibut, (30-pound line) 98 pounds
- Dorado, (20-pound line) 60 pounds
- Mackinaw trout, (8-pound line) 42 pounds
- King salmon, (20-pound line) 32 pounds
- Striped bass, (14-pound line) 26 pounds
- Yellowtail, (20-pound line) 37 pounds
- Steelhead, (6-pound line) 16 pounds
- Atlantic bonito, (14-pound line) 15 pounds (Non-registered world record)
- Silver salmon, (fly rod, 8-pound tippet) 12 pounds
- Rainbow trout, (fly rod, 6-pound tippet) 11 pounds
- Largemouth bass, (8-pound line) 8 pounds
- Brown trout, (4-pound line) 6 pounds
- Arctic grayling, (4-pound line) 3.5 pounds
- Cutthroat trout, (6-pound line), 3.5 pounds
Tom’s contracted expeditions include:
Sierra Crossing: Trekking from the desert in the Great Basin, over the Sierra Crest at Mount Whitney, down into the Cradle of the Sierra in the Kern Canyon, then up and over the Great Western Divide to the western Sierra Nevada foothills.
The Search for Bigfoot: Tracking the Myth in Northern California and Oregon.
On the John Muir Trail: Hiking in the Footsteps of Legends.
Of Big Fish and Grizzlies: Travels in the Alaskan Wildlands.
Around the Bay in Seven Days: A 126-Mile Hike from the Urban Jungle to the Coastal Headlands.
Climbing Mount Shasta: California’s Ultimate Peak Experience and other climbs.
Miles From Nowhere: Excursion into California’s most remote areas.We Voyageurs: Canoeing 400 miles on the Sacramento River from Redding to San Francisco.
Hooking a 42-pounder, trout that is: And other Canadian Fishing Tales.Hooking a 42-pounder, trout that is: And other Canadian Fishing Tales.
Pacific Shark Hunt: Face to face with a White Shark.
The Klamath Challenge: Shooting 200 Miles and 1,000 Rapids at Flood Stage.
The Owyhee River: America’s most remote canyon, by canoe from Nevada to Idaho to Oregon.