About Us

Gene Boyle founded Slickrock Air Guides in 1992 with a 3-passenger Cessna aircraft flying adventure-seeking guests over and around the Canyonlands National Park area from the dirt airstrip at Needles Outpost.

2010 ushers in our 18th season at the Canyonlands Field Airport located north of Moab. These days Slickrock Air Guides operates a meticulous fleet of Cessna aircraft that are professionally maintained. Every guest can expect a window seat, stereo headsets and a fantastic narrative aerial experience of the “Canyonlands.” Our staff pilots are longtime experienced aviators, who know this area in detail and are dedicated to your safety and comfort.

Our company mission statement emphasizes commitment to quality service, value and visitor experience each and every day, while continuing to invest in pilot training, aircraft upgrades and equipment all to the overall satisfaction of you, our guest.

Slickrock Air Guides operates daily from Mid-March to November.

 

GENE BOYLE – Owner/Pilot
Landing in Moab in the early '80s, Gene has lived a life of adventure, as a professional river guide on the Colorado River, logging hundreds of multi-day commercial white-water rafting trips sharing his vast knowledge as naturalist, geologist, guide, chef and Canyon Host to visitors from all over the world. Gene began his aviation career around the same time and has since flown over 20 years and 7000 flight hours over the Moab/Canyonlands region. He truly gives you the Canyons story from its “depths to its heights.”

Gene is the company Flight Instructor and check airman, who trains and has the final check out for all the pilots flying for Slickrock Air Guides. His enthusiasm for the Canyonlands is reflective with every pilot flying for the company.

 

LARRY VAN SLYKE – Chief Pilot
Known as the “Ranger,” Larry retired from the National Park Service (NPS) in January 2001 after a thirty-seven year career. He started at Rocky Mountain NP as a seasonal ranger and concluded his tenure as the Chief Ranger at Canyonlands National Park. Following his tour at Rocky Mountain NP, Larry held ranger positions at Everglades, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Grand Canyon and Lake Clark National Park and Preserve in Alaska, where he served as the Chief Ranger/Pilot for six years. It was at Lake Clark that Larry flew various aircraft on floats, wheels and skis, logging over 1700 hours of Alaska bush flying time.

Larry began his second career with Slickrock Air Guides in 2002. Providing flight tours of Canyonlands National Park and southeast Utah are indeed special to Larry as he is able to continue as he did as a ranger, to inform and educate visitors to the unique and important values of this very scenic region of the United States. Larry invites you to fly with the “Ranger.”