10/09/2026
Ken Sleight was a small outfitter on the Grand Canyon. He was an Interesting dude, and Edward Abby used his persona as "Seldom Seen Smith" in The Monkey Wrench Gang. RIP Ken
Ken Sleight, the river guide who inspired Edward Abbey’s Seldom Seen Smith in “The Monkey Wrench Gang,” has died at the age of 97 in Moab, Utah. According to the Moab Sun News, Sleight guided river trips through Glen Canyon in the 1950s, before Glen Canyon Dam flooded it beneath Lake Powell. H...