About Derek Ryan Jensen Author of Jr Ranger Adventures

Derek Ryan Jensen was born in Redwood City, California June 27, 1976 and grew up under foster care until leaving on a church mission in 1995.  Derek wrote short stories and poems before graduating from Moorpark High School in 1994. He met the legendary Ray Bradbury his Senior year in High School who motivated him to become a writer.

As a teenager until in his twenties, Derek went on many backpacking trips in the high sierras with the boy scouts and other church groups.  He has been across over four hundred miles of back country between Mt. Whitney, Sequoia National Park, Kings Canyon, Death Valley, Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Zions, Bryce, the Angeles National Forest, San Bernardino National Forest and others.

Battling depression caused by trauma and abuse during foster care, Derek returned to the Dominican Republic spending another five years after his two-year church mission.   He married the elementary school teacher Miledy Lopez, and worked as an English teacher while providing fundraising and purchasing assistance to local medical centers and hospitals for supply and equipment upgrades.  Dedicating most of his time to centers treating patients with broken down or below standard equipment.

During his years in the Dominican Republic, Derek wrote “The tiny Life of Lucas Fern” on an old-fashioned typewriter along with thousands of pages of other poems, short stories and other works.  He was appointed Branch President where he lived, for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints at the age of twenty-three during the worse crisis the country had seen in decades.  Soon after the devastation of Hurricane George, a category 4 hurricane, he managed the administration of food and rebuilding supplies donated by the church to the local members, helping rebuild the homes of members and non-members. 

During his foster years, Derek's last name was changed (not-illegally) four different times before the age of eighteen. Upon returning to live in the USA, Derek was forced to legally clear up the name misunderstanding with the IRS and Social Security Administration.  In 2006 as he legally changed his name to Jensen.

He declared bankruptcy in 2014 after his unsuccessful attempt to settle unauthorized accounts that had been connected to his social security number using his past foster names.

Derek and his family lived in his native state of California until 2015 when he moved to Utah looking to start his own business and finally pursue his dream of publishing his short stories and books.

He camps with his family for a week in Yosemite every year (a family tradition), and other National Parks as time permits.  He missed the visit of President Obama in Just of 2016 by two weeks, but has included part of the visit in his latest book.  He has climbed to the top of Half Dome four times.

The father of two boys and two girls, Derek finally published his first book, “The tiny Life of Lucas Fern” in English and Spanish, and has completed the first book in his National Park series, “Paul Bunyan & Me in Yosemite.”  Set to publish spring 2017, he is putting the finishing touches on, “John Henry & Me in the Grand Canyon.” due to release early summer 2017.