Bob Tribe was born at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains in northern Utah. His father was a forest ranger and began teaching his children about the outdoors at an early age. Bob joined the Army in 1966, was a graduate of the U.S. Army Infantry Officers School, Airborne School (Jump School) and Special Forces Officer School (Green Berets). Once out of the Army in 1969, Bob continued pursuing his love of the outdoors through backpacking, hiking, rock climbing, mountaineering, mountain biking, cross country skiing, snowshoeing and other outdoor activities.

In the early 1990's, Bob began teaching outdoor classes, including: backpacking, wilderness navigation, survival training, outdoor safety, guiding hikes and snowshoe trips. He has taught for State Fish & Game, California State Parks, The Learning Exchange, The Walking Company, Always Learning (Elk Grove Adult Education), California State University, Sacramento and Folsom Parks & Recreation. For three years he taught in the "Becoming An Outdoors Woman" program for California Fish & Game. Bob helped develop the "Women in the Outdoors" with his friend, Karen Collins, the former Deputy Director of California State Parks and then taught in the program with his friends Karen Wiese, James Bailey and Julie Carville.

During the mid-1990's, he co-hosted, with his friend Rich Hanna, a radio show called "The Outdoor Adventure & Fitness Show". In 2000, Bob started his own company, MountainTribe, which specializes in hikes and snowshoe trips.

Bob sat on the Board of Directors of the Headlands Institute, a nonprofit organization that teaches environmental education to kids near Rodeo Lagoon in the Marin Headlands, for ten years. He also sat on the Board of Directors for Yosemite National Institute that oversees environmental education for children and adults at three campuses: Headlands Institute in Marin county, CA; Yosemite Institute in Yosemite National Park, and Olympic Peninsula Institute in Olympic National Park in the state of Washington for five years. Bob formerly chaired the Outdoor Safety Committee for YNI. Bob currently sits on the Rowell Legacy Committee which honors Barbara and Galen Rowell, world famous outdoor photographers and adventurers. Bob retired in 2000 as executive director of the Fair Political Practices Commission.