Born in San Francisco and raised in San Diego, Bryson has been a journalist, flight instructor, commercial floatplane pilot and a blue-water sailor. He holds a journalism degree from the University of Alaska (1981). He worked at the San Diego Union for 12 years before moving to Southeast Alaska in 1970. He was editor and publisher of the Wrangell (Alaska) Sentinel and of the Petersburg (Alaska) Pilot, which he founded in 1974. From 1983 to 1988 Bryson and his wife and the youngest of his seven children sailed around the world from Alaska to Alaska in his 30-foot sailboat. He now lives in retirement in Colorado.