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In 1979, Ken Schmitt left a
successful life to live off the land in the jungles of Maui. He put a
backpack on his back and walked into a jungle area on the wet, wild side
of the island, then stayed there, living outside, for the next three
years. He had studied classical Greek and Latin as an undergrad, then
majored in Oriental philosophies and religions for a graduate degree. In
the jungle, he was going to another school--one run by Mother Earth.
After three years of jungle life, he was a mini
expert on the birds, the plants, the ocean, the insects and the geology
of these incredible islands. He then began to feel a pull to teach
people what he had learned. He had to leave his jungle life to begin
this new mission, but the rewards were reaped by the gratitude of those
who hiked with him. As one man said after a hike with Ken: "This has
been the best day of my life."
In 1983, when Ken started Hike Maui, it was the
first and only hiking company on Maui. At the time, walking into the
wilderness was not a popular idea. Still, Ken forged ahead—he
had a mission to show people the "real" Hawai‘i. His fledging company
struggled for 11 years with only one employee--himself. Fortunately,
travel writers discovered Hike Maui. Guidebook after guidebook called
Ken "a walking encyclopedia," and the reputation stuck. Ken’s reputation
became synonymous with Hike Maui’s. And today, people still expect Hike
Maui to deliver the best.
In 1984-85, articles appeared in the San
Francisco Chronicle, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the
Toronto Globe & Mail, the Baltimore Sun, among others. Business got
quite a jumpstart. MJ Harden, Ken’s wife, was one of these travel
writers. She met Ken on assignment for the San Francisco Examiner.
MJ joined Hike Maui full-time in 1994 and is
now vice president and head of personnel and training. And, she still
writes—
a Maui guidebook which won the state’s Best Guidebook in Hawai‘i award,
and a book of interviews, Voices of Wisdom Hawaiian Elders Speak, which
won a national cultural award. In 2004 she wrote a documentary on
Hawaiian culture and history, The Hawaiians: Reflecting Spirit, which
was Hawaii’s cultural presentation at the opening of the Smithsonian’s
American Indian Museum.
Ken’s once one-man show has gained such a
reputation over the years that Hike Maui now has 20 guides plus a
variety of trips to choose from. These guides are the best trained in
the state, and they draw the same raves that Hike Maui has always
received. |
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