Our guides are more than guides; they’re our most important asset. Our staff is trained under the most extensive program of any company we know. They are specialists in Alaska’s natural history, are great people to travel with, and they’ll inspire you with their enthusiasm. They love what they do and return to work with us year after year.
Though not all of our guide staff is listed here, these are certainly representative of the excellent staff you’ll find on all of our trips.
Lantz Hartley
Lantz joined Alaska Wildland Adventures in 2016 as a member of our Hospitality team. Since then, he has had several roles at AWA, from Assistant Hospitality Manager, Driver, Day Hiking Guide, and Multi-Day Trip Leader. Lantz now resides in Alaska year-round and is a member of our year-round team. He has about 2,500 miles of dog mushing experience in the lower 48 and subarctic of Alaska and has also worked for the United States Antarctic Program. Lantz enjoys all things backcountry, whether it be skijoring, mushing or backpacking and is a trained Wilderness First Responder.
Johnny Hughes
Johnny was raised in suburban Pennsylvania where he spent much of his free time around water, trees and amazing vegetables. His interest in the outdoors was nurtured by his family camping trips and his parents’ willingness to let him explore outdoors. After graduating from Thaddeus Stevens State School of Technology in 1988, he started his own construction company in 1992. He, along with his wife, spent much of their free time exploring the Susquehanna River, the mountains of North America and whitewater kayaking their favorite rivers on the east coast.
While visiting friends in Alaska in the summer in 2008, Johnny fell in love with the state and the endless outdoor opportunities it presented. He quickly came to the realization that the pull of nature was too great and that the life he was living in Pennsylvania was no longer sustainable. In 2010 Johnny sold his business, packed his life up in a pickup and 20’ camper, and he and his wife moved to Alaska. Since his move, Johnny has worked as a sea kayaking guide, a hiking guide, a rafting guide and a campground manager. Johnny looks forward to showing guests all of the amazing things that made him fall in love with Alaska!
Chennery Fife
Chennery grew up in Littleton, Colorado and that is where her love of the outdoors was first cultivated. She received her Master’s Degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Though city life was great, the mountains were calling. She moved to Alaska for the first time in 2013 to work in Juneau, guiding hiking and whale watching tours in the area. Through her experiences, Chennery has gained certification as an Alaska Tour Guide Naturalist Interpreter and Coastal Kayak Day Trip Leader.
For the past few years, Chennery has explored Antarctica, New Zealand, South America and many US National Parks, but continues to be pulled back to Alaska. Last summer, she worked for us as a kayak guide at Kenai Fjords Glacier Lodge. She cannot wait to share her passion for Alaska with all of you this summer! She is also thrilled to share her favorite Alaskan wildlife with you: the black bear and the killer whale!
Julie Hinkle
Julie grew up in Arizona and has wanted to live in Alaska since she was three, after her uncle took her on her first fishing trip and told her the big fish lived in Alaska. Her first summer here was thirteen years ago when she was awarded a memorial scholarship from the Yosemite Institute and paddled 480 miles of the Inside Passage of Alaska with a friend. Julie says she had only been in Alaska waters for minutes when she awoke on the ferry at 1:00 a.m. and wrote in her journal that her head and heart were finally in the same place.
Julie currently makes her home in Eagle River, Alaska and loves all that this great state has to offer. From fishing and clamming in the summer to hunting, snowshoeing, snow machining and ice fishing in the winter, she feels she is where she was destined to be. Before moving to Alaska, Julie spent five years teaching environmental education and leading outdoor leadership programs for teens. Since moving to Alaska she has worked in Special Education and recently finished her teaching credential. Now she teaches at one of the most diverse elementary schools in Alaska. For the past five years her students have been involved in the “Salmon in the School Program,” working in partnership with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to raise and study silver salmon. Julie has been guiding with us for many years and she says she has the best summer job in the world: “I get to show people the magic that brought me to Alaska. Every day I live the dream.”
Wayde Carroll
After receiving a B.A. in Art with an emphasis in photography from San Jose State University in 1993, Wayde moved to Alaska to hone his photographic skills. He spent a year documenting the lives of the Yup’ik people in the village of Eek, then two years assisting some of Anchorage’s top photographers such as Clark James Mishler and Tom Bol. He returned to California in 1998 to assist award-winning photographer Keith Sutter in Auburn, CA. He also worked for The Union newspaper in Grass Valley, CA for two years shooting assignments and advertising images.
In 2004, he started a full time career in photography and returned to Alaska in 2006. Wayde has been regularly published in numerous regional and national magazines, books, calendars, and maps including: National Geographic Maps, Alaska Magazine, New Mexico Magazine, Sierra Heritage, The Sacramento Bee, The Milepost, and others. In 2006, he was fortunate enough to spend much of the year photographing for Placer Grown, a non-profit organization formed to assist farmers and ranchers in Placer County, California; his photography assisted with their marketing produce and farm product efforts. One image ended up hanging in the State Capitol Building in Sacramento. You can view more of Wayde’s photography on his website.