ABOUT YOUR GUIDES
Hiawatha Hiking Company was founded in 2018 and is owned and operated by Carolyn and Domonick Zanarini. Combined, we have over 12,000 miles of backpacking wilderness experience spanning over 10 years, including thru-hikes of the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, Continental Divide Trail, Camino de Santiago, Long Trail and Superior Hiking Trail.
Carolyn is a certified Wilderness First Responder and is excited to share her enthusiasm for the outdoors with you. She visited the UP every summer as a child and couldn’t be happier to now call it her home! She spent her first summer in the area leading kayak tours along Pictured Rocks and decided to start Hiawatha Hiking Company to guide tours by land. She is also a registered yoga teacher, leading her students through meditation and vinyasa flows since 2013. She loves movement, nature, meeting new people, learning local history, and encouraging others to explore their surroundings.
Domonick’s love of the outdoors began nearly 20 years ago on his first backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail in Massachusettes. During that seminal trip, he met a person who was hiking the entire 2,180 mile distance over the course of one season, and it quickly became a dream of his to attempt to do that himself one day. He got his chance after finishing graduate school in 2011, and began his southbound Thru-hike in early July in Maine, finishing the trail in early November in Georgia four months later. That trip was a catalyst for the next chapter in his life, in which he hiked the 3,000 mile Continental Divide Trail in 2013, and the 2,700 mile Pacific Crest Trail with Carolyn in 2016, awarding him the distinguished Triple Crown title.
In total, Domonick has traversed nearly 15,000 miles of the United States using non-motorized means, including a Florida to California bicycle tour, a trip down the entire length of the Mississippi River in a canoe, and many shorter trips. Domonick’s long-distance pursuits have provided him many learnings about traveling and spending time in the outdoors. Through guiding, he loves to share his knowledge on topics including light-weight backpacking, mapping and navigation, backcountry food planning, and wilderness ethics and safety.
Our love of spending time outside in beautiful places led us to create this hiking company. We want to show off our amazing backdoor in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and help teach others how to safely and respectfully spend time exploring the great outdoors.
Please browse our 2022 overnight Backpacking Trips to see what adventures await you on one of our guided tours.
Please Contact Us if you have any questions!
