History of the Kona Hiking Club

The Kona Hiking Club was founded in 1973 by Bruno Keith and Mr. Anderson, whose first name has been lost to history. 

Hank Swan took over as president in the mid-1980s, and led the group until 1992. Over the next four years, Richard Hand, Lester Wishard, and Jack Dalby each assumed leadership, followed by: 

Betty DeRoy -- 1996 to 1998 

Andy Doughty -- 1998 

Roger and Janet Knoblauch -- 1998 to 2004 

Joan Kinchla, Ruby Tzimeas, and Alice Walker -- 2005 to 2008

Alice Walker, Kathleen Johnson, Marti Udell -- 2009

From left:  Marti Udell, Alice Walker, Kathleen Johnson

We wish to credit Joe Castelli for some of the Hawaiiana information he has shared regarding KHC events during the late 1990’s.

	Alice Walker: Having been an accountant for some 25 years or so, Alice has finally satisfied her yearning to enjoy the great outdoors rather than sitting behind a desk. In Tucson, AZ, where she lived prior to retirement, she and her husband enjoyed hiking the Catalina and Rincon Mountains. However, being an Oregon girl originally, she really dreamed of lush green vegetation and lots of water (in favor of hot dry weather and rattlesnakes). So Hawaii was the natural choice as soon as her husband retired at the beginning of 2000. She immediately began hiking with the Kona Hiking Club and has found the best way possible to enjoy the beauty and diversity of the Big Island.
	Marti Udell: Marti lived the first 18 years of her life in Utah with the Rocky Mountains in her backyard. From the time she could walk she has been hiking. In the beginning it was Mt. Timpanogas and the hiking terrain quickly expanded from Utah into Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Arizona, Nevada and California. She moved to Washington State in 1989 and discovered the Cascades and Olympic Mountains were new territories for her to explore. In 2000 she found the man of her dreams and he swept her away and took her to new and exciting areas for her to investigate. The two of them now spend the winters here in Kona, five months in Seattle and two months on an Island in British Columbia. She hikes with a group of avid hikers in Seattle during the summer months, hiking into hot springs, lakes and along the ridges of the Cascades. She hikes and builds hiking trails in BC so other members of the community can hike to some of her favorite hiking areas and now she has joined the Kona Hiking Club so she can learn and share with others the beauty of the land and culture of Hawai’i. This is her way of contributing to the community in hopes of preserving this delicate area.
	Kathleen Johnson: Originally from Pennsylvania, Kathleen joined the military and lived in Missouri, Virginia, North Carolina, Germany, and Colorado.  After leaving the military and graduating from the University of Colorado, she worked in GIS for almost 10 years before moving with her husband to Hawaii in 2005.  Her brother has lived in Hawaii for 30+ years and finally convinced her to move here.  She loves the outdoors (especially tropical/ jungle environments) and enjoys it everywhere she lives and travels.  Hiking is her favorite way to enjoy the outdoors, so when she moved to Kona in 2007 she looked for a group knowledgeable about the area to hike with and found the Kona Hiking Club ad in The West Hawaii Today newspaper.