Maria Wijnker

I was born in Wognum, a small town in the Netherlands, and grew up on a tulip farm.  I moved to Amsterdam at 19 and worked in a bank while obtaining a Medical Secretary Diploma. Then worked in a hospital for 5 years. On my vacations I traveled to Thailand, Indonesia, Brazil, and Venezuela.

I started skydiving in 1982, which changed the direction of my life forever. In 1991, I flew to Florida on a skydive vacation; there, I met my husband, Steve, and we married in 1992. I obtained my Skydiving Instructor rating soon afterward, and Steve and I spent the next 10 years traveling round the USA, teaching skydiving professionally at different Drop Zones. We always stayed at State or National Parks while traveling to enjoy the outdoors, hiking, biking and canyoneering wherever we found ourselves. We also traveled to South Africa a few times, as well as Namibia, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Costa Rica, where we ran a skydiving operation for a short time.

After trying to settle down at Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri for four years and buying our first house, we decided we needed more excitement in our lives. We sold the house, bought a 5th-wheel trailer, and moved back to Zion National Park where we had spent many enjoyable months over the years in-between traveling. We both found jobs with Zion Adventure Company and can now engage in our passions, including taking our boat out on Lake Powell for camping, skiing, and canyoneering.

Life is a journey, but we stop often to smell the roses……