Biography

Co-founder and Executive Director of Ground Truth Trekking. He and Erin McKittrick are responsible for the organization's founding, vision, and ongoing development. Hig specializes in geologic research, website development, photography, figure creation, and—of course—the Journeys that explore the "ground truth" of natural resource issues in Alaska.

Hig earned a Ph.D. in Geology from the University of Washington in 2007, after completing a B.A. in Geology at Carleton College in 1999. He studied the geologic record of tsunamis and has particular expertise in geologic hazards, sedimentology, and geomorphology. More broadly, he has studied geology, physics, and computer science. Hig has also trained in Yoshokai Aikido, invented the jewelry-manufacturing method behind Sundrop Jewelry, and sews some of the gear used for expeditions.

Hig grew up in Seldovia, Alaska, where his family moved when he was eight months old. After graduating from high school there, he spent 13 years in college and graduate school, studying glass art, and walking from Seattle to the Aleutians before moving back to Seldovia. He and Erin now live in a yurt about a hundred yards from his mother's home, where they are raising their children and running Ground Truth Trekking.