Happy Birthday Mariah!
Twenty-five years ago, in 1982, Donna Hunter and Shelley Tennyson had their hands full. Rather, they had their hands, feet, elbows, knees, heads, back-packs and nail bags all busily engaged and completely occupied. Starting an outdoors adventure company was not a simple endeavour. However, they were fashioning a dream, and neither had any misconceptions that the task would be easy.
Certain difficulties they were prepared for; the funding, the red tape, the time and patience. But there was one obstacle neither had anticipated. It was an obstacle most people encounter at some point in their lives, be they new parents, novelists, or scientists on the brink of discovery. The obstacle was, of course, the name.
What in the world were they going to call it?
Hunter and Tennyson wracked their brains and attempted to approach the problem logically, by asking themselves questions. What kind of company were they creating? Both agreed that water sports, especially whitewater rafting, would be a major component of the enterprise. But neither wanted to limit it to a single type of adventure. If the company name only boasted of whitewater rafting how could they lead back-country skiing trips? Or moonlight hikes? Or an epic sea-kayaking expedition in Baja? They concluded that the name could not be sport-specific, it had be open and broad enough to reflect Hunter and Tennyson’s own range of interests.
And what of their unique position - creating the only company of its sort owned by women? This was a warranted point of pride, as both were committed to sharing their love of the outdoors with other women, those who were already experienced adventurers and those just beginning to feel at ease in the wild.
Couldn’t they find a name that expressed all of the above? Easier said than done.
Just like many parents do, when faced with selecting a name that they would use everyday for the rest of their years, Hunter and Tennyson hit the books. They went to the library, combed through the family trees, made lists of their favorite figures from myths and heroines from childhood tales. But they always came up short; this one was too obscure, that one too frilly, and that one, well, no one could ever figure out how to pronounce that one.
Indeed it seemed the budding adventure company was doomed to go nameless . . . until one night around 3am. Hunter was fast asleep, enjoying a reprieve from the day’s labor, when the phone rang. She picked up the receiver and heard, “I’ve got a song stuck in my head!” The disoriented Hunter muttered something about that being a poor excuse for a late night disturbance. But Tennyson persisted, “It’s a song from that musical by Lerner and Loewe, Paint Your Wagon. Remember that one?” “What in the world are you on about?” replied Hunter. “The lyric goes like this, ‘They call the wind Mariah’. It’s perfect!”
And so it was. This year Mariah Wilderness Expeditions celebrates her 25th year of excellence in outdoors adventures; from California to Costa Rica, from whitewater rafting to hikes in the jungle, from individual and family trips to women’s-only weekends; Mariah has remained true to, and surpassed, the purpose and inspiration of her founders. Many happy returns to you, Mariah! We’ll see you out there.
“Way out there they have a name
for wind and rain and weather
the rain is Tess, and the fire is Joe,
but they call the wind Mariah,
Mariah, they call the wind Mariah . . . “