Luke Schmidt sees the hand of God in every step of his journey to Cross Trail Outfitters.
Luke was raised in a Christian home and accepted Christ at a young age. Luke grew up in Texas and Arkansas and while he did some hunting there it was never enough. He would have loved CTO as a young man. He dreamed of hunting bears in Alaska and paddling down remote rivers.
In college Luke felt God pushing him towards ministry to young people. Luke worked at several camp ministries and helped out in his church. After college Luke began working full time for a wilderness program run by the Baptist Children’s Homes of North Carolina and then several other ministries. Luke felt fulfilled in his ministry but always assumed his dream of Alaskan bear hunts would never come true on a camp staff salary. “I felt like I had traded hunting adventures for the more fulfilling adventure of seeing kids come to Christ. It was a trade I never regretted” says Luke.
Later Luke became a teacher. Luke taught in West Texas and Idaho. While teaching Luke used his summer vacation to go on packrafting trips in the northern Rocky Mountains and Canada. Luke’s most memorable trip was a 5 day trip that only took 11 days to complete. He and his friend almost died in a wild canyon. The YouTube video of this trip was later used in rafting classes as an example of what NOT to do. Through this experience Luke met a man in Alaska who told him about a job working with youth for the Copper River Native Association. Luke moved to Alaska feeling blessed that he was finally able to go on the bear hunts he had dreamed about as a little boy.
While in Alaska Luke met and married his wife Danae. Luke and Danae agreed as a couple to reach out to CTO to start a chapter in Alaska.
