Christina Hoffman, PhD

Interpretive Guide

  • Home Town: Trenton, NJ
  • Hobbies: Hiking, swimming, growing native plants, making paper, and generally enjoying anything that has to do with cellulose
  • Professional Memberships: TREE (Educational Consultant), TNC, Who’s Who of American Teachers, National Biology Association, Hawaii Great Teacher
  • Ask me About: Dirt, rocks, parasites, lava, anything about plants, good jazz, microorganisms, environmental issues, Hawaiian history, mutations (and evolution), bird biology, kalo, camping equipment, good books, and trivia (love it!)
  • Favorite thing about being a Guide: There is no one thing: there are many great things about being a guide for Hawaii Forest and Trail, such as access to some remote and spectacular spots. There’s also the accumulated knowledge of many years experience for being a naturalist guide, as well as the joy of making a visitor’s Island experience more meaningful
  • Started Guiding: January 1997
  • Favorite Place on the Big Island: North Kohala, of course with its windward valleys. But Kilauea Volcano is also magical.
  • Biggest Accomplishment as an Interpretive Guide: There is no single accomplishment that stands out on its own. My life is a tapestry, with many successes woven together, such as raising a wonderful boy, being an excellent college professor, becoming an accomplished biologist, and generally having the respect of the academic and scientific community supporting my activities. The same holds true for my guiding experiences.

Christina has distinction of being one of HF&T's first employees. With a Masters and PhD in Biology, she works with us part time while teaching for the University of Hawaii. She's our resident botanical expert, has helped develop a lot of our training curriculum and has the fastest hiking pace in the company. She lives in a rustic, completely off-the-grid home in North Kohala.