Huckleberry Hiking Founder and CEO, LJ Wilde inspires UVU students with his story of resilience, innovation in accessibility, and transforming passion into purpose.
LJ, who grew up in Jackson, Wyoming, described the outdoors as being part of his DNA, hiking, climbing, mountaineering, and skiing were central to his upbringing. After beginning his college experience pursuing aviation at Utah State University, he quickly realized he needed to pivot and ultimately earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in mechanical engineering.
His journey toward entrepreneurship began not in a boardroom but in the realities of family life. One of LJ’s daughters has a rare genetic disorder that has inhibited her ability to walk. Hiking had always been a cherished family activity, but as she grew, their options for safely and comfortably exploring the outdoors became limited. After three years of not hiking together, LJ decided that giving up this part of their life wasn’t an option. He began designing a device that would allow his daughter, and potentially many others, to access trails again.
In June 2022, LJ welded together the first prototype of the hiking device he envisioned for his family. The family returned to Hidden Falls at Jenny Lake, the same trail they had last completed before their long hiking hiatus. During that outing, several hikers stopped to ask where they could buy the device. LJ recalled that moment as the spark that pushed him to consider taking his idea to the world.
In October 2022, LJ took what he described as the biggest risk of his life: he left his stable job, along with health insurance and consistent income, to pursue this dream full-time, supporting a family of seven dependents, including one with significant medical needs. He attributes his ability to take that leap to his personal priorities, listed in the specific order in which he gives his time: God, Family, Employer, and Self.
Just one year after that first prototype hike, the project gained unexpected momentum. In June 2023, a woman on a trail asked if she could share a photo of the device on social media. Within five days, the post had been shared 30,000 times, helping Huckleberry Hiking jump from 5 to 4,200 email subscribers and from 80 to 8,000 social media followers. That moment, LJ said, was when he “tore down the rearview mirror” and committed fully to moving forward.
Huckleberry Hiking officially launched in 2024 with a Kickstarter-style campaign that raised $750,000 in the first 24 hours and over $1.5 million by the end of the month. Nearly all custom components and assembly are done in Cache Valley, with one additional partner in Woods Cross. The demand was overwhelming, so much so that it took ten months to fulfill all preorders. Today, the product has helped 1,500 families in 29 countries rediscover their sense of adventure, and boasts a return rate of less than 1%.
Throughout his address, LJ emphasized resilience and purpose. One of his guiding beliefs is, “When your willingness to recover from failure is greater than the comfort of staying where you are and wondering, ‘What if?’” He also shared advice he once received: to align one’s superpower with one’s passion, and then pair both with a genuine market need. That combination, he said, can turn a great career into a dream one.
LJ expressed gratitude for the many unexpected turns in his life, including the fact that his early plans to become a pilot didn’t work out. Looking back, he now sees that pivot as a quiet blessing, one that kept him close to his family and ultimately guided him to this mission-driven work. He shared how experiences on the trail have reminded him just how important it is to make the outdoors accessible to every family, even if they have disabilities. He talked about how meaningful it has been to watch his daughter experience places that might have otherwise been out of reach, and how those moments have reinforced for him just how impactful the device has become—not only for his own family, but for so many others seeking connection, nature, and belonging.
The lecture concluded with LJ’s reminder that the greatest reward of his work is simple: improving lives. His story stands as a testament to courage, creativity, and the power of aligning passion with purpose.
The Woodbury School of Business extends its gratitude to LJ Wilde for sharing his inspiring journey with our UVU students. We wish him continued success as he helps families around the world experience the outdoors together.
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Watch LJ Wilde's full lecture below.
