Our Team

Our staff is chosen for their technical skills and ability to make your tour memorable and entertaining.

Our team is led by Chief Adventure Officer Matt Baker. Matt has traveled the world seeking adventure from the glaciers of New Zealand, to the Rockies, to the Serengeti plains of Africa, to the cloud forests of Costa Rica, as well as the wonders of Central Maryland. His specialty is leading groups on all kinds of adventures and has extensive experience in exploring the wonders of Central Maryland. Matt received his MBA from the University of Maryland and has a 25 year track record of running successful businesses.

Jeryl Baker is in charge of the adventures on the ground. Her job is to make your day the best it can be and make sure all your friends and neighbors know about us. You will see her on the courses during the weekends keeping everyone happy. Jeryl provides us with over 20 years of marketing, environmental and community experience to insure that we are good neighbors and good stewards of the land. Please let her know how she can make your experience even more enjoyable.

Your Guides

We are very proud of our guides, they all have extensive training, love the outdoors and care very much about providing our guests with an exceptional experience. All are CPR and first aid certified.

Jason Ruby was born and raised in Baltimore City. Although he will tell you he is a city boy, he is also an avid outdoorsman. Being a Scout his entire life it was easy for him to fall in love with the outdoors and he even discovered his passion for teambuilding and challenge course work while working at the COPE course at Broad Creek Memorial Scout Reservation. He has a BS in visual communication design, specializing in graphic art, but for every project he worked on in school he managed to incorporate the outdoors and the challenge course. After college, Jason could only find part-time work in the adventure field so he took a full-time job as a graphic designer. Desiring to have an outdoor office he left his desk and moved to Maui. Now Jason is back in Baltimore doing what he loves here at Terrapin Adventures. His experiences haven’t limited him to team building and the challenge course; he has also led kayaking, backpacking, caving, canyoneering and mountain biking trips and holds certifications in First Aid, CPR, AED, Lifeguard, COPE Director and ACCT Class 1 and is a Leave No Trace Trainer. Jason is our course manager.

Steve Clark has been a life-long athlete, being put on skis at 3 years old and Snowboarding all over the United States for the last 11 years, with his favorite destinations being Colorado, Utah, and Lake Tahoe. He is also looking forward to training for his first marathon in 2012. Having recently graduated from James Madison University in May of 2009, Steve heads up our guest relations program.

Jeremy Biedzynski is an easy going guy with a real interest in outdoor recreation. He is presently enrolled at Frostburg University, and received his B.S. from Towson University. He enjoys geocaching and is CPR and first aid certified. He enjoys teaching people and seeing them expand their horizons as demonstrated by his lacrosse coaching background. Jeremy has recently completed a National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) lasting several weeks out west.

Growing up on a farm in rural St. Mary's County gave Sean Meyers his love for the outdoors. He enjoys backpacking, rock climbing, and scuba diving in his free time. He has traveled the world from the jungles of Belize, Puerto Rico, and Haiti; to the Pyrenees Mountains of Europe. Despite his travels, he always returns to Maryland where he has hiked the Appalachian Trail through the entire state. Sean is a certified Emergency Medical Technician with six years experience, and a search and rescue instructor.

Charisa Carkhuff, born and raised in Maryland, would rather be outdoors. An experienced ropes worker, she has done most of her outdoor challenge course work at a wilderness camp in the Shenandoah Valley. There she enjoys leading the obstacle ropes course, zip line, rappelling and climbing, and has been doing so since 2001. Charisa loves caving, running, hiking, backpacking, canoeing, camping, and playing volleyball. Currently enrolled at Howard Community College, she is pursuing a degree in both Registered Nurse and Paramedic. When not busy with these activities, she loves being an instructor in Tai Chuan Do Karate, and enjoys all types of Martial Arts. She is also a volunteer fire fighter/emergency medical technician at the Savage Volunteer Fire Company.

Lisa Norton was born and bred in the beautiful Pacific Northwest where anything is possible. She enjoys hiking, reading, skiing (on water or snow), crocheting, climbing, laughing, and playing board games. Lisa enjoys traveling and spent a year in the Marshall Islands teaching 8th grade. While Lisa was getting her bachelor’s in Mathematics at Southern Adventist University a friend talked her into working at a summer camp in Alabama. There she was introduced to the wonderful world of ropes, rocks, and belay devices and she’s been hooked ever since. Lisa has successfully run challenge course programs at camps in Alabama and Washington states. She is First Aid and CPR certified.

Byron Bell attends UMBC, where he likes to say he is majoring in sailing. Byron is captain of the UMBC sailing team, which competes in regattas throughout the central Atlantic region. If he could actually earn a degree in sailing, Byron might be able to realize his lifelong ambition to be a pirate when he grows up. When he is not sailing, Byron also enjoys aggressive in-line skating and unicycling. Byron has extensive experience camping and hiking throughout his many years in scouting. As a scout, Byron earned the rank of Eagle and is a Vigil member of Order of the Arrow. Byron has worked as a counselor at Cub Scout camp and MCPS Outdoor Education. Byron is certified in CPR and first aid.

Peter Hunt was born and raised in the state of Maryland and is studying at Howard Community College to earn his associates degree. He enjoys backpacking, whitewater rafting, cycling, camping, rock climbing, canoeing and kayaking. Peter learned about the outdoors through the Boy Scouts and is an Eagle Scout. He has also worked with Cub Scouts at camp Oest at Broad Creek Memorial Scout Reservation. In addition, he spent 10 and a half months living in Panama as an exchange student.

Rob Hritz was born in California, in the shadow of Yosemite, and spent countless months camping even before he could walk. He loves being outdoors no matter what. Boy Scout and day trips are alright, but the scarier the adventure the more fun he has. Whether it's Rock or Ice Climbing, Mountain Biking, or Snowboarding, you can see a smile on his face. Some of his favorite places are Yosemite, Moab, the Red River, and Devils Towers. He worked at an outdoor camp in Banner Elk, NC and studied Bio-Chem at Saint Andrews Presbytery College in North Carolina. He also coaches Track and Field at Maryvale Prep in Baltimore County.

Maddy Rubin grew up around and in the waters of the eastern shore. Now at UMBC studying Mathematics she plans on using her degree to teach math and environmental science to high schoolers someday. If she is not at work, the place you would most likely find her is on the bay in her trusty kayak. Maddy has certifications in lifeguard, CPR and first Aid. "Water is my friend!!!!"

Dan Hunt was born, raised, and still lives in Columbia. When not working at Terrapin Adventures, Dan is a competitive cyclist for the non-profit cycling team Adventures For the Cure (AFC). Dan holds championship titles in road cycling. He also enjoys camping, hiking, white water rafting, rappelling, backpacking, kayaking, canoeing, and anything extreme.  Dan also has a very strong background with the Boy Scouts of America. He is an Eagle Scout and has worked at Camp Oest at Broad Creek Memorial Scout Reservation in previous summers. Dan has also been on two Philmont treks as a Boy Scout. Dan enjoys sharing the outdoor experience with Terrapin Adventures customers and loves to help people break through their comfort zone.

Megan Saxe, originally from Michigan, has called Maryland her home for the past three years. She graduated from Grand Valley State University in Michigan with a science for elementary education degree, but has chosen the outdoors as her classroom. When not climbing and hanging around at Terrapin, Megan works for Mid-Atlantic Outward Bound out of Baltimore and Philadelphia leading backpacking trips on the AT and canoe trips on the Potomac and Delaware River with some rock climbing adventures here and there for inner city students. Megan enjoys rock-climbing, horseback riding and knitting in her spear time. She holds a Wilderness First Responder certification.

Brian Humphreys is a student at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, FL. There he is majoring in Aerospace Engineering with plans of rebuilding the Death Star. In the little spare time that he has, Brian leads the Drum Corps on campus. His other hobbies include model rocketry, plane watching, and camping out in the Daytona Beach Speedway infield. Brian was first introduced to the outdoors during his time with his high school and college ROTC programs. While training with the Army, Marines, and Navy, he completed obstacle courses, camped in the wilderness, rappelled, and conducted several leadership exercises. Brian holds a CPR/AED certification.

TJ Howell has spent his whole life traveling all across the United States and experiencing everything our country has to offer. He is also an avid runner, hiker, and loves to camp. For the last eight years he has taught elementary education in Maryland, and more recently has coached varsity cross country and track and field. Before that, he worked at Nemacolin Woodlands, where he was a guide on the ropes courses, climbing wall, and paintball range. TJ holds a degree in Elementary Education from Bethany College, in West Virginia.

Jayne Chong believes: "Not all who wander are lost." -J.R.R. Tolkien. A graduate of Loyola College in Maryland, she has a Bachelor in Business Administration, specialization in Marketing. Her passion for the outdoors was truly discovered after a trip to Asia (Thailand, China, Malaysia & Singapore), and studying abroad in New Zealand. She has experience in working with small groups (loves ice-breakers!); volunteering for the homeless, inner-city schools, and youth refugee organizations; and fundraising for cancer-research events. She enjoys running, playing and coaching soccer, swimming, rock climbing, biking, boogie boarding, and hiking. Her goals are to one-day backpack through Europe and volunteer in Africa. She is a marketing/human resource She holds certification in CPR.

William Orndorff, a recent graduate from Lynchburg College in Lynchburg, Virginia, would rather spend more time in the trees than in the classroom. As a Maryland native he achieved his Eagle Scout rank where he participated in a wide range of activities from rock climbing to archery. During his college career he led many challenge courses for both the college and a variety of camps, and designed and implemented a geocaching course for the Lynchburg community. He was able to do this all while competing for the college's division three cross country and track teams, where he qualified for nationals three years in a row. William is currently a certified Scuba Diver and holds certifications for CPR and First Aid.

Alison Schiller is a native to Connecticut, but she’d like to pretend she’s from Colorado. She loves to backpack, climb, canoe, try new things, and go on new adventures. Her favorite place in the world is canyon land Utah. She is currently enrolled at UMBC working toward a degree in Evironmental Studies. Ali has completed a NOLS course and has been a camp counselor taking school kids on backpacking, kayaking and canoe trips in Utah and Colorado. She loves talking about and learning about turtles. She is certified in Lifeguarding, CPR and First Aid.

Employment Opportunities:

If you have a passion for the outdoors and enjoy working with youth and adults, we would love to have you join our team. If you are interested in becoming a guide a camp counselor or a customer relations specialist please click on the job description below and send a cover letter and resume to mbaker@terrapinadventures.com.

Job Descriptions for: Adventure Guide, Guest Relations Specialist