HARRISON, Ark. — The social hiking group community in Northwest Arkansas was left with questions after the conviction of Jeffrey Michael Johnson.
Dennis Gundersen and Rick Hammerle consider themselves friends of Jeffrey Michael Johnson, and they say that Johnson had put together groups for outdoor enthusiasts on Facebook and the Meetup app called Arkansas Nature Lovers.
They say Johnson organized group hikes throughout Northwest Arkansas for years, including some at the Buffalo National River.
"He loves it. He wants to find cool places. He loves sharing that... He likes to help them discover it," Gundersen said.
"On Facebook, you just put it out there and people show up and you don't have a clue how many people are going to show up. On meetup, you have the ability to limit the number of people that you allow to go," said Hammerle
On May 7, 2022, Johnson led a group hike to the Eye of the Needle on Indian Creek in which one of the participants fell to his death. Following that, Johnson was hit with multiple charges, not for the man's death, but instead for a fee he had for his groups.
"Apparently, at the commencement of hikes, there have been various friends who said, By the way, you know, Jeff has some charges, he has to pay for this sort of thing. So we can give him a donation at times to help offset some of that," said Gundersen.
Gundersen and Hammerle say that Johnson would always warn hikers about the difficulty of trails in his posts and before embarking on their hike. They both also said that the hiker had separated from the group.
On Dec. 6, a federal judge convicted Johnson on one count of engaging in or soliciting business inside a national park without a permit and one count of soliciting money inside a national park without a permit. According to prosecutors, Johnson accepted at least four payments of $20 for the service in the parking lot.
"Every group I've ever been in charges an annual fee. I mean, it's just a minor fee. I mean it's just to help with the logistical expense of whatever website it is. And most of them don't really press the fee," said Hammerle.
"This man was not running a business for profit. He was not trying to make money off of this," said Gundersen.
Interpretive park ranger Casey Johannsen explained that any business venture in the national park must have commercial use authorization.
"That line is drawn: if there is any monetary gain in any way," said Johannsen. "If you're just a loose group of friends that want to go out for a hike, there's no issue with that. It's when it turns into a formal guided activity in which the guide is being compensated in some way."
"I don't think you should be on government land, doing business without proper permissions—that I have no problem with, but hiking groups... you know, a bunch of friends get together and go hiking. That's what it is," said Hammerle.
In light of the events, park ranger Johannsen says anyone concerned about their hike on the buffalo national river can prepare ahead of time by visiting their guided services page, guided activities page, and Hiking trails page.
Johnson is said to be sentenced on March 7.
Download the 5NEWS app on your smartphone:
Stream 5NEWS 24/7 on the 5+ app: How to watch the 5+ app on your streaming device
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email KFSMDigitalTeam@tegna.com and detail which story you're referring to.