HIKE 48.com is run by a husband and wife team from Dundas, Ontario. Veronika and Eric discovered Gumotex boats while river rafting in Europe and were impressed by their durability over the rocky sections of water during the 3-day tour. After looking into buying a couple of boats to bring back to North America, they discovered that no one was distributing them in Canada. And together with Veronika’s brother Martin, decided to give people the opportunity to discover the brand themselves. “At first we let friends rent them because we have so many natural wonders around us here in Ontario and I like to say - life is better on the water”, says Veronika, the company’s customer support mainstay. “ But after using the kayaks, transporting them in backpacks instead of having to tie them onto car roofs or trailers and seeing their quality, they wanted to buy them. Going out river kayaking with a bunch of our friends and their kids has become summer tradition”.