The idea of risk plays a big role in the outdoor industry. Liability insurance is an important consideration for any professional guiding company or wilderness education program, but that’s not what this post is about. Instead, it’s about who bears the financial risk if someone chooses to leave a course or trip because of injury, [...]
From The Archives, 2003 photo. Here’s a birch bark lean-to made near our old home base in New Hampshire. #FullTangLifestyle #AroostookCounty
We wrapped up the spring semester a week ago, and started the Advanced Whitewater Canoe Course strongly with a great day on a local rapid and lake going over skills and maneuvers with both pole and paddle. On Tuesday we headed into the woods, to camp at Churchill Dam on the Allagash. After setting up [...]
With gas prices being so high, I’m thinking about one of these for my next vehicle. #FullTangLifestyle #AroostookCounty
The spring, 2026 Wilderness Bushcraft Semester, our 68th long-term program, is complete. Yesterday we gathered together for a send-off dinner, shook hands and said I’ll see you when I see you. I never grow tired of watching people of different ages, from different walks of life, from different places coming together and forming into a [...]
Time flies during the Wilderness Bushcraft Semester, and here we are at the end of semester number 68. Oz and I gathered around the old microphone to discuss the JMBS Digital Archives Project, the challenges of the spring semester (this semester in particular), how we’re running 3 semester courses this year, and a few other [...]
We finished week 8 of our spring semester and have one week to go. The final week is when students go out for the solo experience, putting the things they have learned into use and reflecting on the entire semester. It is the culminating experience that bookends the entire semester. Maine spring weather has been [...]
On our recent trip, getting ready to go in the morning I found time for a short update. High water and cool temperatures, it was beautiful. #FullTangLifestyle #AroostookCounty
On a trip upriver and we ran into a bunch of prime fiddleheads. These are the young shoots of the ostrich fern, and are a much sought after edible plant of spring. We ate well on this trip. #FullTangLifestyle #AroostookCounty
At high water levels there is a great small rip on the far side of Samsquanch Island, and we’re at that water level now. So we spent the afternoon building quickwater poling and snubbing skills. #FullTangLifestyle #AroostookCounty
Our knot curriculum includes a section on rescue knots, which could also be labeled as moving heavy things with a rope. We teach two methods for doing so that could help you recover a stuck canoe or other heavy item: one using mechanical advantage and another using a lever. The application using mechanical advantage is [...]
Out on the land seeding wild rice. #FullTangLifestyle #AroostookCounty
We were back out on a local Masardis stream yesterday, practicing poling and getting more comfortable on the water. I didn’t get any footage of the carnage (people falling out of boats), but a lot of growth took place and I had a lot of fun on the water. We’ve got three narrow streams, three [...]
This is the second morning in a row waking up to full sun. It’s been a cold, wet spring so far, and while it was below freezing this morning, once the sun came up the thermometer rose to the soft water zone. From Moonshine Hill I can see Mars Hill, which sits right along the [...]
We went out this morning planning on poling down a local stream, but ended up staying near the putin and working on canoe skills. Maybe tomorrow we’ll pole down the river. We paddled up and found a beaver lodge and a bunch of active beaver feeding sign. It was a solid day, maybe tomorrow for [...]
I made some sourdough bread in a frying pan the other day when I had some company (friends who were coming up to the county to canoe). I had a piece leftover, about 8” by 8” and two inches thick. After it sat out for a few days I grabbed it on my way out [...]
After a few wind, rain and cold delays, we finally made it out onto Scopan lake, the largest body of water in the entire greater Masardis metropolitan region. With newly carved and sealed paddles, our crew started learning the ins and outs of navigating large bodies of water by canoe. We start with a few [...]
It’s been a few months since I written or recorded anything. Life at the field school has been busy with the spring Wilderness Bushcraft Semester followed immediately by the Professional Canoe Guide Training Course. I found that my day to day life and work took up all my time, and I was feeling like a [...]
Today marks the start of the spring, 2025 Wilderness Bushcraft Semester, and the 2025 edition of the Expedition Instructor (XI) training program. This is our 65th long-term immersion program. I can see them all in my mind’s eye, stretched out over the past 26 years. For arrival day yesterday, mother nature decided to roll out [...]
My wood canvas canoe, rigged up and ready for the carry around Allagash Falls. Notice this canoe has a center thwart, not a carved yoke. Notice how the paddles are tied to the thwarts so that when it is carried, the weight of the boat is distributed by the paddle blades onto the shoulders as [...]
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Maine Wilderness Guides Organization Quality Endorsement Award
