Executive Director's Column
|  As the warm summer months give way to cool autumn
breezes I can only smile and feel grateful for this beautiful place we call
home. Of the many gifts that were given
to me by my father and two grandfathers, one of the greatest was a love for the
outdoors. Of course this was a subtle
gift given over time in moments spent on Lake Michigan and the wild woods of
northern Michigan. There was no
packaging, ribbons, gadgetry or the like - they were simply those real moments
that occur when you are totally present with your surroundings and the ones you
are with.
I had no idea at the time that these
experiences would be the foundation for one the greatest joys in my adult
life. Unknowingly, I learned that these
places of woods and water could be a great source of creativity, rejuvenation,
and deep connection to the larger world. These lessons were camouflaged as some great lessons are in simple fun. The anticipation of a strike by a large King
Salmon on Lake Michigan, the search for
Morel mushrooms on a fern covered forest floor, the humor in seeing my Dad, his
feet stretching to hold onto a departing canoe, the back of his shirt snared by
a low hanging pine branch - these experiences were sheer joy for a young
boy.
As I grew older this relationship with
the outdoors grew with me and my needs. Whether it was a search for pure exhilaration in raging rapids, or the
search for solitude in the great expanse of the Rocky Mountains, this relationship with the natural world has
always met me where I am. It was one of
the greatest gifts given to me by my father and grandfathers and one that I
hope to pass on to my children.
I hope you will enjoy this newsletter that
shares more of these experiences in the words of boys, young men, and those who
love them.
By Drew Wing
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Save the Date!
|  Tuesday, November 9, 2010The Boys to Men Mothers Advisory Committee Presents:
Superheros and Scary
Guys: Helping Mothers Understand the Natural Aggression of Young Boys
In this interactive workshop for mothers of young sons,
we will explore our own emotional responses to the physical energy
and aggressive play of our little boys.
From wrestling to gun play to competitive games, our boys
are hard-wired for action. How can we understand the aggressive themes in their
imaginative play and support their natural impulse to be active?
By sharing stories and strategies for mothering our
energetic boys, we will come together to understand and celebrate the healthy
masculinity of our precious sons.
*We apologize for the confusion regarding the date for this workshop in the previous version of this newsletter and thank our concerned readers for pointing out the error!
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Time With Dad
| 
Me and my family went to
the middle school soccer field and I scored on my dad. I also scored on
my brother. We practiced scoring and corner kicking. I like soccer.
It's special because it's fun. I like soccer because you only use
your feet. I like being outside with my dad. -Julian, Age 8 ____________________________________________________________________________________  I was in Florida and I
caught many fish. There were many different species, Jacks,
Redfish, Sea Trout, Spanish Mackerel and Pompano. I was in a kayak with
my dad. We were fishing with shrimp and rubber baits. We had
dolphins swimming by our kayak, and also saw sting rays. It was exciting
and so much fun! I caught more fish than my dad. Dictated by Gus, Age 6 |
Venturing
Maine Waters
|
There
are many obstacles in life that one must face alone. These obstacles could come
in the form of stress or chaos, and many times one will find him or herself
facing an obstacle nobody, outside of oneself, is aware. These situations could
arise in day to day activities, family experiences, or any other aspect of
life. But it is these obstacles that make us stronger and teach us more about
the world that we live in.
One
is not usually wary of the ocean's immense powers. No, not until he or she has experienced them
firsthand anyway. In fact, many times people feel that the ocean is a soothing,
calming place. Of course, these people have obviously not experienced the
frigid, fall swells that push themselves from the depths of the strongest
storms to the coast of Maine. But I have.
The day was a Saturday no less than a
year ago. A hurricane off the coast of Maine was pushing some of the biggest
waves anyone had seen all year onto our beaches. Naturally, this drew the
attention of many New England surfers, including myself. I had been surfing for six years by then, but
the large days, as we would call them, still disquieted me every time. Every
time the swell was over seven feet, I would stand on the beach for some time
debating whether I should venture the seas at such an hour of wrath. This time,
however, was different; I was not frightened as usual, but eager to paddle out.
So paddle out I did, but the waters that met me were anything but calm and
soothing.
After about an hour of fighting the
potent rip tides and the monstrous walls of water, I found myself in the
perfect position to drop in. The wave was mid sized for the day, but by no
means was it small. I paddled furiously and kicked with a passion, and slowly I
felt the wave accepting my efforts; it was scooping me up and sending me down
its face into a fast glide. Just as I was about to stand up, however, the wave
began to break over my head, and I was pushed down far into the churning
waters. Like clothes in a washing machine, I was kicked around - feeling as if
all the breath was being squeezed out of my body.
To keep their boards close to them at
all times, all surfers wear what's called a leash, which is connected to one's
ankle on one end and their board on the other; without a leash, one is pretty
much a toy of the ocean, because she or he has no board to hang on to. During
my time under water, I felt the tugging on my ankle cease, but the fact that my
leash had broken didn't register until I had reached the surface. I struggled
for what seemed like eternity, fighting the rip tide and trying desperately to
hold myself up. Each time a big wave would come in, I would have to dive under
it, but it seemed its power could reach me no matter how deep I went. I was
slowly growing colder, and my arms were becoming heavier; it was like I was
being pulled in every direction, but I just wanted to go forward. As I tried desperately to swim to shore, I
could see that my board had washed up about 100 meters away on the beach and,
for a moment, the task of reaching the shore seemed impossible.
I think one of the hardest parts about
being in a stressful situation is learning to calm one's self down. If you just
take the time to relax and assess the situation, you may be surprised at how
much less daunting your situation actually is. What got me into shore that day
was my ability to relax and not panic; I slowly but surely reached arm over arm
and made my way onto dry land.
When I arrived on the beach and
retrieved my surfboard, I was stopped by some elderly people on the beach who
commented to me on how lovely the day was and how nice the water looked, and
even how it was such a nice day to be surfing. "Yeah I guess," I babbled, "it's
kind of crazy out there." They laughed, for many people only see but the outer
layer of other's experiences.
By Charles Baker
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On a Mountain in Maine
|
My Trip to Baxter State Park
 In
August, I went to Baxter State Park. I went up there with a couple of other
kids and two trip leaders. We camped out just outside the park, and spent the
week canoeing, hiking, swimming, cooking over the campfire and just hanging out
enjoying the views of Katahdin.
On our first day we decided to hike up a trail called Blueberry Ledges. The
hike up the trail is not much fun besides the huge boulders lining it, but the
end result is so rewarding. When you get there, you'll find a vast expanse of
bedrock. Bedrock hills and bedrock valleys, everywhere. But another thing
you'll find is lots, and lots, and lots of blueberries. There are thousands
upon thousands of blueberry bushes and at the time that I went every single one
was laden down with about 100 blueberries. Running down across the bedrock,
there were some really shallow rapids and we spent a lot of time sliding over
the slick rock, down, over the rapids.
On
the second day, we decided to canoe on lake Ambejejus - a large lake just
outside of Baxter. There are some great views from the lake. A long time ago,
in the logging days, Lake Ambejejus was used to float logs down river, and
there are some relics from back then such as the boomhouse. The old logging
boomhouse has been made into a museum, with all sorts of cool stuff in it -
like really old chainsaws and spiked boots and stuff like that. The guy, Chuck,
who basically owns the place, is an expert woodworker and has made two beautiful
birch bark canoes that he put in the museum.
On the third day, we climbed South Turner Mountain, right next to Katahdin.
It's a very tough climb all the way up, but there is the best view of Katahdin
I've ever seen.
The whole trip was a complete blast, and I learned so many new things. I can't
wait to go back to Baxter!
By Skyler, Age 10
_________________________________________________________________________
The Blue Marker
The mountain was laden with a
cold, heavy fog like a pair of puddle drenched socks. We were climbing at a
steady clip, two boys and a dad. We hadn't really noticed the weather until we
veered off the trail to a scenic overlook and more so once we reached the park's
highest pond. Our arrival was greeted by a flock of geese circling the chimney,
one, two then three times. We were hoping for a dramatic landing on the pond
but off they flew into the fog. Our climb to the summit was relatively saddle
smooth. We took occasional breaks to get our bearings, take a breather or snack
on trail mix and crackers. We knew that the summit was somewhere up in the
clouds and without the repetition of the all important "blue markers," we'd
have probably wandered off trail for there wasn't another soul in sight.
We do not recall when we started
laughing but to the best of our memory it was once we started getting winded
and it was particularly precipitated by the banter between Andre and Isaac,
cousin-brothers who are only a year's difference in age. We laughed about silly
things that came up in conversation, food antics and complaints about sore
feet, and penetrating cold breezes. Andre carried the camera that documented
our journey. From still images to short video clips, our first climb to Maine's
tallest mountain was being well documented.
It was after freezing for 20
minutes on the summit under a drizzling rain that we decided to descend back
down the trail. As we hiked we became disoriented. Plumes of fog engulfed us
and we soon realized that we were off trail. Walking down the craggy rocks, the
wind and rain picked up, sandblasting our faces. Isaac was ahead of us and in
his attempt to escape the horizontal rain lay squeezed beneath a rock. The
sight of him produced laughs from Andre and Isaac's dad. He in a dramatic
display of youth and a desire to keep the chuckles rolling exclaimed with a
voice of angst and duress...."I can't find the blue marker!"
By Patric,
Isaac, and Andre
_________________________________________________________________________
Five of us stood at the foot of Mt. Katahdin: Dad, daughter,
and three sons - or as we liked to say, "the old fogey" and the "young'uns".
Age had been a favorite topic for getting in a good-natured
poke at our father over the years. Our relative youth (and his fast-multiplying
gray hairs) rarely went unmentioned. We liked pointing out his "old-fashioned
ways"; the relic that was his big green pack with the exposed aluminum tubing, and
the piles of gear he stuffed into it, seemed to us, a burdensome combination of
overkill and paranoia. Whether out in a canoe in Stage Harbor, or above the
treeline on Baldface Mountain, our father taught us his brand of outdoorspersonship
by example. And after all our barbs, who were the beneficiaries of the stowed-away
anorak when the coastal wind kicked up? Or the soothing patch of "moleskin"
when boots rubbed our heels raw? A camp stove on a three-hour hike, Dad? Really?
Well, who got to enjoy that hot cup of thick, liquid Jell-o in the fire tower
atop Mt. Agamenticus?
So it was with these experiences which we began the climb to
Katahdin's summit. And finally, after all those decades of creating an illusory
advantage of youth over our perpetually invincible father, it became evident he
was showing more than a couple signs of the years eroding his body. It was slow
going. Us kids exchanged a few concerned glances early on, when Pops was
pulling up every few minutes for an "LB"(lung break).
But a strange and wonderful thing happened on the trail that
morning. Dad's back was bothering him? Guess who had a stash of ibuprofen? His
hamstring was cramping up? Guess who'd learned to carry a potassium-rich banana
with their lunch? Water bottles being depleted much faster than planned? Here,
have one of our extras. After reaching
the glorious peak, we even shuffled the contents of our packs, so he carried
down a much lighter load.
Equally elated and exhausted, we all shared a beautiful
moment of irony when Dad piped up, "What was I doing with all that junk in my
pack, anyway? I didn't need half of it..."
-Submitted by Caitlin Whitehouse
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Mount Washington on a Saturday in September
|
Last Saturday we hiked Washington
with my half brother's family. It was a big group - three aunts and an uncle,
my mom and dad, my brother and my half brother Jamie, a few cousins and some
others who I am not sure how to classify. We arrived early in the morning. It
was a surprise to the passengers in our car (Mom, Dad, Luke and Jamie) that
many of our party had never hiked a mountain before. We thought the highest
peak in the northeastern United States was a funny choice for novices, but we
didn't care.
The cool mountain air tasted crisp and fresh
passing through my throat. Some of us didn't feel this way. Jamie's Aunt Kate
came on the condition that she could smoke while she hiked, and we said it
would be fine because when Jamie hiked it with his father before, he had smoked
the whole way to the top. Kate had to take a slower pace, and we poked fun at
her because my mom had to carry her backpack. Kate's nephew Sam, who was
another new hiker, wasn't doing so badly. We kept thinking his eight-year-old
energy was going to crash sometime, but he ran laps around us the whole way up
and down. We had to beg him to drink any water.
"No thanks, I've already been
dehydrated," he would say.
"You've already been dehydrated? Drink
some water!"
"Yeah, I had to go to the hospital."
"Hate to break it to you, but it isn't
like the chicken pox."
When
we made it to the top, I was disappointed, because you walk into a parking lot
before you reach the summit. I was fourth to make it in our staggered group.
Once we all made it, we lit some candles for Jamie's dad, because it was the
anniversary of his death on 9/11. I had
almost forgotten. There was a nice spot where some people left painted rocks.
We didn't have any. After our little ceremony, we raced down the mountain (Kate
paid for a bus ticket). I slept well that night.
By Angus MacDonald
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Resource Guide
|
Here are just a few of
the ways that you can explore the great outdoors right here in Maine.
L. L. Bean Outdoor Discovery Schools L . L. Bean offers the opportunity for
people to get an introduction to a number of fun outdoor activities, including
fly casting, archery, kayaking, and sporting clays. These are all "walk on
adventures" and are available for a $20 fee at most L. L. Bean retail stores.
For more information, visit their website Maine GuidesThis is a comprehensive
website that contains information compiled by Maine Guides and lists resources
by activity, which includes hiking trails, fishing spots, canoe and kayaking routes,
and much, much more. You are able to search by activity or see what is
available by county. Click here to visit Maine State Parks This site will let
you find a state park with the facilities that you need to do your favorite
outdoor activity, including hiking, camping, swimming, bird watching, canoeing, and more. The site allows you to search for local "one tank trips" to
state wide resources that will help you plan your next outdoor adventure in one
of Maine's beautiful state parks. Click here to visitWhere to Fish in MaineDo you love to fish? Do you sometimes wonder how to get your kids to share your interest? This informative guide has all of the information that you need on gear, where to go, and tips for how to get kids hooked on fishing. Check it out here. |
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