August was a busy month for trips here at Mahoosuc! We have a couple trips left for this season, our Way of the Wabanaki trip September 14-17th (there is still some space) and a couple West Branch of the Penobscot River trips which are contract trips with groups of friends.
Kevin guided our Arctic Wildlife and Inuit Cultural Basecamp Trip to Kuujjuaq, Nunavik (northern Quebec) in August. Everyone had a great time, saw musk ox, northern lights, ate gourmet food, caught lake trout & arctic char. Our Inuit guide, Allen, did a great job educating everyone about his Inuit culture.
Polly guided a women’s canoe and yoga weekend on Umbagog Lake in early August, click here to view this short video produced by our apprentice Maddie about our trip.
We took some people from The Nature Conservancy on the West Branch of the Penobscot River in August. Grant Hawkes and Becca Hoskins helped Polly guide this trip. Click here for a short video produced by Becca about our trip with Grant’s amazing voice singing. It was a memorable trip with an unusual sighting of a great horned owl during the day on the river (see photos) and a few moose sightings.
Kevin guided three East Branch of the Penobscot River canoe trips this summer as part of a two year study focused on improving Atlantic salmon habitat. This will also help the land locked salmon and native brook trout populations. The Penobscot Nation was awarded a NOAA grant for this project.
Next week Polly will be attending the Maine Biz event in Portland to celebrate all of the recipients of the Women to Watch from the last 15 years. Polly was honored to be chosen in 2021.
Mahoosuc Guide Service is one of the finalists for the business awards for 2023 given by the Institute for Family Owned Businesses in Maine. The awards banquet and ceremony will be in October and we will see who is chosen for the 7 awards from the 24 finalists out of the 500 nominations!
We will be hosting another Wilderness First Aid course October 20-21st and Open Recertification workshop October 20-22nd. Contact us to enroll.
Hope you are having a good change of season!
Polly, Kevin & all the doggies
I have been guiding on the Allagash river since 1974 and over the years I’ve seen a distinct pattern in terms of usage. Canoeists must use designated campsites on the waterway and there is no reservation system. In peak periods if paddlers don’t secure a campsite by mid-day or shortly thereafter, they may end up […]
We were able to do our canoe trips later this year as the weather has been unusually warm and beautiful! Here in the Bear River Valley our fall colors are past peak and the leaves are starting to fall. Temperatures remain very comfortable to do outside projects. There is a chill in the air at […]
Siobhan went to doggy heaven today. She was one of Kevin’s dogs and always up for anything. She loved people and children and whenever anyone came to visit the kennel she always thought they came to see her! She ran in any position in the team and was versatile sometimes going with Polly’s teams if […]
Since I was a teenager it was always on my bucket list to paddle the Allagash. In 2018 I retired from a burdensome career and signed up to paddle the river with Mahoosuc guide service (mgs). It was better than wonderful. All I had to do was show up. They provided all the gear and it was good stuff. The river was beautiful, the sights, smells, scenery, distant mountain views were gorgeous. Polly and associate guides were wonderful and fun to be with. They were attentive, careful, observant and caring and brought campfire cooking to an epicurean level. In March 2019 I went on a dog sled winter camping trip with Kevin and Polly and several other guides. It also was great. Safety was paramount. The dogs were eager, energetic, focused and affectionate. The camp was something out of a Jack London novel. Each tent had a small wood stove and was roasty toasty warm. Food was great and plentiful. Kevin and Polly are so much fun to be with. They always made sure I was warm, well fed and happy;
Then in May 2019 I went on a two night canoe trip with my wife and another couple and they are not campers. We had a great time. The four of us, two lady guides (Polly and Jean) and we saw loons and moose and beaver and sunsets.
And then in August I went with MGS to paddle 170 miles on the Yukon river in Alaska. I am getting older, if I don’t do this stuff now, when will I?? It was better than wonderful. I reminisce about all these trips every day. Time is short, life is short, I need to pack it in. Once this pandemic is over, Polly and Kevin will not be able to get rid of me. Polly and Kevin are the models of Maine Master Guides against whom all others should be compared.