You’ve spent time in Alaska, thru-hiked the Appalachian trail, and now live in rural Maine (not far from the end of the AT). What’s the most inhospitable place you found yourself? Like, questioning life choices rough.
Although we are most of the way through July, you initially sent me these questions on May 14th. If that wasn’t the exact day, it was pretty close to when the black flies started hatching in Northern Maine. I have lived my entire life in Maine, and would camp every summer up here in Baxter State Park (almost always late summer, probably for this exact reason). I thought I knew what black fly season was. Yeah, they’re annoying. And yeah, it doesn’t seem like any insect repellent works on them. But they’re not THAT bad. People just like to complain, or so I thought. I had never spent late spring and early summer deep in the woods of Northern Maine.
My first official black fly season was in 2014 when I worked for the Appalachian Mountain Club outside of Greenville, ME. And it has only gotten worse since moving up here to Mount Chase, ME. We live in a swampy area, on a pond, lots of cold water streams around us and the black flies will drive you nuts. They swarm you, their bites hurt, they draw blood, they leave welts, and if you are trying to accomplish anything with your hands outside, they own you. I very quickly bought my first bug jacket, with a full covered hood, in 2014 and have made sure I have one every season. If you have never seen a bug jacket, it is a loose fitting lightweight mesh jacket that covers your head and entire upper body, except for your hands, so don’t forget your gloves. I usually tuck my pants into my socks too. I remember this year putting in my dock during peak black flies. I had my jacket on, gloves and all. But changed into shorts as I would be wading out into the water. Securing a few of the brackets in water that was just below my knees, and my shorts were just above my knees, probably took me 10 minutes or so. There was a ring around my knees that were bloody red and swollen from those 10 minutes that my skin was unprotected and my hands were occupied. But then July comes, and the black flies peter out, and you are living in one of the most beautiful places in the world. And it’s not over crowded because black fly season is so brutal.
The other place that came to mind was Joshua Tree. I am sure there are worse desert conditions in the world, like Death Valley, or the Sahara. Those would truly be the most inhospitable places in the world, but I got a taste of it in Joshua Tree. My wife, Lindsay, was working for an outdoor and environmental education group in California after we finished our AT Thru Hike, so I took that time to explore a little bit out west while she was working. I found myself camping in Joshua tree for about a week. There is no shade, there is no water and the sun is beating down on you all day. By the end of 5 days, I was lying in the shade of my car and realizing why desert people are known to be a little crazy. The next day I got a hotel room just to get a break from the sun.
The world is so different now than it was when we grew up. What are some things from your childhood that you’ve exposed your kids to and they love?
Living where we do in rural Northern Maine, my kids don’t have the same opportunities I did growing up in Southern Maine. Walter and Annie are now 8 and 6, and Lindsay and I have made it a point to try to expose them to as much as possible. Obviously up here, we have the outdoor activities covered. Camping, hiking, canoeing, fishing, mountain biking, downhill skiing, cross country skiing, snowmobiling. Even stuff that I don’t enjoy, I want to make sure they can experience it if they want to. For instance, Walter has asked about hunting because all of his friends go hunting with their dads. It’s not my thing, but I feel like that’s an important experience my kids should have. We also want to make sure we travel with them. Bring them to big cities. Also expose them to the fine arts. We brought them to the Nutcracker at the Bangor Symphony Orchestra and they loved it.
But the biggest thing I have been making sure they get exposure to is a healthy lifestyle. And my way of doing that, big surprise, is finding the nearest running community and latching on. Growing up, my family would do road races. Everyone would run, I don’t ever remember being forced to run. It’s just what we did. There are not many runners out here in Mount Chase, or in Patten for that matter. Although we are working on that. Completely independent of me, a running club started in Patten mostly made up of a younger crowd that works at Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. But the running community I have latched onto is in Caribou, ME. They have this great summer race series, with kids races, and even a kids running team (which Walter and Annie aren’t old enough for yet). We will wake up early, drive almost 2 hours north and have a great time. Road races are where I feel at home. It’s like a big party, no one has a care in the world (except for the people organizing the races which I have found out from personal experience). You meet new people, you run (haha) into old friends. Walter really enjoys racing and Annie has decided she just likes to come and hang out which is great too! I’m trying to instill the love of the outdoors and being active in my kids, just like my parents did for me.
You’ve always been a great runner. It blew my mind in high school when you went out and ran 10 miles, by yourself, not in a race or anything. Just like on a Wednesday or something. What are your running goals now as a 40-ish year old with kids?
Setting running goals in my 40’s has been very tough to figure out. I stopped drinking (for the second time) just before I turned 40. And with a new healthy lifestyle in mind, I made the sweeping declaration that I would run one marathon each year. As I started training for a marathon again, and getting in decent shape, I set 2 goals: under 17 in the 5k and a 2:47 marathon. In the past 3 years I have come very close to those goals… but I haven’t reached them. And every year I feel a little bit older and a little bit slower. So I haven’t quite figured out how to adjust the goals to my aging body.
Then, this past winter I suffered a pretty serious ankle injury. Cutting down a tree that was hung up on a couple other trees and partially blocking our ski trail, I miscalculated the forces being applied to the top half of the tree. The trunk swung toward me after I made the cut and crushed my left ankle. Luckily, I didn’t break it. But I was on crutches for a while, and it took me a long time to get back to walking normal, let alone running on it. While I was rehabbing my ankle, 2 things happened. The local running club I am a part of started a steps challenge, and I became obsessed with the British game show Taskmaster. I think they happened simultaneously because my watch counted the motion on my Elliptical machine as “steps” and I needed something to watch on TV as I was now confined to our exercise room. I have now started doing weekly taskmaster challenges for our club: tallest hat worn on a group run, GPS running route art, most scenic picture taken on a run, most loops on a run, longest water crossing on a run, highest weekly average elevation gain, longest barefoot run… stuff like that. I’m hoping to expand it to more running clubs in the future. But in my “advanced age” (for a runner) I am trying to focus on the more fun side of running than strict time and mileage goals.
I’m not at all surprised that you’ve found yourself cooking for large quantities of people (among other things) over the years. What’s your favorite thing to make for a crowd?
I will never call myself a chef. I am a cook, and really more of a baker if anything. I don’t have any formal training other than working at Subway in high school, but I also don’t like the term “self taught.” I have learned from some really talented chefs and cooks. I was the sous chef when Lindsay and I worked for Kenai Fjords Glacier Lodge in Alaska. Working there I was able to learn a lot from professional trained (or even “self taught”) chefs, and I was mainly in charge of appetizers, bread and desserts. Focusing on bread and desserts, I came up with this theory of good bookends. Starting off the meal with some really good homemade bread, gets people in the mindset of: “Wow! This bread is amazing. This is going to be a great meal.” And then ending with a great dessert, leaves a lasting impression of how great the meal was. So it’s certainly not that it doesn’t matter what you serve for the actual meal, but having those 2 really delicious bookends elevates the entire meal. My favorite breads to make are Focaccia, Everything Bagel Bread, Molasses Rye Sourdough and the local favorite here is Oatmeal Maple Wheat Bread. My favorite desserts to make are lemon cream tart and layered chocolate mousse cheesecake.
As for the meal itself, which doesn’t really matter. I make Prime Rib a lot for big crowds because it has the reputation of being a fancy meal and draws people in to make reservations. But I prefer my cider braised brisket with caramelized onions and blue cheese, with some mashed sweet potatoes (half sweet potatoes and half yukon goldens to make sure it’s not too soupy of a consistency) and roasted brussels sprouts.
I would really love to be able to start serving full vegetarian meals. But we aren’t quite there yet. It would be a hard sell in our area. I, myself, am not a full on vegetarian, but I have started leaning more towards a plant based diet. Once you take a step back from a meat-centric diet, it’s bizarre that all of our meals are centered around a giant portion of meat. One of my favorite things to eat now is rice and beans. Throw some veggies in it and a sauce on top. Boom! You got yourself a meal.
Bam, something magical just happened! The bad news is you have to spend the rest of your life in the world of a book or movie. The good news is that you get to choose. What’s your pick?
Ok. I feel like I have a funny pick and a real pick. The funny pick is a movie I saw recently, but this just might have more to do with the current political and economic climate. Sam Raimi’s newish movie “Send Help”. I won’t get into it anymore than that because I might incriminate myself.
However, the actual book that popped into my head was “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” as I recently tried to start reading it to my kids. I read this before the movie came out, and that always allows you to use your own imagination to visualize the worlds that the author is creating. Something about the bizarre fantastical space travel Douglas Adams created really stuck with me. And it wasn’t that I didn’t like the movie, but it just wasn’t what I had imagined it to be. The only difference is I would bring my towel AND my family.
Where he lives
Mount Chase, ME. Population 189
Passion
Running. But also, encouraging everyone to be active.
Drink Order
Hate to admit it, but it’s an ice cold can of Diet Coke. Or as the kids call it, a “fridge cig.”
Comfort Content
Taskmaster. To unwind after a long day, just leave me alone for 45 minutes so I can watch an episode of Taskmaster.
