As plans progress for some sort of celebration of the 30th Anniversary of Maine Outdoors and the season preparation gets underway. It is a season of anticipation for me.
Early spring this year has brought a flurry of calls from travel writers looking to capture what a guide offers that makes them a valuable part of your outdoor experience. I go through the list of knowing what, where and how. What a guide offers has been brought home to me in a couple of recent conversations. First a neighbor asked me to identify a hawk that they had seen in their field. Giving a general description that was not very helpful until they got to a white band across the tail. The identification was easy now. Harrier or Marsh Hawk a pretty common sighting locally but clearly if you don't know you don't know.
The second conversation was with our neighborhood that likes to walk the local loop together on the evening of full moon. The conversation about who could go and what day was best made me realize that no one in the conversation knew that the moon rises at about sunset on the night of full moon and that moon rise changes by about forty five minutes every day. As a long time striper guide I know when the moon is overhead and how that effects the tides every day.
Granted neither of these pieces of information have much if any bearing on your day to day lives but they add immeasurably to an outdoor experience. As the answer to one of your questions or simply being applied to enhance your trip. Especially when added to lots of other things that experience outdoors provides.
I am truly grateful for all of my clients that have allowed me the time outdoors that I have had over the last 30 years and am already looking forward to the next twenty! Hopefully you will be part of new experiences this summer!
Best regards,
Don Kleiner
Master Maine Guide
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