Guides Gone Wild

I started chasing Bri Dostie down several months ago, when I somehow stumbled across her exquisite illustrations online and saw that she was a newly minted Maine guide. She wound up being an extremely interesting onion to peel, as I was doing more research I kept uncovering more and more things she was involved in, starting up, and bringing attention to.  

Bri’s focus on inclusion in fly fishing communities had a torch taken to it this spring after the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor sparked nationwide protests and rightfully amplified the attention being paid to systemic racism in this country. 

Don’t be fooled by her cheerful and upbeat demeanor, Bri is super serious and committed to owning her discomfort around issues of race, bias, and the historic exclusivity of the activities she loves. She also wants the rest of us to take a long, hard look at ourselves and the communities around us to root out the harmful attitudes and practices that perpetuate, and often institutionalize, the treatment of ‘others’ as somehow ‘lesser’.  

What I loved most about our conversation is the way she continues to return to hope and the value of listening and learning. As Bri said so eloquently, “imagine what’s possible when you get behind a movement that’s about love, and acceptance, and liberation; and the wholeness that can represent for everybody if you just stick to those core issues.” I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to put my imagination into action.

Connect with and learn more about Bri and Confluence Collective in all the places:

• Her website - amazing illustrations
• Awesome blog post tracking her thought processes about pursuing illustration professionally in November 2019
• Confluence Collective website, on Instagram and Facebook
• Bri (@happyplatypus) on Instagram
• Bri interviewed on The Liar’s Club podcast in September 2019

Other links from our conversation:

Junior Duck Stamp Competition (yes, it’s still a thing!)

Gray Ghost Streamer Fly (it’s no Woolly Buggah, but…)

The Feather Thief - by Kirk Wallace Johnson (not an affiliate link, I just like to encourage folks to support their local bookstores - but it doesn’t hurt to check your library for this title first, I already devoured it via Libby audiobook on two long drives!)

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Danielle Dorrie, in classic outdoor guide fashion, could barely stop moving long enough to chat with me back in April.  

Danielle is a transplant, having moved to Maine from Florida in 2010 in a quest for seasons, snow, fall, and adventure. She became a tireless evangelist of Maine’s outdoor adventure scene almost immediately, while working in hospitality and later starting her own photography company.   

One of the first exposures I had to Danielle and her frequent adventure partner, Willow, was a video I found online of them doing the Mahoosuc Notch portion of the Appalachian Trail, often referred to as ‘the hardest mile’ on the AT. I was trying to figure out if it was possible to do a day hike into and back out from the sketchy ice cave area of the trail, and the video she’d posted of the hike convinced me not only that the idea of doing that as a day hike was asinine, but also that Danielle was freaking hysterical and someone I needed to meet.  

Together with her friend Willow, Danielle runs LoveMaineAdventures.com, an information-packed blog and an adventure concierge service all rolled together with an online merch store offering cute tees, hats and other gear that let you show your Maine love. The awesome ‘Social Distancing’ hat she’s sporting above is one of their most recent and timely creations.   And because apparently all that isn’t enough to keep her busy, Danielle also runs her own marketing and social media management consultancy, DD+Co., that works with tons of tourism-based businesses across northern New England. 

To follow along on more of Danielle’s adventures, check out Love Maine Adventures on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, and visit their website. 

We covered a lot of ground in this interview!:

• Lucerne Inn
• FUSION:Bangor
• Saddleback Mountain (ski)
• New Hermon Mountain (ski) 
• ClifBloks (D.D.’s favorite - watermelon)
• Osprey 32 Daylite
• DirtyGirl gaiters
• Frog Mat
• St. Saveur and other Acadia National Park hikes
• Section hiking Appalachian Trail
• Baxter State Park (Katahdin, South Turner, Sandy Stream)

Are you enjoying the GGW Podcast so far? Drop us a line and let us know!
Finally, special thanks to Evans Notch Lodge for supporting the Guides Gone Wild Podcast!

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It’s Shannon Bryan’s nature to share every fun, unique, maybe-slightly-weird thing she discovers (usually with enthusiasm, boundless energy, and occasional references to tater tots). She wants everyone to love and enjoy all there is to do in Maine, just as much as she does.

Shannon launched her website, Fit Maine, in 2015 as a side project where she could write about the entertaining and memorable stuff she was doing with her friends on nights and weekends.

In early 2019, the Fit Maine Social Club, a year-round membership club, was born, with the goal of creating opportunities to gather and do fun, active stuff TOGETHER.

In addition to Fit Maine and her event promotion business, Shannon MC’s local events and appears regularly on News Center Maine’s 207 segment to talk about fun, active stuff to do around Maine (obviously).

Connect with Shannon on Facebook and Instagram (Get the Fork Out!), check out the FitMaine website and YouTube channel, and definitely tune into her episode on the PR Maven Podcast.

Shannon shared some of her favorite places to 'Do Cool Sh*t in (and around) Maine':

• Tumbledown Mountain hike
• Megunticook in Camden
• Sewell Woods in Scarborough
• Waterfall Rapelling with Northeast Mountaineering

But you'll have to listen in for our bonus content - Shannon's seasonally appropriate activity-and-adult-beverage pairings!

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“It’s just persisting and not talking yourself out of doing things.”

My guide today is Jeanne Christie from Connect To Wilderness. (And speaking of connections, I was introduced to Jeanne through my very first GGW guest, Alicia Heyburn - Jeanne is the Outreach Program Manager for Teens to Trails, among all of the other impressive-as-hell things she does.)

Jeanne is the definition of low-key when you talk to her, but she is a classic overachiever who has no intention of slowing down. In addition to her impressive career in environmental resource management and the work she’s doing with Teens to Trails, she’s a registered Maine Guide and Maine Master Naturalist, as well as a Certified Forest Therapy Guide.   You can read more about Jeanne’s awesomeness in the November 2019 issue of Portland Magazine, where she led off the article featuring the “Ten Most Intriguing People in Maine” - but I hope you’ll agree that hearing from her directly is much better. 

I loved talking to Jeanne, because she bent my mind a bit and made me step back and think a different way about some of the powerful feelings or moments I’ve had in nature. Jeanne is the quintessential guide, introducing ideas or questions and then letting us have our own experience. I’m going to approach my walks in the woods, or even around the neighborhood, in a whole new way from now on - time to leave the earbuds at home and actually…. experience!

As Jeanne puts it on her website: “If you want to go fast, I'm not a good fit.”  But if you want to go slow, get close with nature and develop deep connections, this episode is for you.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Connect To Wilderness
• Nature and Forest Therapy
• JetBoil Stove
• Evans Notch Lodge

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Let's consider the concept of inevitability.

It’s probably hard for some of our younger listeners to wrap their heads around the idea that a girl or woman would be actively dissuaded from pursuing outdoor interests or a career in an outdoor-related industry. But that’s been the reality for many women, just as it has been for many people of color, LGBTQ, and other under-represented groups of outdoor enthusiasts. So I hope today’s conversation will help us all reflect on the barriers that the expectations of society and family can often throw up in front of us and others, and provide a little bit of inspiration and encouragement to keep working to make our own desires inevitable.

Our guide today is Nancy Zane, who spent decades getting deflected or distracted away from an innate calling she felt toward the outdoors. In 2017, she finally started North Star Adventures, a company that "creates courses and certifications that meet you where you are". So if you, like Nancy, feel a relentless tug toward a life or career of outdoor adventure, this episode is for you.

You can check out Nancy's amazing trip and course offerings on her North Star Adventures website, and follow her @NStarAdventures on Facebook and Instagram.

And of course, don’t miss Paddle Maine Mondays!

If you’re interested in some of the organizations or products we discussed, check them out below:

• Maine Media Workshops
• Common Ground Fair
• SOLO Wilderness Medicine Education
• Fry-Bake Outdoor Cookware
• And of course, a powdered hummus recipe!

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Our guide for this inaugural interview episode is Alicia Heyburn.

Alicia’s guiding cred ranges both broad and deep - she’s a registered Maine sea kayak guide, a wilderness first responder, long-distance bikepacker, and co-leader of an amazing outing club for Maine women, all of which we talk about in this episode.

Alicia shares some great ideas for easing into new activities at any age, and as a solo female adventurer; she shares her theories on nature deficit disorder; and we talk about the roles that curiosity and science can play in moving past fear.

As she says, "the door to the outdoors will swing open to you at any age". So let's open the door and welcome Alicia Heyburn to the Guides Gone Wild podcast.

You can connect with Alicia directly through the Teens To Trails website, or @TeensToTrails on Facebook and Instagram.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Ladies Adventure Club
• Maine Island Trail Association
• Adventure Cycling Association
• Appalachian Trail Conservancy
• Meetup
• Luci Lite
• Good to Go Meals

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Welcome to the Guides Gone Wild Podcast!
Get ready to fill your ears and minds with the stories of everyday, extraordinary women who’ll inspire you to take your outdoor adventure game to the next level.
Whether you’re starting your journey from the couch or the trail head, this is the place for you.

(And yes, I know how nervous I sound. Because, I AM!!)

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