A Snapshot of the Lost Years: Part 2

Spring and Summer of 2012

Upon returning to the U.S., I suffered from the hard bite of the Wanderlust. It took about 4 months of living in Maine before I could recover from common symptoms of feeling confined, antsy, and claustrophobic. Baxter State Park and Maria Millard greatly helped in this recovery process.

Within two weeks of returning from New Zealand, with the motivation to get out of the parents' house, I bought my first car and started making trips North. I conveniently needed to take a 10-day WFR course in NH and friends to climb with. This tied me over until work started at Bryant Pond 4-H camp in mid-April. When I had a week off from work I volunteered at Mahoosuc Guide Service.

Once the camp season got going, my life was the Junior Maine Guide program, Bushcraft, and trying to sneak in climbing during my few hours off. Towards the end of summer, I made my first two trips to Baxter State Park and reconnected with Maria Millard. Maria is a young woman I only got to hang out with twice in the months we first met, and yet we connected so well we stayed in touch over the years until we finally could catch up to each other. And then our crazy adventures together began. And well, Baxter State Park, it's my new favorite place in New England. The Chimney Pond area is like a gem from the West dropped in the East.

That fall I worked part time for Bryant Pond and Orion Outfitters and Guide Service. I did everything from teaching primitive skills to hauling bears out of the woods. I know, I can just picture some of your faces at the idea of me working for a hunting guide service; me being mostly vegetarian for the last few years. I wanted to check out the hunting world with the idea that I could one day hunt for my own 'real' free range meat. Besides, I've slowly moved from vegetarian to localtarian, to opportunistic eater.

John headed up to Whitney
Gilman on Cannon

Come late that fall when F_unemployment kicked in between seasons, I headed down to the Red River Gorge with my main climbing partner at the time, Strong John. A two week climbing trip I'd been waiting for since my first trip there my freshman year of college. Oh, and how I disappointed myself. Really, the 15 to 20 foot runouts between bolts almost made me cry. Poor John, he put up with a lot from me that trip.





Winter 2012-2013

For the winter season I ski patrolled at Sunday River Mountain Resort. And no, it wasn't so I could just be a ski bum. I wasn't even that obsessed with skiing, yet. I actually thought of the idea in the spring time when I was taking my Wilderness First Responder course. Scenarios in a class once every three years were not enough for me to deal with a real emergency. But I didn't want to work in an ambulance. So of course, ski patrol! Outdoors, hands on medical, and as a bonus, I'm paid to ski. A medical emergency I had to deal with over the summer solidified the plan for me (just so you know, the patient came out fine; I did something right). And so I learned how to ski proper and deal with all sorts of situations.



Since I worked around 4-4.5 days a week, I spent as much time as possible ice climbing, ski touring, and survival cooking. I also had the opportunity to cash in for my dog sled trip for the Mahoosuc Guide Service. 

It was a struggle to find partners that had the same schedule as me or enough energy to get out in their off time. Despite this struggle, I did get to enjoy some great climbs like Cinema on Mt Willard with Billy and Brian, and Katahdin via Dougal's Delight and the False Chimney with Mahoosuc SAR. Along with a ski from Washington's summit with John Haley and many other adventures with great company. When I couldn't find partners, I took up free soloing some easier ice and doing some of my first solo winter hiking. It put winter activities into a new perspective for me and boosted my confidence in my skills (and made me recognize what I needed to work on).

Chris Hayward with the Knife's Edge on Katadhin
in the background.