Guides Gone Wild

Running the River from Passion to Purpose: Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners

• Guides Gone Wild

Share episode

Today I’m welcoming one of my wild new Western Maine friends, Julie Sloan, an owner and the lead instructor at Maine River Runners (https://www.maineriverrunners.com/) in Bethel, Maine.

Maine River Runners came to town the summer of 2023, and jumped right in to the local business community with their fleet of kayaks, canoes, stand up paddleboards, and accessories for rent, as well as a lesson program and shuttle service that brings paddlers up and down the Androscoggin from their riverfront home base in Bethel.

But this is no ‘Julie-come-lately’ story - even though her business just celebrated its first birthday, Julie Sloan has more than 20 years of experience teaching (both in classrooms and on the water), and holds certifications in swift water, coastal kayaking, SUP yoga teaching, and as an ACA Paddle Sports Safety Facilitator.

Julie’s story is one that fills me with joy because she has managed to meld her many interests and curiosities into a life she loves, that’s also creating so much good in the world and in her community as a result.

So get that river adventure on your calendar ASAP!:

Are you a registered Maine Guide itching to get your community and clients on the water this summer? 

Or are you a land-lubber looking for some fun (and fabulous fundraising!) hiking opportunities this summer? :

Or has Julie inspired you to start your own outdoor business? Check out my Guide for Guides on Liability Insurance and Social Media Marketing!

A few more links from our conversation (come on over to GuidesGoneWild.com for the complete list):

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

We're trying to do things ethically and we're trying to do things, you know, with like environmentally in mind. I'm not just trying to pump people down the water.

Jen:

Welcome to the Guides Gone Wild podcast. What is Guides Gone Wild, you ask? This is where you'll fill your ears and minds with the stories of everyday, extraordinary women who will inspire you to take your outdoor adventure game to the next level. Whether you're starting your journey from the couch or the trailhead, this is the place for you. So let's get a little wild.

Jen:

Holy cow, were you worried about me? Hi there, welcome to Guys Gone Wild. This is Jen, and no, we have not pod faded into obscurity. We have had a very busy few months around here. I've got a kid who just graduated from high school. I went on a spontaneous cross New Hampshire adventure trail bikepacking trip that I'm sure I'll be talking more about later. Kicked off my camping season was in California for a week to finish up a work gig. It has been nut-tastic, and getting my Guides Gone Wild interviews lined up, accomplished, edited and published has obviously fallen by the wayside. But never fear, I promise I will never desert the pod waves for good without telling you. I just might be a little slow here and there. When life gets a little wild, you just get around to it when you can, right.

Jen:

Speaking of wild, today I'm welcoming one of my wild new Western Maine friends, julie Sloan, an owner and the lead instructor at Maine River Runners in Bethel, maine. Maine River Runners came to town summer 2023 and jumped right in the water with a fleet of kayaks, canoes, stand-up paddleboards and accessories for rent, as well as the lesson program and shuttle service that brings paddlers up and down the Androscoggin from their riverfront location in Bethel, but this is no Julie-come-lately story, even though her business just celebrated its first birthday. Julie Sloan has more than 20 years of experience teaching both in classrooms and on the water and holds certifications in swift water, coastal kayaking, sup, yoga teaching and is a ACA Paddle Sports Safety Facilitator. Julie's story is one that fills me with joy because she has managed to meld her many interests and curiosities into a life she loves and that's also creating so much good in the world and in her community. As a result, I'm really looking forward to working with Julie and Maine River Runners this summer, and I know you'll want to too. So allow me to introduce wild for all things water. Julie Sloan of Maine River Runners All right, awesome, let's roll right into this.

Jen:

Then, now that we've been talking about 100 year storms that come every six months, 10 minutes off of Mike, julie Sloan is my guest today on Guides Gone Wild.

Jen:

We're going to talk a little bit about water sports and her new-ish endeavor called Main River Runners, which is right down the road from my Evans Notch Lodge place, and Julie and I had a really good time working together on an auction prize with Ari Leach from Blackbird Guide Services for the Teens to Trails auction this year, and so we've got a lot of cool stuff in play, and I wanted to learn more about her business, and I figured everybody else should know about it too. So here we go, we're going to record. So, julie, let's take it back, though, because I just happen to know that you don't live full time in Maine right now, and you know, I'm always interested to understand why somebody would get so deep into an activity that they think it's a great idea to take your life savings and stick it into a fleet of paddle boards and tubes and kayaks and everything else. So let's start out and talk a little bit, if you would, about you know kind of, maybe, your background in the outdoors and how you got into water anything love of water.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

Yeah, I guess my first thought is my background is I'm from Maine, so my roots are in Maine. I grew up in Southern Maine, went to college in Vermont and then stayed in Vermont, but I've always had this pull back to Maine. I've summered in Maine my whole life. We have a family lake house nearby and I guess as a child I just ran the Androscoggin. We did like one big family trip every year and that kind of like spurred off we did other river trips as a family and like in canoes or rafts or what like?

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

how are?

Jen:

you managing?

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

And as boats evolved, we do kayaks. We did blow up kayaks, we did we. We never did tubes per se, Not that I remember we never did tubes. We were always like paddling, always moving. And then I have family that lived in Hawaii and they were really into surfing and and they introduced paddle boarding to us a long time ago. That seemed like it seems like it's a new sport in on the coast. And then I went to college and I was an outdoor education major, double major in physical education, and when I got a job at the school that I'm at right now, there was a big outdoor program that already existed when I got the job. At the same time there was a $300,000 grant to improve outdoor programming and so I was right at the cusp of that, like PE changing to being more outdoor, and I was like, can we buy paddle boards? So paddle boards and that's been part of my physical education program since I started 20 years ago.

Jen:

So are you at a private school or are you at a public school? It's a public school, oh, that's sweet, and they have paddle boards and kayaks and stuff. Wow.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

Yeah, and canoes and mountain bikes and we have ropes course and it's a great outdoor program.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

And I guess I've just always had this affinity for water and this love for getting people engaged in water sports and introduce people to their backyard, which is water in New England.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

And, because of my background in outdoor education, I'm big on the safety and then the environmental piece, so I teach a lot of leave no trace policies, like I'm currently working with the Androscoggin Watershed Council or watershed I think that's where it ends. Yeah, the Mahoosic Land Trust, like we're tryingoosic land trust, like we're trying to do things ethically and we're trying to do things you know, with like environmentally in mind. I'm not just trying to pump people down the water. So I guess, yeah, it's, it's like all of these things have come together for me, this love of western Maine, um, the desire to maybe be back in Maine one day, full time, and passing on my love for water sports and doing things differently, like not just, you know, sitting in a boat, a kayak or canoe, maybe standing on the water, looking at things from a different vantage point. We specifically bought some whitewater paddle boards to hopefully go up to Errol and do some whitewater paddle boarding.

Jen:

Oh yeah, nice, Very cool.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

Just to try and engage people in a little bit of a different aspect there in Bethel.

Jen:

Yeah, but let's back up though, because I think there's a pretty big chasm between being really passionate about a certain activity and then being like, oh, I'm going to open a business and make it, you know, part of my livelihood, or part of what I'm doing to earn a living, and what? Where did that come from?

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

I don't know. I guess I just felt like I had this background, knowledge of the sport and the activity, and I felt like that that just comes naturally for me. The teaching part of things comes naturally. And maybe working for nonprofits over the years and working for municipalities on the side and working for schools, I just felt like I can do this, I can do this on my own, and so I guess I built up enough confidence to feel like I could go off on my own. I have zero experience of running a business, never built a website. Well, I can't say never. I mean I've built websites because I work at a high school. We learn a lot of different skills by teaching in high school. So I guess I've taken some website design classes, but like the social media piece, it's not my first thing 's not my first like job. I guess. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no that's that.

Jen:

That part of it is just like, I don't know, exhaust me too, and I got a marketing degree at one point and I still like can't, can't deal, so, um, so, tell me about the process though of like.

Jen:

You know, when we first met whatever last summer, two summers ago, I must have been maybe last beginning of last summer um, when I came up to see the place, I was like, oh, and we were talking a little bit about kind of the process of how you landed where you landed. You know, tell me a little bit about all that, because that was kind of cool, I mean there's, you know Bethel is probably these days known more for skiing and, you know, being kind of a winter destination, but it's right at the dog leg of the Androscoggin. There's all kinds of amazing water around there. You know, within striking distances, plenty of ponds and lakes and you know water, water bodies of all sizes. So you know, it sounds like you had kind of a tie to that general vicinity. But tell me a little bit about your you know, the process of kind of finding your hub that you have there now.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

Yeah, I mean, we're not the only business in town, there's other outfitters in town.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

So, yeah, I thought about buying an existing business Bethel Outdoor Adventure was for sale at the time and that was my original thought was to buy something that existed, but that but that sale had already gone through and it just so happened that the timing that the property across the river came on the market the same time, so it kind of fell into my lap that that property came on the market and I had already had a vision of running an outdoor business in town.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

So I just sort of ran with all the ideas and it just, I guess I wasn't seeing any barriers Like I was just like running hurdles and just like plowing through everything as starting, you know, starting a new business, and everything was just falling into place. And like this year now we're a year into being established I'm starting to collaborate a lot more with different existing businesses and I feel like that's how I want to exist in town, is I want to be like a collaborative effort, working with the land trust and working with the Bethel Inn Resort and working with golf clubs and working with schools and camps and, yeah, like I said, the Amstrad Motor Trail and Oxford County Mental Health, like we're working with groups that are already established, looking to add adventure, and I feel like my background in education allows me to liaison very well with those groups.

Jen:

Yeah, yeah, absolutely, and I you know and I think I mean hindsight's always 2020. But I think that you did wind up with a great piece of property in a great location and you know, as we were talking about before, now, that there's been, you know, 200 year storm since you've owned the place and that have been quite devastating to the general area. You know your, your property, even though it's waterfront was like a little island of of um safety and dryness in the last two storms. So that's gotta be, um, that's gotta feel really good and make you be happy with the way things all shook out at the end of the day.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

Yeah, when I had this vision and I was talking to the planning board about what I wanted to do and you know they're kind of skeptical about the wetlands and how we use the wetlands and they're pretty strict in Maine and in Bethel, which is great, I'm totally on board with that I reached out to the past owner's son and, just you know, had an email conversation with him and he said well, we never used the river. He said we had a lake house down the road. We never used the river and I was just blown away that they had this in their backyard and they never even used it.

Jen:

Yeah, that's crazy, Cause it's like hundreds of feet of waterfront right.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

I mean it's a long, it's a big stretch back there, like the Millbrook river is on the left side of us I'm not sure if it's, it's probably the Western side. The Millbrook River comes into the Androscoggin right on the corner of our property, and then there's an island right in front of us, so it's almost like two parts of the Androscoggin come together. So it's a lot of water flowing right in front of us and, yeah, and it's just a beautiful spot and we have trails. There's 11 acres. There's some existing trails because I think they snowmobiled before so they kept up the property. There's snowmobile trails that abut our property and so we just mow them and they're beautiful walking trails now you would.

Jen:

But you know, I mean, I don't know, it's kind of like when you go to a mill town and you realize these days all the beautiful waterfront is like closed off, because you know the mills are right against the water and you're always like, oh my god, what were they thinking? But you know, it's like the different people are oriented different ways.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

So yeah that's a riot yeah, like the hardest thing because the wetlands you can't really do much in the wetlands and they're very strict about it. So the committee, the Bethel planning board committee, was like how are you going to get boats back up this steep bank? And because my background with ropes courses, I was like we're going to zip line them back.

Jen:

You're like hold my beer. I got this.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

And so we have a zip line system that Bridget and I, at the end of the day, bring all the boats back up with. Yeah, yeah.

Jen:

So let's talk a little bit about your powerhouse staff that you have and what your first year looked like and maybe how things went and what lessons learned and kind of what you might be tweaking for this year.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

Yeah, so my niece Bridget, her and I run the summer summer programming together. Last year she was graduating from high school and as I'm like you know, jumping through hurdles and she's finishing high school, I'm like, hey, come work with me this summer and, you know, convinced her. It wasn't too hard to convince her because I'm really fun, yes, and she seems really fun too.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

Wasn't too hard to convince her because I'm really fun, yes, and she seems really fun too. And yeah, her and I just we see eye to eye on a lot of things and she had actually just taken a woodworking class in high school and so her and I built that sign together. She had a lot of, like, woodworking skills, so we built that sign together and just we constantly were working collaboratively all summer with like how should we do this and how do we do this? And just her kind of young, fresh energy. We were just a really good match. And she had worked at summer camps before, so she works really well with other, with kids and customer service. She worked at Starbucks, so she gets it, and then she's also a lifeguard, so that helps out too. Is just having that water safety piece to things. Yeah, that's very cool. She's the whole package. I love it, yeah, and so she wants to come back this year. She's studying marine biology in college now and so she's coming back for another season and, yeah, psyched to have her.

Jen:

Yeah, so tell me, last year you were doing, obviously you were doing the rentals and shuttling, but also you did do some some camp programs.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

Did you do last year too, or? Um, we didn't do camp programs last year. We if, like there were a few groups that were camps that we worked with and then I worked with doing lessons with some kids that were we would go to lakes and just do lessons. What I've learned about water sports in Maine is they're really strict about guides, is having a guide, and so I've been very respectful of that and I'm not going to I don't have my guide license yet. So I'm working with Bethel Adventure, who are some local guides, yeah. And then there was another woman from Freeport Her name is also Julie, and we're going to collaborate a little bit too. She's a guide for LL Bean, so just trying to find ways to support other people in what they're doing and you know how can we be useful to them. We have 11 acres on the river, easy place to put in takeout, so trying to figure out how to work with people.

Jen:

Yeah, it is a beautiful. That whole spot, your whole area down there by the river is beautiful. I mean the day that we walked down there the bugs are munching us, but you know that that's just a seasonal type thing. That happens sometimes, but not all the time and it's just the grassiest, most beautiful, made me think I was like in Hobbit land. It was just like all the little, all the trails and all the little greenery. It was so pretty down there.

Jen:

So, yeah, all kinds of opportunity which is cool. Um, so what's your vision? You know, as you kind of like, obviously you're still, you're still teaching and you're still this is still kind of a seasonal thing for you but what's kind of maybe your medium term vision for where you want to see this go If money and time and resource was no object?

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

Yeah, I wish I had a better answer for that. I'm sort of letting things grow organically and see, like you know, what is the need in this area and how can we grow and evolve with what the needs are like. This weekend I'm meeting with the director of the androscoggin watershed just figuring out how, like he's doing a lot of water sampling and like they have a big like source to see effort or sort of collaboration with other people, just trying to, yeah, bring it back to the water and and like go back to like what was this river used for originally? Maybe try to do maybe some more like workshop series in the area, more like educational on site courses, possibly maybe I would like to collaborate with you and do some retreats. I think there's absolutely, or I for me like educators, like doing retreats and like don't forget wellness.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

So, yeah, I'm just trying to like make as many contacts as I can in the area and then just trying to see like how can I work with other people but also bring something different to the area. I'm also stand-up paddleboard yoga certified, so I'd like to work with a local yoga studio and maybe go to the lakes and do paddleboard yoga on a weekly basis. So, yeah, I don't have like now that we're somewhat established, I'm sort of like now what, but I don't know what. That now what is?

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

I'm just waiting for that bubble to fill.

Jen:

Yeah, yeah, well, and I think you know, as a season takes off, I don't know, then you wind up like I don't know. You seemed like you were pretty busy last year and I would imagine, as long as the weather holds, you know, it's been nice to see like the mini golf is open again and you, there's a little bit more more. There's some more life coming to that little stretch of road, which is nice to see, and hopefully that will continue, um because it is a lovely place um year round, all the time yeah, yeah, I do know there's so many accommodations in that area.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

Like I don't think that's an area we're gonna go in. I think that's a saturated area. Yeah, that there's some really cool unique places to stay and, like I, yeah, it's like what else can we do? That's different than that, because there's so many places to lie your head down at night, right right, right, there are I'm trying to think of, like you guys are.

Jen:

So you know you're pretty close to the community forest and all the you know the biking trails over there. You're kind of in between. You've got all, obviously, you're working with Bethel in and there's trails over there and I don't know. There's so much. There is so much. I'm like, oh, what could we do? Like what kind of like yeah, triathlon could we create?

Jen:

or I don't know, I don't even know what it's just uh there's so many good opportunities and, having just been up there for part of a weekend when it was beautiful out, when the weather's nice and the bugs aren't too bad, you're just like, ah, I want, yeah, I was dying to get out on the river actually, um, because we had all kinds of good flow and the nice thing about where where you are and where we are is there's a really nice little segments that you can do point to points on, and you guys have the shuttle service, which makes it amazing. You know you can decide where you want to go in, where you want to come out, and you know you take care of all that kind of agita for everybody, which is cool. So what's the max size group really you're handling now for different? You know if they're going to rent and do some something like a point to point.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

Yeah, I mean we can handle up to 20 at a time. I feel like groups are, you know, probably in like the 10 to 12 is like probably like the median size group, but we can handle a group up to 20. If we do more than that, we just have to take two trips because we don't have our buses, 15 of a second sidecar. So yeah.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

And again we're trying to be more like a quality experience. You know, we do like a safety briefing and we do the leave no trace and we sit on people's boats, we make sure they safely get on the water and we teach them how to hold a paddle correctly and talk about what happens if you fall out. So I do feel like what I'm providing is like a full experience and not just like here's your boat, see you at the end. Yeah, so I do want to take the time. I always want to take the time and make sure that people have that quality experience and like that they want to come back, you know or that they recommend us to like another group or do another section next time.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

Yeah, absolutely, and I've also worked like last summer I had a few different clients that wanted to do multi-day trips and so we had many hours on the phone talking about that because I'm very familiar with it. But trying to pass that comfort of familiarity on to other people, that's a lot of trust. So working with that and making sure that people know how to get off the river on time, because if you miss your exit there's, you know you don't have a option b right right, right right you're not backing up right, and that's why we're working with the androscoggin watershed is they give me permission to put more buoys on the river so people know where to get off.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

So I'm going to add a few more buoys in the next two weeks, like where's davis park, where's moran's landing right?

Jen:

yeah, because some of them are a little like if you haven't, if you haven't really looked at the map and studied it. Some of them I mean especially davis park is like you got to kind of like scooch around the corner and you know, you got to know it's coming and if you do miss it, yeah, you're pretty much out of luck. And there are days when the if the wind or it's just rained and the current is, you know, maybe a little more lively than usual can get a little tricky, that's right.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

So if you say make sure you go left around the Island, well it's like. Well, which Island?

Jen:

Yes, yes, there are so many Islands. That's true. And and actually it was funny because, um, the last time we were, last time we did that stretch we've only done it a couple times and I wanted to show Brad, my husband, where your place was. So I was like, is this the right I'm gonna take? Is this the right we're gonna take? You know, we wound up on this. We kept taking all these rights as we got closer down to Bethel and we wound up on this like the most narrow, like barely passable little thing that had all these fallen trees over it. We had to keep getting out my cat. I'm like I swear to god it's down here somewhere.

Jen:

But you know you can't back track at that point, so it was exactly it was definitely a um, multi-faceted adventure that day, but we we went by it and he was like, wow, that's a really cool spot. I'm like I know that's what I told you and I didn't have to take any of these other side alleys. I could have gotten there from the main river. But whatever, I've only been there once. Give me a break. Yeah. Yeah, that's funny, very cool. So you guys are already up and running for the season. Sounds like right, yeah.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

A few weekends of trips. I'm going over on Saturday. I have a school group from Southern Maine that's coming up, so Bridget and I will run that group and then we'll probably really pick up again. Late June and early July We'll take off.

Jen:

Yeah. Yeah, I can vouch for that the bugs weren't too bad last weekend.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

No, they're okay. So far, mosquitoes haven't landed yet. I've learned that mosquitoes have to catch a bubble off the river and then they can survive. That's how their eggs are in the river, and if they catch a bubble and they fly, then they're alive.

Jen:

Oh see, I never even associated mosquitoes as much with the moving water. I thought that was like a black fly thing. Now you're telling me there's mosquitoes even in the moving water their eggs are, so we need to buy like.

Jen:

Yeah, I'm a fish. Yes, keep stock in that river. Well, and what I will say is you know and you probably can vouch for this because you have been in that up in that area a lot more, and on the water a lot more is the improvement in the water in the Andeskoggin over the last many years. There's there. You know, it sounds like it was not the most pleasant place to be recreating not that long ago and it seems like it's great now. There's always a million fisher people doing their fisherman thing down our way.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

Yeah, I think if we can keep the factories keeping up with their ethical practices, we can keep the rivers clean. You know we can't control everything and you know everyone that's contributing to run off into the river. Yes, stop the roundup people?

Jen:

yeah, among other things. Um, yeah, so, but I know I'm also excited to hear that you're thinking even further. Is it up river or down river? If you go up to arrow, that be considered it's up river. Yeah yeah, um that would be a really fun that stretch. I think it's still the andro, where the um, the piers are in the middle there from the leftover from when they used to drive the logs. Is that the andro?

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

is that?

Jen:

that's the androscoggin north yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a cool, cool. Uh, we we haven't paddled that part of it yet, but as we were driving, we were driving, we were up in um more toward ambagog and came down that way last summer at one point. Now I'm like that looks like a really fun section to explore, yeah that's where I originally did.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

I think it was like 2000 yeah, I won't put any a year to it, but it was early 2000s. Um, I took a whitewater class. It was like a certification and it was up there and I had only ever done like the Mahoosic section on the river. So it just like really opened my eyes to like what else you can do on a river doing whitewater kayaking versus canoeing, yeah. And so now I'm like I want to go up there and do paddle boarding.

Jen:

Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah, that would be fun. So I guess let's leave with this before I ask you what your favorite piece of gear is. If you could paddle anywhere, if you could like boom tomorrow. No, don't worry about travel, Don't worry about whatever.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

Any like somewhere that you haven't been, maybe and then somebody somewhere that you have been that you would love to go back to. I think it's the Colorado River, but I'm not exactly sure if it's exactly the Colorado River. But I've been in touch with our. Paddle boards come from a company in Colorado called Hala H-A-L-A and they're really fun people and they're really encouraging and we do a lot on social media kind of like promoting each other, and they post a lot of you know, videos of people doing whitewater subbing in Colorado and it just seems really accessible and fun and it just seems like like a really fun environment to be part of. And I guess I see that and I'm like we could do that here and in Maine. But yeah, I have a desire to go out there and to do that.

Jen:

Clearly they need to train you on all of their equipment.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

I think that that is a no brainer.

Jen:

They should pay for you to go out there and do all that.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

How are?

Jen:

you supposed to evangelize if you haven't had the experience firsthand?

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

Well, when I saw the equipment there, eastern rep called me and was like hey, do you want to go to the forks this weekend and go whitewater something? So instantly I became like part of this, this club, wow, and I was like I can do waves on the ocean, but I'm not sure about the forks, I feel like it sounds a little dramatic.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

Yeah, that's level two for me, so let me get a few seasons under me and then call me. So he was really eager to be part of, like the hollow the hollow group. So it's fun, that's awesome cool.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

All right, so you're gonna go supping in colorado, yeah, and then maybe where's a place that you have loved, that you would love to go back to at some point yeah, I grew up like paddleboarding and kayaking on the agonquit river and the york river in maine and I just feel you know, paddling a river and then ending at the ocean is just that's what I love to do. Is that source to see? Nice thing on the ocean is, um, that's, I love that.

Jen:

Yeah, that's great, that is awesome.

Jen:

I can, I can, vouch for that.

Jen:

We will be live full time right by the coast and coming up on our first official camping trip of the year, which is literally the next town, over at Salisbury beach state campground, which is the perfect place to start your your camping, because when you forget 97,000 things, you can just drive yes, five miles back to your house and get what you need and then by the time you leave, your camping situation is all set up for the season.

Jen:

You're like dialed in. But one of the things we love to do when we're there is, you know, meander around in the end of the Merrimack River and then also up into the marsh, because it's just like very cool paddling in there and you have a whole different perspective, especially when the tide is not super high, because you're so far down like nobody can see you, even though, like, the road into the reservation is right there and you can hear the cars, but they don't have any idea that you're right here. You know, you see all the wildlife that's down there that just you don't see from the car so yeah, and when you get the tides, you have to drag your boat back through muck.

Jen:

Yes, yes, there is that, there is that, and depending on the time of the year, there is, like the, the greenhead slash saltwater mosquito situation, but you know it's, it's fun for a lot of the summer. Yeah, I can. I can attest to that. Awesome, all right. Then my final question before I let you go tonight what is your favorite piece of gear that you own, or most useful, that cost you less than $50?

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

Oh, that's a big qualifier. On the ocean. Last year I did my stand-up paddleboard yoga certification and I went to Kittery Trading Post, bought a brand new wetsuit, spent a lot of money on it and I was like I'm gonna live in this thing and then I thought maybe I don't need this on the river so much. So I went to like Zappa at Zapsticks down in Seabrook. I was like, hey, I bought this wetsuit I'm not sure if I need it and he's like no, he's like take whatever you want 50 bucks. So so I got a nice wetsuit from him. It was like part of his rental fleet, but he's a good friend of the family. So my God returned my expensive one to kill retrain this trading post and now I have my wetsuit. That.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

I can win a year on the Andrew Scoggin.

Jen:

Yeah, what? What thickness is it? It's like a, a, three, four or it's probably a three, because I didn't think I needed something that thick yeah, yeah, I'm not sure if that necessarily counts, since it was a total um under the table discount, but I that's still pretty good. And it was like and and it was keeping the neoprene out of the landfill because it was out of his fleet.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

So I'll give it to you. I mean, then, something I paid full price would probably be the neoprene booties. Yeah yeah, those are necessary when you're stand up paddle boarding.

Jen:

I have a whole new appreciation for neoprene booties, not from paddle boarding, but my one cold water dip I did this winter. They're like oh no yeah. They're like, oh no, yeah, you got to have the like. The booties are a game changer. I was like, oh okay, now I can see how people can manage this, because that was always my thing. I couldn't understand how you even got past your ankles because I'm like my feet would fall off the second I go in the water.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

But yeah, those kept me toasty, warm a ski coach for 20 years and I just don't have enough circulation in my feet.

Jen:

So yeah, yeah it was was warm. Yeah, you probably wear a mirror around for everything Anytime you need the extra warmth. That's a good. That's a good. Those are good answers, so that's awesome. All right, what did we not talk about? Anything that we need to cover before we no?

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

I'm just psyched to be doing this and to like people are starting to reach out to me. It's really nice to to see that like my name is being spread with positivity. I like that Someone in town asked me if I'd helped design their logo, which I'm not a graphic designer oh, nice Cause they like your sign.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

That's awesome. So you know, I just like that. People are talking and wondering what, what's going on over there? So that's awesome. It was a really well-known family in town that owned that property, so people are sort of like now, now, what's going on there?

Jen:

Right Cause. Did they run anything out of that? Or they just kind of they just lived there?

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

I can't remember there being a sign or anything, but no he owned Bethel used auto used auto oh okay, like kind of around the corner on route two, but I'm pretty sure the barn was a mechanic shop, okay, okay, or at least a tinkering shop yeah well, it's a pretty, it's a sweet barn.

Jen:

So, like I can't, I could see that that's awesome. Well, I think everyone should check out main river runners. It's mainriverrunnerscom, yep, and you have information about all the various things that you do on there. She's right on mayville road, so it's like right on route two, basically not too far, kind of near north road, like right near that junction of where the that old, crazy um, if anybody's familiar with bethel, where the big he got rid of the slide, the water slide.

Julie Sloan, Maine River Runners:

It's down, it's gone the river from them right before the bridge um big adventure, that's what they're called. Yeah, right across from Bethel. Mountain bikes yeah right, bike path. So yeah we're. I guess we're the last house in town before you leave town. Oh, when you cross the bridge, it's considered out of town interesting, all right.

Jen:

So so you you are, you did manage to be a townie. That's pretty cool, yeah, and and I think that all of these fun collaborations are going to be really fun to watch kind of come to fruition this summer, and I'm super excited to keep talking about new and fun things we can do together, because it's a great spot. I love, I love being on the river up there. It's just like best way to see wildlife, best way to just have a great day. So the fact that you're making it easy for everybody is awesome and I love it yeah, and we're keeping those parking lots less congested, so yes, exactly, exactly, exactly.

Jen:

Well, and I love you know, and I love that you're doing it kind of remotely, just enjoying the area from afar sometimes, as I do. So it's a great spot and we're going to keep on keeping on and making it bigger and better. Cool, I look forward to collaborating with you as well. Yeah, me too. All right, awesome, julie. Well, thank you so much. Thanks. I hope you'll get your paddle excursion on Julie's calendar before it's too late. Head over to mainriverrunnerscom and get yourself on the water this summer. And speaking of, if you are a paddle guide who's been tossing around the idea of hosting a program or retreat weekend or similar, julie and I would love to help you. In the same way, we came together with Ari Leach from Blackbird Guide Services to create a cool weekend program for the lucky Teens to Trails auction winner. We can collaborate with you to make your vision come to life. With the equipment, shuttling service, evans Notch Lodge, accommodations and other support you need to bring your clients together for an unforgettable experience. Together for an unforgettable experience. We're making it easy for you. Click the link in the show notes or DM me at Evans Notch Lodge or at Guides Gone Wild on Instagram or Facebook and we will take it from there.

Jen:

Final housekeeping before we go, I've got two fabulous hiking opportunities to alert you to. First off, summits and Solidarity hikes are taking place all June, most of July, all across the Whites. I've talked to Serena Ryan from Summits and Solidarity hikes are taking place all June, most of July, all across the Whites. I've talked to Serena Ryan from Summits and Solidarity on the pod a few times about previous campaigns. I'll link one of those conversations in the main Summits and Solidarity page in the show notes for your convenience. Solidarity Night at Notch Hostel in North Woodstock, new Hampshire, is coming right up on Saturday June 29th, but it's not too late to support the effort with a hike and or a donation. This year, summits in Solidarity is raising funds for the Maine Association of New Americans and Latino Outdoors Boston, two organizations that are doing amazing work bringing communities of color safely and confidently into outdoor spaces. Bringing communities of color safely and confidently into outdoor spaces. Head to summitsinsolidarityorg to learn more.

Jen:

And finally, finally, finally, once you get your hiking legs warmed up with your solidarity hike, don't miss the chance to hike with the Guides Gone Wildcats team in support of the Alzheimer's Association. Saturday, july 27th. Your participation on the team will entitle you to a free stay with me at Evans Notch Lodge that weekend. I want to make sure everyone is well rested and fresh as a daisy. When we hit the trailhead, you can search for Team Guides. Gone Wildcats at alzorg slash 48peaks. Join me, let's hike to support all those who are impacted by this insidious disease and also support all the amazing research being done to hopefully end Alzheimer's once and for all. Dang, that was a lot, so we will end it here. But never fear, I've got an amazing guest in the wings to share with you soon. So subscribe, follow, hit whatever dang button you need to so you don't miss it. And with that that, let's get back to getting a little wild.