{"id":39778,"date":"2026-10-10T08:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T15:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/?p=39778"},"modified":"2026-09-01T13:56:52","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T20:56:52","slug":"guide-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/2026\/10\/10\/guide-camp\/","title":{"rendered":"Guide Camp"},"content":{"rendered":"

The wind\u2014a steady chaos cutting skin, stealing sound, and fraying nerves\u2014scatters our four-canoe convoy across the mouth of the Moose River. We hardly notice. The lake\u2019s suddenly wide horizon draws exultations after several heavily-forested river days, where the views were limited to a slip of sky above evergreen walls.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Within minutes, we harness the weather. Geometric NRS-strap patterns bind our bows, and we throw legs and arms over gunwales to steady the flotilla as it glides downwind beneath a seven-foot Tyvek sail. It\u2019s beautiful. The sprawling gray of a Maine lake under stormy skies, a constellation of piney islands, rocky outcrops on forested mountain faces, and eight women laughing while illustrating the power of languid repose.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is Guide Camp, and it\u2019s reiterating a lesson I\u2019ve been learning lately. Maybe don\u2019t spend so much time fighting the wind, maybe use it to get where you want to go.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just so simple. All you need to do is find people you trust and put a date on a calendar,\u201d says Amy Borch, a tattoo artist and the architect of this particular mission. The wind, the mud, the near hypothermic conditions\u2014let\u2019s blame them on her. Because it all started at her kitchen table in January, over a tumult of loose-leaf tea.<\/span><\/p>\n

That night, I was staying with Amy while attending the Maine Outdoor Economy Summit, which happened to coincide with a much-publicized ICE surge in the city. We tried to get dinner at her favorite Mexican restaurant. It was closed. At the conference, a member of the <\/span>Kindling Collective<\/span><\/a> told guides that they should think about how to keep their clients safe both in the wilderness and in the towns where federal agents might be patrolling.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve trained on rivers, oceans, snow-covered mountain slopes, and in classrooms to do all I can to keep my companions safe in wild places. I have no idea how to train for this. It\u2019s a hollow, distant feeling.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After talking it over for hours, we sat silent at the table. <\/span>We needed guidance. We needed other guides. We needed Guide Camp, even if we didn\u2019t yet understand exactly <\/span>what it would turn out to be.<\/span><\/p>\n