Name and Business: 

Ken Gross, New England Outdoor Center

Licenses and Certifications:

Maine Registered Recreation Guide, Wilderness First Aid. I have a BA in History (Kent State University) and a graduate degree in Community Planning and Development (University of Southern Maine). I serve on the MWGO board, and I am the secretary of my local arts organization, Ktaadn Arts.

How did you find your way to the guiding industry?

I’m a guide by accident. I’ve been a professional cartographer and GIS professional for over 30 years (including a stint at MapQuest.com), but my career in mapmaking has stalled in the past few years. I was working at New England Outdoor Center when I met several guides who were working for us, and after asking a few questions about what they did, what they needed to know to get a license, I thought, “I could totally do that!”

My realization wasn’t completely out of the blue, of course. As a kid, I was an avid boy scout in a troop in the Chicago area that strongly drilled us in first aid (we always won the annual competition), and I was involved with outdoor activities from an early age. I was even a counselor for my scout camp in Northern Wisconsin. Later in life, I continued pursuing a variety of outdoor activities on my own and also worked at the Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio (albeit as a cartographer who GPS’d trails!). By the time I sought a guides license, I had numerous experiences that informed my decision to seek that licensure.

And, yes, I nailed the Map and Compass section of the guides test!

How do you utilize your Guide License now?

I currently work for New England Outdoor Center and with its affiliated companies and partners. During the summer, I conduct wildlife tours. Usually those trips are via pontoon boat on Millinocket Lake, but those trips might also be conducted by van to secret areas known to harbor moose, or sometimes by hiking into Baxter State Park. 

During the winter, I conduct snowmobile tours for NEOC. Although sleddin’ has a reputation for wild ridin’ and antics, most of my clients are seeking a wintertime connection with the wilderness, and a snowmobile is the only logical means of connection within a short period of time. Guests are often looking for scenic overlooks and winter nature experiences, and our four-stroke sleds are quieter and less polluting than a typical snowmobile. From time to time, I am also called upon to lead hikes on snowshoes, a passion of mine ever since I cut my first pair from a sheet of plywood when I was ten.

More recently, I’ve been thrilled to have been asked to assist with guided trips through the Maine Outdoor Education Program at Penobscot River Trails in Hay Brook. Starting with snowshoe hiking, I’ve since helped with guiding school groups kayaking down the East Branch of the Penobscot River. 

Any observations to share about being a Guide or about the guiding industry?

What I am most enthusiastic about in Maine’s wilderness comes from my experience as a native Midwesterner. I relate well to the people that I guide who are also generally “from away.” I feel a rush every time I spot a moose, a loon, or a partridge, because I didn’t grow up with such creatures wandering the streets of Chicago. Hills and mountains…have you been to Illinois? I feel like a kid in Disneyland, and my enthusiasm for the Maine lifestyle rubs off on the people that I guide, no matter how insignificant that observation might be.

What keeps you busy when you are not guiding?

When the Soviet Union was in the midst of collapse, I was working at Hammond Atlas, and reporters frequently interviewed us cartographers about the challenges brought about by the changes in maps of Eurasia. I earned the ire of my supervisor when I was once asked, “Do you regard yourself more as an artist or a scientist?”

I am an artist, and I have long incorporated mapping into my art. Largely self-taught, I am primarily a printmaker (relief prints and intaglio), but I am also a competent draftsman and watercolor painter. One of my prints, a relief print called Borderlands (40”x 96”) will be featured in an upcoming show at the Art Museum at SUNY-Potsdam, and my prints can be found at Maine Crafts Portland (on Congress Street) and at Kennebec Cabin Company, the retail outlet of the TV show Maine Cabin Masters.

Lastly, my pandemic hobby is fishing. I’ve been attempting to teach myself Japanese-style tenkara fly fishing and I have been tying my own flies. Very poorly, but I’m working on it…