By Jami Badershall,Staff Writer

SALEM – Students who simply want to be outside won’t cut it in Mt. Abram Regional High School’s Maine guides course.

“It’s for students whose goal is to become a licensed guide,” teacher Barry London said.

The course not only prepares them to take the test to become a guide, but also teaches them about running their own guiding business and dealing with clients. Their final exam will be a three-day camping trip Friday through Sunday on Aziscohos Lake in Oquossoc village, and the students are expected to act as they would on an actual guided outing.

“This trip is intended to be enjoyable, but it’s not a vacation,” London told them on Wednesday as they readied their packs and made a grocery list.

While on the trip, students will be tested in knots, map and compass work, canoe strokes and skills, and a lost person scenario on Saturday night. They will also have a written component when they return to Mt. Abram.

London said he had three specific requirements for the setting of his final exam. “They have to be able to paddle a straight line, a place where they have a chance at catching some really nice fish and a rural setting for the lost person scenario.”

He chose a remote spot within the Black Brook Cove Campground on Aziscohos, and the 11 students and he will be required to travel two to three miles by canoe to get to their campsite. As they are only taking six canoes, the apprentice guides will have to pack lightly while making sure they have plenty of fishing and camping gear, food and other provisions.

Senior Rick Bessey will serve as head guide, a job he obviously revels in as he delegates responsibilities and checks over the camping gear to ensure they have everything on their lists.

“I think it’ll be better experience and I’ll learn more that way,” he said of his leadership role.

He is most looking forward to the lost person scenario. “We’ve done a few around the school, but we know where we are,” he said. “This time we’ll be in a new place and it’ll be dark.”

Fellow classmate Tyson Chase is excited about the lost person scenario.

“It’ll be night, and it’ll be pretty hard,” he said. “We’ve learned all the skills, now we actually get to use them.”

The class has a campsite on the school grounds for lessons such as cooking. Each student is required to cook a meal for his classmates throughout the year. A few students are better cooks than others, including Nate Smith and Nick Tranten, who are responsible for the menu on this trip. Meals will include the good old camp standbys such as hot dogs and hamburgers as well as a chicken stir-fry, steak, bacon and eggs, and tomato soup and grilled cheese.

While everyone expects to have a good time, they take their duties seriously. Most are intent on getting their guide’s license and know the class will help them obtain that goal.

Senior Josh York has already sent in the application for his license testing date. The Maine guides course is offered every other year, and he was also enrolled in the class his sophomore year but took it again to help London as a teacher’s aide and help himself prepare for the test. York looks to make a living guiding during hunting season.

“My dad is a guide, and it’s real fun,” he said. “It’s something I’ve always been interested in.”

Chase’s stepfather is also a guide. Chase plans to attend Eastern Maine Community College in the fall to study welding but hopes to guide in his retirement.

Senior Steve Boyd is already working with a licensed guide, Clay Tranten of Kingfield.

“It’s what I grew up around,” he said of the guide lifestyle.