The word caretaker brings to mind someone who gives emotional or physical support to someone, usually a child. In the capacity of the Squam Lakes Association (SLA), being a caretaker means providing this assistance to our three campsite areas: Moon and Bowman islands and Wister point in Chamberlain Reynolds Memorial Forest. Although my fellow AmeriCorps members and I visit these sites throughout the week, the weekends are special as we get to camp out for the entire time. Friday afternoon I was loading up bundles of firewood on the pontoon to be delivered out to the docks by the campsites. Saturday afternoon found me walking through the Chamberlain Reynolds swamp walk drenched in bug spray and sweat, battling the vines threatening to engulf the boardwalk. Sunday afternoon was spent cleaning the composting toilets, securing swim lines at the two beaches, and checking the sturdiness of our many structures. Being the weekend caretaker means covering a wide variety of duties that ensure the function and wellbeing of the area and its many visitors. Out of all these tasks my favorite is usually the last of the day: checking in campers.

Countless studies have shown that a dose of the great outdoors provides numerous health benefits, such as lower blood pressure and improve mental health, so it’s no wonder why there are so many people wanting to explore and enjoy nature. Some of my most memorable experiences are during hikes. Whether it’s a challenging trail with an arduous scramble or a path that gently winds through the landscape, there is a certain satisfaction and sense of peace after completing a trail that is intoxicating.

77 days. This is how long I have been serving with Lakes Region Conservation Trust (LRCT) as an AmeriCorps Member. Half of my service period is almost over and I have already learned so many new skills. From earning my New Hampshire Boaters License, learning how to assess a protected property, lead participates on a guided hike, and many more. And it’s only been 77 days.

Late one afternoon while making my rounds to the islands, I had a camper ask me a question. “That howling sound, is that a bird?” I couldn’t stop myself from laughing a bit at the Loon’s call being called a ‘howl’. I explained to him that while the sound can be pretty unnerving when you don’t know what it is, it’s a very welcome sound to us, as we try to do everything we can to help the loon population on Squam.

I think I was in New Hampshire for all of two days before hearing that this is the home of the worst weather in the world. The worst. In the whole world. No hurricanes, typhoons, or tornadoes define New Hampshire’s seasons, yet of everywhere in the world, I’m supposed to believe that this little New England state, found in a temperate climate zone, has the worst weather??? Needless to say, I was a bit skeptical. Since then, I’ve heard it countless other times. Even a quick google search of the worst weather in the world reveals Mount Washington as the reigning champion—“The lowest temperature ever recorded at Mount Washington’s summit is -46 °C. Only the South Pole is colder.”

“Don’t forget to hold on tight,” said Shane Brandt, water quality researcher at UNH, at the exact moment that I forgot to hold on tight. The spool of string I was grasping whipped out of my hand with incredible force as Hollyn chucked the collection device out across the lake with all of her might. The group stared into the water in absolute silence for about twenty seconds, the spool and net floating gently on the surface. As the net dipped beneath the water, the laughter started.

The hottest times of the year are truly upon us, and the mosquitos are out in full force.
The amount of water I’ve had to bring for a workday has slowly increased from 1L to 3L, and I
can’t start a day without basically taking a shower in DEET spray. Still, nothing feels better than
walking along a trail for an hour and stumbling on a massive patch of blueberries, so the whole
experience is worth it in the end. The Lakes Region Conservation Corps program has helped us develop a myriad of
skills, but I feel the most important of these is being able to identify edible berries; wildberries,
blueberries, bunchberries, strawberries, bearberries, and raspberries are a few of the fruits that
are in season this time of the year, and provide ample reason to stop and take a prolonged water
break.

This month I’ve been reading a book about coincidences. I mean, the book’s about quite a bit more than that, but the occurrence of coincidences is one of its major themes. The general idea is that our lives are constantly shaped by miniscule, chance events. We usually don’t pay them much mind, yet when one of these events happens to coincide in time with another, seemingly related event, it’s easy to interpret a greater meaning. In some extraordinary cases, coincidences can make one feel like an occurrence was fated to be.

Although I grew up in NH, I surprisingly did not spend much time up in the Lakes Region. One of my first summer internships allowed me to do field work sampling fresh and coastal waters all over the state, but having sampled so many sites, all the beautiful places I saw that summer became faint memories. When I joined the LRCC, I was excited to explore a piece of NH that I thought was foreign to me however, my memories of the region’s remote beaches and vast lakes held better than expected and now find myself with constant lingerings of déjà vu, sampling some of the same waters as that summer internship.

What an incredible first half of my summer so far. I have been serving for the past 5 weeks at Camp Hale in Center Sandwich and so far I have felt many feelings while I’m here but regretful has not been one. I could have never imagined a more perfect place for me to be this summer. It all started with a couple of training weeks. In those first couple weeks there were no kids and no counselors on camp yet so I had the place all to myself and a couple administrators at the camp. I took this time to explore the camp and busy myself with activities during the day to prepare the camp for the children who came up about 2 weeks later. To make the camp easily accessible for many (especially young children) me and my partner have been clearing trails of much of the large debris that fell over the winter months. While doing this trail work there have been many discoveries that get us talking with the children and each other.