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< May/June 2002
	Hotline
The Few, the Proud, the Maine Guides How to become the world’s most prestigious canoe guide

So you want to be a canoe guide, huh? Get to the top thwart of your local canoe club, and then move to Vacationland, and you might find yourself with the most coveted canoe status symbol of all: a patch and belt buckle with the words "Registered Maine Guide."

Of course, reaching that paddling pinnacle isn’t easy; people have been aspiring since 1897, when the world’s first Registered Maine Guide, a woman named Flyrod Crosby, put on the patch. The state now has over 4,000 such guides, in niches like hunting, fishing, tidewater fishing, sea kayaking, canoeing and rafting. You can attain one or all of these by passing the applicable tests standardized in 1975—though at times, especially during the oral exams, this might feel like you’re defending your Ph.D. dissertation at Harvard.

You must first take a medical evaluation. A non-refundable fee of $100 covers the application and tests, plus one re-write if required. The exams cover such topics as map and compass, orienteering, first aid, CPR, weather forecasting, safety, and clothing. The exams also cover specific subject matter for the category you are seeking, whether it’s hunting or canoeing. Score a minimum of 70 percent on the written exams, and get certified in first aid and CPR, and then it’s on to the orals. Conducted by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Guide Examination Board, the oral exams can take hours, depending on how well you know your stuff. They start with map and compass questions, followed by a lost person scenario to examine your ability to think through the rescue process. Monkey wrenches the board might throw at you include weather, abilities, client complications, medical conditions, time of day, location and risks for others in the party.

If you don’t get the scenario exactly right—one too many "ahems" or stutters— it’s back to the frontcountry (only 65 percent pass the first time around) to brush up and schedule a re-exam. The bad news: you have to renew your license every three years, and you’ll still have to live on tips. The good news: when and if you pass, you get free sunsets, all the soggy gorp you can eat, and the coveted patch and belt buckle.

—Mike Patterson

Have you got what it takes?
Sample Written Exam Questions
(not to be used as a cheat sheet)

1. Maine's prevailing winds are westerly/northerly. These winds usually indicate fair weather. True or false?

2. Search and Rescue in Maine is coordinated through the:
a. Local Forest Service office
b. County Sheriff
c. Maine Warden Service
d. Mountain Rescue Council
e. Civil Defense

3. On a topographic map with a scale of 1:62,500, an inch on the map equals approximately:
a. 1 mile on the ground
b. 1 meter on the ground
c. 1 foot on the ground
d. 1 inch on the ground

4. Which of the following defines "Lining?"
a. ferrying in a straight line between two points
b. letting one's watercraft down an unrunnable stretch of river on a rope
c. taking the shortest route between two points
d. none of the above

5. When you approach another boat at a right angle with that boat on your starboard side, who has the right of way?