Name: Jim Yearwood
Hometown: Madawaska, Maine
Age of First Rafting Trip: 25
Year you started guiding at Northern Outdoors: 1982

What type of guiding do you do?Whitewater Rafting, Hunting, Snowmobiling

What do you enjoy most about working at Northern Outdoors?

Never a dull moment at NO. And the work is usually interesting and challenging.

What is your favorite river to guide, and your favorite rapid on that river?
The whole series of rapids on the first 2 miles of the Kennebec Gorge. Non-stop fun!

What’s your classic Northern Outdoors memory?
Guiding commercial trips on the Penobscot River at high water in the early/mid 1980’s.
*Ripogenus Gorge at 7,000 cfs.
*Lower river starting at Big A rapids at 17,000 cfs.

Guiding the Hudson River in April 1984 during a 10″ snowstorm with whiteout conditions. It’s known in guide lore as White Tuesday.

Thousands of hours in a Sno-Cat grooming snowmobile trails at night.

Countless miles hiking the woods around Russell Mountain/Caucomgomoc Lake area in northern Maine, guiding deer hunters every November for 17 years. And sleeping in a tent every night.

Wayne Hockmeyer saying . . . . “You’re shittin’ me!”

Where do you adventure when you are not working?
Mostly right here in The Forks area, where we live.

My wife and I take a trip or two out West every year, and explore around Colorado, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico. Having spent my whole life in Maine, the West is a different place.

What do you do in the off-season when you’re not guiding for Northern Outdoors?
I’ve retired from guiding, so off-season is year-round!

Tell us about any certifications, special talents, guide awards.
I was an avid homebrewer in the 1990’s. Started the Kennebec River Brewery at Northern Outdoors, in 1996.

What rivers have you run outside of Maine?
Hudson River Gorge and Moose River in upstate New York.

Ottawa River in Ontario, Canada.

Which Kennebec River Brewery beer is your top choice after a day on the river?
Hands down a Magic Hole IPA or two.