This page is where I get to tell you about myself. My name is Nick(Skippah) Levesque, and I grew up in Jackman, Maine. I grew up there and left for college when I was 18. I would return every summer for two years to guide Class V Whitewater trips down the Kennebec and Dead Rivers. After guiding full time for two years, I decided to "get a real job" and I got a job for the local Power Company as a meter reader and have since moved to a management role.
I have not always been an avid hiker. I hiked Sally Mountain and Burnt Jacket Mountain in Jackman a few times when I was younger, but never really got into hiking. I hiked Big Spencer when I was 16 and when I was 19 I hiked Katahdin up the Abol Slide to Baxter Peak and down the Hunt(AT) Trail. It was amazing up there. I had never been that high before and not in a plane. Added the fact that I felt like I earned it and I was hooked but never got the chance to spend time on thinking about how to go about hiking more.
I never really had the time to go hiking and never really knew where to go hiking until I started working for my current employer. I now have weekends off for the most part and I live even closer to the White Mountains so I can go more often. I just started to get into hiking fairly heavily in 2007 and gradually hiked more and more through 2009. My wife (Shelby) and I even picked up Winter Hiking in 2008.
I picked up backpacking a little in 2009. I would like to get much more backpacking in in the future although I'm not sure Shelby will like it. Below is a picture of my backpacking setup at the moment. Hammock Camping is so much fun. It's light and wicked comfortable. The picture is from my first solo backpacking trip to Mt. Isolation. I like the fact that with Hammock Camping once I leave, you can't really tell there wa a campsite set up.
2010 brought us some major changes. Shelby and I had our first child Max Robinson Levesque. Since he was born, we have been playing the parent role more than the adventure hounds that we were. My hikes for a few years were closer to home and shorter for sure.
In 2013 I was able to go backpacking with my father and 2 brothers in the White Mountains and we did about 30 miles so I would consider myself back into the swing of things. We completed a similar trip in 2014 and 2015 and I have been actively picking away at my hiking lists again and hope to complete 100 hiking miles in 2015 which will put me back in the mindset of being a hiker again.
