What makes up legendary fishing trips? The adventures? The campfire stories? Whether you’re hunting, fishing, sport shooting or ATV trail riding, one thing is for sure: nothing beats getting out of town with your buddies.
Relaxing with your friends and cutting up is the stuff of great mancations. And, let’s not pretend like having fun on group trips is only for the boys. The girls around here enjoy fishing trips, shooting and four-wheeling just as much as the boys.
Below is a short podcast you might want to listen to if you’re dreaming about your next group trip. Brian Wilson interviews our Nate Humphrey about our last group event and what you can expect on your next Mancation, Girl’s Getaway, or family fishing trip to Camp Katahdin. Hit play and don’t miss the pics from our most recent group in Podcast Transcript below.
Thinking about a dream venue for your next group trip or group event? Check out our brochure:
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Podcast Transcript:
Brian Wilson: Nate Humphrey, Camp Katahdin’s Master of Adventure. All this testosterone floating around our discussion today – guns, shooting, hunting, ATV trail riding, fishing, climbing Katahdin – it’s created a new word in today’s lexicon, right up there with the man cave. It’s the “Mancation.” Have you had any of these as a Camp Katahdineer?
Nate Humphrey: Well, we most certainly have had some mancations up there in full swing with large doses of testosterone. No guff about that. It’s just a great place for it. Boy, the campfires, the bonfires at night, the shooting ranges, the ATVing, the storytelling – we have every ingredient needed to make gourmet Mancation.
Brian Wilson: Recalling our previous conversations, I get the sense that you can go two ways on that. I can give you a call and say “Look, I’m going to come on up there with some of my buddies. We want to stay in the Denney Lodge, and we want to do stuff, so lay it out for us”, or I can call up and say pretty much the same thing, “and we’d like to do A, B, C,..”, and you’ll handle that. Is that essentially it?
Nate Humphrey: Yeah. That’s exactly how we like to do it. You’ll call up, tell us what you think, and we’ll even help you design it, or if you have it designed yourself, we’ll get it done. Absolutely.
Brian Wilson: What do you guys generally opt for? Is it seasonal, or do they always tend to hit the rifle range and play with the toys over there, get out on the ATV…? What seems to be the top three activities that the guys line up when they set up one of these mancations?
Nate Humphrey: In the fall of the year, of course, the bird hunting. The partridge hunting. Also, the pheasant hunting. A lot of interest in that, and it’s a lot of fun.
Of course, with the commercial zone and our own pheasant, we can make pheasant hunting happen, but also just the natural partridge in the area and hunting in the area, that is very, very popular in the fall of the year. In the spring, in the summer or fall, and even late fall, the shooting sports, sporting clays, the rifles, the handguns coupled with great meals and then an evening bonfire just – it creates memories that last a lifetime.
Just this past weekend, I am fortunate enough to be returning from a small father-son event that we did for some of our own internal family and some close business affiliates. Everything I described, we did. We did a lot of shooting both handguns and long guns and a little bit of sporting clays. Then great bonfires at night. Anthony, our lead chef, was up there. Unbelievable food. Great cigars. Great bonding. Time with our kids. A lot of four-wheeling and also fishing.
The days are action-packed. We’d get up to a great breakfast, then we’d all ATV over to a nice, private pond that we own that was stocked with trout. We would fish for an hour or two, ATV back, grab a quick lunch, out to the shooting range, heavy concentration on handguns. I was fortunate enough to get some pointers and coach a few people on handguns, because that’s what I enjoy the most is the handgun shooting.
I also helped a close friend of mine cite in his new Bushmaster 308 sniper rifle. I helped him with that. That was a lot of fun. Some sporting clay action was going on. Then we go back for – usually, we hop on the ATVs, go back for a quick evening fish, back to Denney Lodge for a great meal, and then by the time the meal is completed, we’ll have a bonfire in full swing and let the storytelling begin.
Brian Wilson: Yes. Do you keep a BS meter nearby just in case?
Nate Humphrey: Well, we do. We had one, but unfortunately, it broke, because it went off the scale.
Brian Wilson: Bent the needle. I’ve seen that happen. Well, the one common denominator that’s run through just about everything we’ve talked about here are the ATVs, the Maine ATV trails, the ATV Vacations, and then all the other things that we’ve come to know about Camp Katahdin.
Nate Humphrey: A lot about mancations. As my wife brings up, because she was just up there weekend before last with me, she said what about the girl getaway? A lot of ladies like to do all the same activities that we do, and we do have some very nice female employees that work for us that could host an all-girl getaway.
Brian Wilson: Maybe we ought to put Mrs. Humphrey on the phone next time we chat.
Nate Humphrey: Well, she definitely would outshine me.
Brian Wilson: Well, when you get right down to it, little things like little surprises like that, little features like that, whatever, however you want to design your retreat, your vacation, your mancation, your family outing, group trip – just whatever questions, comments, winning Powerball numbers you want to share or book the ultimate Maine adventure for your family, your friends, or your team, just contact Nate and check out their website, too. That’s at campkatahdin.com. Pay them a visit over on Facebook at Camp Katahdin Adventures.
Nate, thanks again for the time and the information. I look forward to doing those trails with you in the not-too-distant future.
Nate Humphrey: It’s always a pleasure, and I hope you won’t mind eating my dust.
Brian Wilson: I’ve eaten my fair share. I’ve gotten to be kind of a gourmet on dust. I look forward to some of that Northern Maine specialty. Thanks, Nate.
Nate Humphrey: Absolutely. Thank you.
Contact Nate to check rates and availability here
or call direct: 1-800-621-8203
Thinking about planning a hunting trip? Here’s a free guide on what to expect and what to pack:
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