Bryan Courtois: He takes to the woods 
AMC Outdoors, January/February 2004
By Katharine Wroth
On a dark, rainy night last fall, Bryan Courtois was sitting out in the woods. Hearing a rustling in the brush, he turned on his light, only to see "a deer, not five feet away. I don’t know who was more surprised, him or me." A few days before that encounter — which came about during K-9 training for a local search-and-rescue team he volunteers with — he had led an AMC hike to watch the lunar eclipse. From the awed tone with which he marvels at the quality of the moonlight, at the nearness of the deer, and at his other experiences outdoors, a listener might never guess just how much time Courtois has spent in the Maine woods.
This Maine Chapter member has been an instructor for AMC’s Mountain Leadership School since 1997 and the chapter’s Outings Chair for "a long time — I’d have to look it up." Courtois, 39, is also a Maine Guide, member of the Maine Appalachian Trail Club, Eagle Scout, Boy Scout associate advisor, volunteer trail maintainer for the U.S. Forest Service, expert marksman, and Wilderness First Responder.
Having lived in northern and southern towns in the Pine Tree State, he has hiked, backpacked, canoed, hunted, and fished just about every inch of it. He’s tramped the Appalachian Trail in Maine and New Hampshire, and most of the peaks in those states. His hike-locally theory is simple: "Time in the car should never outweigh time outdoors."
Add to his list of activities a winter favorite, ski-joring. That’s being pulled on skis behind a dog — in this case Courtois’ 88-pound Siberian husky. "It’s a great escape for both of us," he says.
A tool-and-die maker who also runs a small knife-making business out of his home, Courtois and his wife, Janet, have two teenage sons, with whom he has shared his passion for the outdoors. He says he enjoys "helping people push their envelope and do it safely" at MLS and at beginner hiking courses his chapter runs. And there’s one lesson all his students can glean, summed up in a typically understated way: "I try not to be inside too much."
—Katharine Wroth is Senior Editor of AMC Outdoors.
