An extensive network of backcountry trails and eco-lodges, the Maine Huts and Trails system draws thousands of visitors to western Maine each year to experience the wilderness in a unique way, one that pairs human-powered recreation with first-class backcountry lodging. In 2017, this system will start a new chapter of expansion under the guidance of a new leader.
The current director of the Maine Office of Tourism, Carolann Ouellette, will take the helm of Maine Huts and Trails as the organization’s new executive director in mid-January.
“I’m really looking forward to building upon what has been a wonderful start of a nationally significant resource in our state for outdoor recreation,” Ouellette said in a recent phone interview about her new job at Maine Huts and Trails.
Conceived by Kingfield resident Larry Warren in the ’70s, Maine Huts and Trails is a nonprofit organization that opened its first backcountry eco-lodge or “hut” in 2008. To date, the organization has successfully fundraised and constructed four huts connected by more than 80 miles of trails that are open year-round from West Forks to Stratton.
“We feel like we’ve come of age a little bit in the last year or so,” Maine Huts and Trails Board Chairman Bob Peixotto said. “A year ago, we didn’t quite hit it, but we came just shy of 10,000 overnight visitors, and that felt like a watershed moment, and we have repeated it again in 2016. We’re hovering around 10,000 visitors a year, which is a fairly substantial operation at this point.”
Maine Huts and Trails long-term goal is to create eight more eco-lodges in western Maine, connected by trails that can be used by hikers, mountain bikers, cross-country skiers and snowshoers. The next step, Peixotto said, is to construct two of those lodges, connected by trails, so the Maine Huts and Trails system stretches between the towns of Carrabassett Valley and Rangeley.
“The board is ready to start expanding again,” Peixotto said.
“We’re not just about huts in the woods,” he continued. “Maine Huts and Trails at its base is really about trying to bring economic development to western Maine, an area that has been and continues to be in need of economic stimulus.”
Former executive director of Maine Huts and Trails Charlie Woodworth held the position for 3½ years before stepping down at the end of August.
“He brought the organization a long way,” Peixotto said. “It’s a pretty taxing full-time job, and it got to the point where he was thinking someone else could put their shoulder to the wheel. He decided to move on.”
To find the organization’s next leader, Maine Huts and Trails put together a search committee of board members and staff, which conducted a search for candidates that lasted nine months, Peixotto said. They were looking for an extraordinary leader, someone with strong business acumen and communication skills, as well as a passion for the outdoors and sharing it with others. Ouellette, they decided, met that description.
“Her qualifications couldn’t be more perfect, honestly,” Peixotto said.
A graduate of Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, Ouellette began her career in western Maine, managing the Sugarloaf Inn in Carrabassett Valley, then moved to the Katahdin region to manage operations at the New England Outdoor Center. She is a registered Maine Guide and currently lives in Jackman, where in 1995 she opened the Moose Point Tavern and worked for the following 10 years as owner and chef of the restaurant.
“I love this region,” Ouellette said. “I’ve always been very grounded in this region.”
Most recently, Ouellette has been busy leading the Maine Office of Tourism, and in 2015, she was named by Maine Magazine as one of “50 Mainers Boldly Leading Our State.”
“This was a very difficult decision, honestly,” Ouellette said. “I’m leaving a job that I enjoy and have been very honored to hold. It’s really quite honestly a privilege to lead an organization like the Maine Office of Tourism. We’ve had a very supportive administration and great staff, and it’s a really amazing industry.”
“For me, this is really an opportunity to join an exceptional organization,” she added. “It’s personally and professionally appealing to me. It’s an opportunity to combine all that I’ve learned throughout my career and really combine it with my love of the outdoors and the western Maine region.”