MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • July 10, 2022
For three decades the Reitzes have taught workshops in ancient skills from their base in Canaan. They’ve also led wilderness camping trips to remote parts of Quebec and northern Maine, traveling in winter on snowshoes while pulling gear in toboggans and traveling in spring and summer by canoes along waterways. At 76, Ray Reitze is passing his guiding business and the philosophy it teaches on to the next generation: Patrick Dole, a 37-year-old boatbuilder from Belfast, who became Reitze’s apprentice three years ago. Together the two Registered Maine Guides teach classes in primitive skills that were first mastered thousands of years ago, such as how to weave baskets, build primitive shelters, forage for medicinal plants, and pole canoes up river.