About Bryan Kent Gomes

Hi! This is the page where you can learn a little about me, things I've done, things I like etc.

I was born in our nations' Capital, November 8 th , 1970 . Yes, I am a Scorpio. I spent my formative years in Laurel , MD. When I was three, my parents blessed me with a baby sister, Heather, who taught me the definition of sibling rivalry.

At that point, we moved to the suburbs in Glen Burnie , MD. In 1979, we moved down Route 3 (now Route 97) to Severna Park . This is where I spent most of my time from Benfield Elementary to Severna Park High, and several of my college summers.

After college I lived for a spell in Kent County, MD working at Echo Hill Outdoor School . I returned to Severna Park briefly when I took a full time position with the summer camp at which I had been working. Eventually, I shortened my commute to the DNR Tawes building in Annapolis to less than 2 miles when I became a resident of the Maritime Republic of Eastport.

I have lived in Annapolis for the past four years. I can tell you with great confidence Annapolis IS the sexiest town in America . Now, I don't mean South Beach sexy, but there is a vibe here that you just have to experience to believe! Did I mention that I am a Scorpio?

EDUCATION
I am a proud product of the Salisbury State University continuing education program! Seriously, it is a great school located in the city of Salisbury on Maryland 's scenic Eastern Shore . I was thirty minutes from the Atlantic Ocean ! I received a B.A. in Liberal Studies with concentrations in Psychology and Marketing. I had such a good time (from professional intramural athlete to college radio DJ), I went back to the ‘bury for grad school and received my M. Ed. in Post-Secondary Education. I had such a good time the second time around (from on campus bartender to assistant swim coach), I returned to complete the trilogy, but had a change of plans and pursued an invaluable course at the North Carolina Outward Bound School . NCOBS was a two-month intense instructor-training course that gave me a great respect and knowledge of the outdoors. I learned that the outdoor classroom is a powerful education tool that doesn't care if you are rich, poor, male, female, black, or white; whether you are paddling a river or climbing a rock. This course was the inspiration for this AT experience!

Speaking of EXPERIENCE (Nice segue, can you tell I'm a DJ?)
The job I am on leave from right now is at Quiet Waters Park in Annapolis , MD as a Park Ranger. Before working here I was the Program Coordinator for MD State Forest and Parks Outdoor Discovery program. A couple of summers beforehand, I also worked with this program as a camp counselor. However, no job or experience comes close to what I did in the summer of 1997. I was in grad school at the time and looking to move up from a river lifeguard (the previous 8 summers) to an ocean guard at the beach (Baywatch style!) So I tried out for and made beach patrol at Assateague State Park , just south (across the shark -infested inlet) of Ocean City , MD. I was originally commuting from Salisbury where my college rental house was, but a couple of tickets from the boys in blue had me change my housing plans. My 1985 Plymouth Voyager (the party van) became my mini RV! I took the seats out of the back, laid out my sleeping pad and bag, had my crates of clothes, food, and various gear and set up shop in the visitor parking lot of the park. I was never more that a few hundred feet away from hot showers and flushable toilets, but my camping career loosely began here. After a couple weeks of “car camping”, I acquired an official campsite in the park in exchange for doing volunteer work. My volunteer work consisted of sitting on the beach for 4 hours a day with binoculars, field guide, and a log book and … COUNT DOLPHINS! It was great! I'd get up an hour early before work and sit on the dunes and watch as the dolphins swim, almost always north. I'd also count on my half-hour lunch break. After work I would go back to my tent, grab a surf fishing rod, and fish for my dinner as I completed my daily hours. I also would pull mussels and dig for clams in the bay. I was living off the land and loving it! Best experience of my life … thus far. As I mentioned before, I was a river lifeguard for several summers during undergrad and grad school. I worked at Olde Severna Park's community beach as the beach manager. I was the maintenance man in the morning, and swim coach and lifeguard in the afternoon. Being there as long as I was (some of my swimmers went from little kids to young adults), I became extended family to many of the members there, and to this day I still keep in touch with many of the families.

One other vocation, I still moonlight as a DJ. Since moving back to Anne Arundel County five years ago, I have done part-time work with 2 CD players and a microphone. Weddings, company picnics, birthday parties, rock climbing competitions, you name it, I've played it! My most recent gig was spinning tunes at a Georgetown establishment called Smith Point. I've been there on the weekends since it opened three years ago and if you are on “the list” or know someone on “the list” you can see me spin there when I get back this fall.

Worst job I ever had? One summer in high school, working at a boat yard (I think it was called Pleasure Cove, how IRONIC) sanding the anti-fouling paint of the bottom of boats and getting covered from head to toe with the paint dust. The dust would mix with my sweat (I don't think it was ever less than 99 degrees) and cause an allergic reaction and physically burn my skin! All this while the manager sat in the air conditioned office and said, “When yer done that, them 9 boats need to be dun by lunch!” And not once in the few weeks that I worked there did he ever say, “Bryanson … show me, sand the boat.” That would have been cool!

MEMORABLE ADVENTURES
I guess my first adventure was in middle school trying to camp overnight with my friends Mike and Tad in the Severn Run Environmental Area (yeah, we were practicing LNT way back then). It rained all afternoon and evening and we ended up saying “f*%# this” and got picked up later that evening, soaked to the bone!

Body-boarding a hurricane at Ocean City in the fall of 1994, I went with my bodybuilder roommate who wanted to know what this “surf stuff” was all about. One side note: I had outgrown my swim fins and wasn't wearing them anymore AND my leash had ripped out of my board earlier that summer. Oh yeah it was after Labor Day so there were lifeguards only every 10 blocks or so. Needless to say I paddled out on 64 th Street and had 2 lifeguards drag my sorry ass out of Mother Nature's washing machine at 85 th Street ! Oh yeah, did I mention that one of my swimmers from the Salisbury swim team was one of the guards that pulled me out? Remember; always use your leash and fins!

Going on a nice little summer camp paddle on the Youghiogheny River, PA during a drought season. Less water – no problem … right? Wrong! I became Dimple Rock's whipping boy! Lost my line coming up to the rapid, boat got pinned on the rock, campers fell out and flipped boat over on me, I got pinned between rock and boat, got away from boat and was pulled into a keeper hole! Since the river was low due to drought, Dimple's water level dropped to a level to make it a super-scary undercut rock. Thank you to the boys from Dept of Juvenile Justice (supposedly they were our “guides”), who pulled my sorry ass (hmm, it's like déjà vu) out from this tempest and saved my life!

Rock climbing at Joshua Tree, CA; Table Rock and Looking Glass Mt, NC; New River Gorge and Seneca Rock, WV, Rocks State Park and Caderrock, MD and Great Falls, VA. I will never forget loosing my mind on the crazy exposure at Seneca (did I mention I'm afraid of heights – actually that's why I climb) and reaching the summit and admiring the vast view of the surrounding landscape. Then I noticed, rather shockingly, that a big thundercloud was rolling down the valley towards Seneca Rock. As the entire group of climbers on the mountain flocked to the rappel stations we were left high and dry. Actually we were left high and extremely soaked … and quite startled by the lightning that was putting on a show that we didn't want or need to see! The pizza and beer at the mom and pop joint we patronized that night, couldn't have tasted any better.

Hiking on a week long backcountry expedition with NCOBS in the Linville Gorge area. The day began with our group doing a river crossing. Although it was late March and the water was still quite cold the air was near 65 degrees. After lunch our instructors thought it would be real fun to bush-whack up a big steep hill. A hill that if you were standing straight up your backpack would pull your backwards and you would tumble down the hill. As our elevation increased we began to see snow in the trees (ha) and up a little further it was sticking to the ground (ha ha). By the time we stopped for snack and water everyone was throwing as much foul weather and warm gear on that they could find in their packs. The day turned to night and we were still hiking … IN SEVERAL INCHES OF SNOW! Lucky I being 6'4” and 6'8” with my pack on was knocking all the snow that was accumulating on the rhododendrons above the trail and depositing it down the back of my jacket! Needless to say we didn't have the patience or energy to hike down below the snow line and ended up pitching our tarps (yep, no tents on NCOBS trips) right on the trail and just brushing the snow away. It took me 40 minutes to change out of my partly wet/partly frozen clothing with hands that were to cold to zip, button, or snap ANYTHING! But I am glad that our crazy instructors pushed us to the brink, thank you Laura and Raymond.

Speaking of snow, I spent a week at my uncle's property in New Hampshire a couple years back to help him and learn myself about how maple sugaring happens. We tapped and checked lines on trees on his 20 acres and on neighbor's properties around town and several acres in western Massachusetts . There had been heavy snow fall before I arrived in mid March and we had to wear snowshoes to navigate to and from the trees. We also collected the sap, repaired lines and transported this “raw material” back to his barn to complete the process. Boiling down sap to create syrup takes nearly 50 gallons of sap to yield 1 gallon of syrup! My uncle has large vats that are fueled by firewood to boil the sap and transform it into the sweet amber that is the final product.

For 2 years after grad school I took a 2 week adventure with the Salisbury Sate University Bike club to Florida . We would drive down the coast (always stopping at the train wreck known as South of the Border) and arrive in St Augustine and begin our biking journey there. Each day we would pedal anywhere from 15 to 60 miles and stop at hotels and campgrounds each night. It was a great way to see the state. We had many wildlife adventures, a black bear at camp, overly aggressive squirrels, owls, snakes, curious raccoons; but the highlight of the trip was snorkeling with the manatees (sea cows) at Crystal River springs. These gentle giants are a species worth protecting.

Eagles and Orcas was the name of the expedition that I signed up for, taking me all the way out to the Pacific Northwest to spend a week sea kayaking around the San Juan Islands . It was memorable on 2 completely different accounts. The first account was that this was my first visit to this part of the country and the scenery was spectacular. In addition we had close encounters with both animals mentioned in our expedition, but to be in a 12 foot kayak and to have a marine mammal over twice the size of your boat swim within 50 feet is AWESOME! The second account was that I flew across the entire country on September 10 th , 2001 . When I awoke with the sun the next morning to get ready to head out on my trip ( 6am PT ) news of that horrible day was beginning to make its way to this tiny little seaport. Although I didn't know all the details or see any news footage until I returned to civilization at the end of the week, I couldn't think of a better distraction than being out on the water, paddling with these eagles and orcas.

Last summer my adventures took me to visit family members in the country of Lithuania . On my mother's side of the family we have second cousins that still live in this small Baltic state. Midaugus came to visit America 2 years ago and invited us back to Lithuania last summer for the 750 th anniversary of the country (and we thought the Bicentennial made us old)! I spent 2 weeks there and toured all over, the country is about the size of West Virginia . Outside the 3 major cities the countryside is in a depressed state and most of the young people move to the cities to try to make money. In the countryside there is no plumbing and little if any electric. I really enjoyed my time visiting with family, learning the language and looking at beautiful women that were NOT short. A highlight of my trip was going ice skating for $2 and playing 4 games of bowling and having 4 drinks at the bar (though red bull and vodka has not caught on there yet) for $20, all this inside a super-mall (called Hyper-Maxima)! .

THE SKINNY ON BKG

Hobbies – Swimming, Ice Hockey, Rock Climbing
Fave Food – Any Seafood, Especially from the Chesapeake
Fave Movies – Butch and Sundance, Diehard, Dances with Wolves
Fave Book – Into the Wild by Jon Krakuaer
Fave Bands – Coldplay, U2, Jack Johnson, Bob Marley, John Mayer, Train ...
Fave Sports Teams – Maryland Terrapins Basketball, Boston Red Sox (our year baby!)

About Dean Matthew Ritter, BKG's part-time hiking partner

Simplify and Live Life.... I don't know if that was a saying I heard in passing or something formulated in my own mind during a time of reflection. Either way, I do my best to live a life that is removed from the many distractions of every day living. I am not a nomad and definitely no Emerson, but do my best to really take the time and appreciate the silent beauty of all my surroundings. My life has always been surrounded with the love and support of my mom, dad, brother, and sister. My parents made sure I had a life filled with opportunities and experiences. They always supported my decisions and many times even financially funded my trips (Oh yeah...the check is in the mail dad). My outdoor background stems from a rich upbringing in the country and has continued to develop through amazing travels with my close friends Dan and Foti. In addition to completing my BS in Wildlife/ Fisheries and a Master's in Education with a focus on the Environment at Frostburg State University, I have found the opportunity to travel throughout Mexico, Spain, and Portugal, hike part of the Smokey's, Shenandoah, Joshua Tree, Saguaro, Canyonland, Big Bend, hike the Grand Canyon and every step of the trails of Arches National Park. I've had a run in with the Portugese Military Police, Mexican Border Patrol, snowed in on top of the Smokey's, struggled to find Niagara Falls at night, had a run in with a herd of cattle, and completed the 40 miles of the Maryland AT in 20 hours (Maryland Challenge). I've had unforgettable experiences, life altering moments, and built tremendous friendships. I am 25 years old and about to start a two week journey into the woods with Bryan Kent Gomes. As many already know, two weeks with SENIOR GOMEZ is challenging enough but I think I am up for the task at hand and excited to build on the friendship. I am joining Bryan for the first two weeks of the trail and will be jumping on several times throughout and if all goes well, I will be there for the final stretch.

Bring the Blisters!!!

"A footpath for those who seek fellowship with the wilderness."