Maine Huts & Trails employees include, from left, Tyler Doucette, maintenance supervisor, Wolfe Tone, executive director, Kevin Mitchell, director of operations, and Kris Dorer, director of development. Contributed photo

Maine Huts & Trails plans to reopen this upcoming winter season with renewed focus and energy and a hospitality experience thoughtfully evolved for the COVID-adjusted world.

MH&T is reinventing itself with different thinking, with changes not to the experiences offered, but how they are offered. Previously, night-stays were offered by the bunk. Guests now will be offered bunk-room rentals. Pricing has been adjusted to be attractive to families, and both full-service and self-service will be available at different times of the week for people seeking different pricing alternatives and levels of service.

Proposed huts to open this winter for day excursions or overnight stays include Flagstaff Hut, Stratton Brook Hut, and Poplar Hut. Reservations will become available in October for the upcoming winter season.

New hires include Kris Dorer, director of development, a patron of the Maine outdoors with more than 30 years of experience in nonprofit management. Kevin Mitchell, director of operations, is an avid outdoor adventurer and active Kingfield local who brings to the organization creativity and energy with decades of management and promotions experience.

As a nonprofit, Maine Huts & Trails’ mission is to provide inviting backcountry experiences that inspire reverence for Maine’s western mountains, forest and waters, and help strengthen the local economy.

“We are committed to delivering our mission and have a strong vision to contribute to the future of Maine’s western mountains region. I’ve been active in the woods of Maine since the day I was born, and am thrilled to be part of an organization that offers such a truly unique adventure experience and is so well positioned to make people feel at home in this magnificent landscape,” Mitchell said in a news release from the organization.

Since the opening of the first “Hut” in 2008, Maine Huts & Trails has welcomed over 80,000 guests to its huts and countless more have enjoyed MH&T’s 80 miles of trails, extending from West Forks in Somerset County, west to Carrabassett Valley in Franklin Country.

In the coming months, Maine Huts & Trails staff will begin hiring for seasonal hut outdoor enthusiasts to join the team.

For more information, visit mainehuts.org.