It was love at first sight for spouses Mitra Karimian and Stefan Shapiro: after their first visit to White Mountains they were head over heels for New Hampshire’s North Country. “We really started to fall in love with the area,” Shapiro says of the couple’s early trips to the Whites. After spending part of a summer volunteering with the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) and Appalachian Trail Conservancy in 2011, Karimian and Shapiro returned to their home state of Maryland. But they both knew it was only a matter of time before they would return to New England. “As soon as we got back we thought, ‘how can we plot to move to New Hampshire?’” Karimian says with a laugh. The couple successfully carried out this plot, relocating to New Hampshire for positions at Camp Dodge and the Highlands Center. In the years since, Karimian and Shapiro have held several leadership positions with the AMC, and developed a deep connection to the local community. Through their work at the AMC ...
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