LIFE’S AN ADVENTURE

BY LYNN SCHNEIDER

If you are looking for something to do at Shell Point, just ask Harbor Court resident Chris Clapp. Before you know it, you will be walking with the Shell Point Walking Club, playing water volleyball in the pool on The Island, gardening in the Butterfly Habitat, attending an Academy lecture or riding a bike to join new friends for coffee at The Blend. And that’s just for starters.

At not quite five feet tall, Chris is the literal definition of kinetic energy. She is brimming with vitality, full of enthusiasm, and constantly in motion. Her natural curiosity, love of the outdoors, and fearless sense of adventure have led her to create a life filled with exciting experiences in the great outdoors.

But let’s start at the beginning.

Christine Clapp was born in April 1951 in Boston, Massachusetts to John and Ann Clapp. She was one of four children and grew up in Wellesley, just 12 miles outside of Boston where her father was a stockbroker and her mother was a homemaker.

“Growing up, I had a typical childhood,” said Chris. “My dad and mom were very athletic, so all of us were interested in sports and physical activity. You played outdoors all day long and came home when the streetlights came on. You were outdoors all the time—it didn’t matter what the weather was.” Chris attended Wellesley High School, where she excelled in field hockey, lacrosse, and basketball. Basketball?

“Yes, basketball,” said Chris, “What can I say? I was fast.”

Chris loved all kinds of sports and enjoyed going to Fenway Park to watch the Red Sox. “They were horrible then, and they are horrible now. But when you’re a fan, you’re a fan for life.”

Following high school, Chris decided to leave her home up north and follow the sun to Florida to attend college. “I played golf so I was attracted to Florida, where I attended the University of Miami for a year. However, I started missing my friends and wanted to go back to New England. I had several friends who were attending the University of New Hampshire in Durham, so I transferred there. I majored in Recreational and Park Administration, which focused on business and funding.”

Chris enjoyed her time in New Hampshire. “I joined the Outing Club at school,” she said. “Every weekend we would hike, canoe, snowshoe, cross country ski, or downhill ski according to the seasons. Plus, there were some cute boys in the club! New Hampshire is called the Granite State for a reason. It’s got high, rugged mountains and severe weather. So, we learned to handle ourselves in all kinds of situations.”

After college, Chris moved back to the Boston area. “For the first six years out of school, I did a variety of jobs just to pay the rent. But I knew I really wanted to be able to travel and I wanted a marketable skill that I would be able to take anywhere in the country.” With this in mind, Chris decided to go back to Northeastern University to get a degree as an x-ray technologist. She moved to Phoenix for a year and stayed twenty five. Chris got a job working evenings at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona, one of the biggest Level 1 trauma centers in the southwest, where she focused on emergency and surgical x-ray imaging.

“I did not mind the pressure,” she said. “You had to do it fast and you had to do it right. Once I started working in Emergency and Surgery, I knew I would never be able to work in a regular x-ray department doing all the boring stuff.”

During her free time, Chris enjoyed racing her mountain bike in the desert and running marathons. She enjoyed the rugged beauty of Arizona. And she began to travel throughout the region extensively.

“I had been to every National Park in the west camping on vacation with my brother and sister,” she said. “But my favorite place to visit was Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I knew I was going to end up there some day.”

“The hiking in the Tetons was amazing, and I never got tired of it,” said Chris. “It was such a beautiful place to visit and it was also very convenient. A lot of national parks are isolated, but in Jackson you have the town right there. Plus, there is an airport nearby, which is very uncommon for most national parks.”

In 1987, while working in Phoenix, Chris bought a condo in Jackson Hole so she would have a place to stay when she was vacationing in Jackson. Chris traveled back and forth between Arizona and Wyoming for many years before moving there in 2007.

“When I moved to Jackson, I wanted to volunteer with the Department of Interior at either the National Elk Refuge or Grand Teton National Park. The National Elk

Refuge in Jackson Hole is one of over 560 wildlife refuges in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, just like the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel.”

Chris became a volunteer at the Jackson Hole and Greater Yellowstone Visitor Center representing the National Elk Refuge. “At the visitor center I told visitors where to go and what to do, but that quickly evolved. At the end of the year, I started volunteering with the heavy equipment mechanic on the refuge. It turned out my small hands fit where his big hands didn’t when servicing and repairing vehicles and heavy equipment.” In 2010, Chris became involved in the supplemental feed program where she drove a huge Caterpillar tractor pulling a wagon filled with alfalfa pellets. “The equipment was 49 feet long, 10 feet wide, the plow on the tractor moved on six planes, and the entire machine weighed about 55,000 pounds leaving the shed,” explained Chris. “I still can’t believe I drove the huge yellow machine.” Chris spent eight winters supplemental feeding the elk and bison on the refuge.

“In 2010, a buddy of mine told me about a volunteer program in Grand Teton National Park that didn’t require a fixed schedule,” said Chris. During her interview, the supervisor asked Chris if she would mind camping in the backcountry if there was a “problem bear” nearby. She was hired to begin patrolling the trails from the beginning of May through the end of October.

As a park ranger, Chris has frequently encountered black bears, deer, and moose during her patrols. “Every day is different, and just when you think you have seen it all—you have not. It’s pretty crazy at times.” Some of her duties while patrolling the trails include checking backcountry camping permits, picking up litter, reporting downed trees across a trail, giving out bear infor- mation, and engaging families by asking the kids nature questions. Plus, her medical background has helped out in several situations. She has been first on scene to a cardiac arrest, respiratory distress and numerous sprains and scrapes. Carrying a park radio means additional help is available quickly if needed.

Chris has taken her experience in the mountains to New Zealand, Nepal and the Alps and continues to explore trails around the world with her brother or friends. She has spent the past 33 summers (except during Covid) in the Alps hiking and climbing. She has put on a harness and roped up to technical climb over 120 routes, including two climbs of the Matterhorn. Two treks in Nepal to mountain passes over 17,000' in elevation were highlights. “No, supplemental oxygen is not needed at 17,000' if you are in good condition,” said Chris.

It was in 2019 that Chris first heard about Shell Point. She was talking to three travelers at the visitor center in Jackson who happened to be from Fort Myers. They raved about the community. “One traveler said that Shell Point was the best the place in the world, and another said her father worked there for 20 years,” said Chris. “After listening to them, I decided to check it out.”

In January of 2020, Chris and a friend visited Shell Point. “We stayed a week in the area and attended the seminar. While we were here, I asked about 20 people both employees and residents— to name one thing they didn’t like about the community. Not a single person could come up with one thing,” she said.

Chris moved to Shell Point in November 2021, and she recently transitioned from Periwinkle to Harbor Court.

One question friends often ask Chris is how long she plans to split time between Spell Point and Jackson Hole. “I continue to enjoy hiking and backpacking in the Tetons, and I plan on splitting time between Shell Point and Jackson Hole for many more years,” she said. “Coming around a blind corner on a trail and seeing a bear or moose ten meters away will always be a thrill.”

As you would expect of someone who lives such an active lifestyle, Chris is always on the go when she’s home at Shell Point too.

“I love every minute here. Water aerobics, water volleyball, the walking club, Singles dinner group, playing Hearts— there is always something to do. It’s fun!”

She’s made many friends, including a group that enjoys biking to The Blend on Thursdays for breakfast. “We call ourselves the ‘Biker Chicks.’ We only burn about 37 calories bicycling and eat about 700 calories for breakfast but it is a lot of fun.”

For Chris, every day is an adventure— and she is having a wonderful time discovering new adventures here at Shell Point.