AMC Outdoors, January/February 2008
Kick…glide…kick…glide. Your legs scissor in long strides, arms pump, and you think about taking another layer off. Snow flies over boots on ungroomed trails that lead to quiet spruce glades or up snow-muffled peaks and onward to gradual descents or adrenaline-soaked runs. Backcountry ski touring offers a new perspective on old hiking haunts—and one serious, cardio-kicking workout. Only Mother Nature grooms the seven routes that follow, giving seasoned cross-country skiers a classic taste of her wintry, wild side.
Camden Hills State Park
Camden, Maine
The Camden Hills stand sentry over Maine’s Penobscot Bay. The Ski Shelter Trail leads to open-summit views of nearby 1,385-foot Mount Megunticook and coastal panoramas that include Acadia’s Cadillac Mountain. At the trail junction, go left 0.8 miles for Bald Rock (1,101 feet); the wide, gradual climb will yield a moderate ski run on the descent. Head right for a longer loop to Cameron Mountain, a gentle sloping summit only 100 feet above the trail—perfect for practicing backcountry turns.
Distance: 7 miles round-trip on Cameron Mountain Loop
Info: www.maine.gov/doc/parks/programs/index.html, Camden Hills State Park; Backcountry Skiing Adventures (AMC Books)
Mount Garfield
Twin Mountain, N.H.
Mount Garfield is no slouch at 4,500 feet, but it can be done on skis. Intermediate skiers relish the easy incline of the 10-foot-wide Garfield Trail as it climbs through hemlock and birch groves, before a series of switchbacks feeds into coniferous forests below the summit. After a steep scramble to the top, set your sights on the white spine of the Franconia Ridge and the sea of trees blurred by a coverlet of snow in the Pemigewasset Wilderness. Point your skis north to enjoy the mellow, long ride down.
Distance: 12.4 miles round-trip
Info: Winter Trails in the White Mountains of New Hampshire (AMC Books); Backcountry Skiing Adventures (AMC Books)
Mount Moosalamoo
Goshen, Vt.
Near Middlebury, Vt., 2,640-foot Mount Moosalamoo sits within the 15,857-acre Moosalamoo National Recreation Area. Swish through snow drifts sheltered beneath hardwood forest canopies and spy the white-capped Green Mountains before sprinting steeply upward a half mile from the wooded summit. Views are found 200 feet south of the actual summit, where neighboring peaks and cliffs pose in sharp relief to the distant frozen plains of Lakes Champlain and Dunmore. Retrace your route for a fun ski down where boards and balance do all the work.
Distance: 6 miles round-trip
Info: www.moosalamoo.org; Backcountry Skiing Adventures: Vermont & New York (AMC Books)
Mount Greylock
Adams, Mass.
On your mark, get set…for a trail steeped in history and vert. Thunderbolt Ski Trail on Mount Greylock plunges more than 1,800 feet in under two miles, sparking a heart-pounding run down the state’s highest peak. Hike up the old ski-racing trail from Thiel Road to reach the summit of 3,491-foot Greylock before skiing down. Nearby Bellows Pipe Trail is a better option for cross-country skiers. It’s a gradual ascent until right below the summit.
Distance: 2 miles one-way from Thiel Road to summit
Info: www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/mtGreylock; Backcountry Skiing Adventures: Vermont & New York (AMC Books)
McLean Game Refuge
Granby, Conn.
Finding snow-covered trails in Connecticut can be a game of hide and seek, but when enough flakes fall, head to 4,446-acre McLean Game Refuge for a flavor of untracked forestland. The refuge’s 580-foot East (Refuge) Barn Door Hill is a basaltic summit born from lava that now surveys cow pastures, open farmland, and the raw cliffs and talus of a sister hill. One of the state’s largest tracts of conservation land, the refuge has several intermediate trails that make for good glade skiing, and all lead to the promontory from a single trailhead at the entrance.
Distance: varies depending on route
Info: 860-653-7869, McLean Game Refuge; AMC’s Best Day Hikes in Connecticut (AMC Books)
Minnewaska State Park Preserve
New Paltz, N.Y.
Several trails in the Minnewaska State Park Preserve traverse a portion of the 50-mile-long Shawangunk Ridge, where 2,000-foot plateaus trigger jaw-dropping views of the Badlands, an area where rare pitch pines cling to glacial-scourged tablelands. The state park grooms most trails, but Hamilton Point Carriageway provides untamed terrain and plenty of glimpses of the imposing flattop, sheer cliffs that have made this area legendary in rock climbing circles. The rounded, less aggressive peaks of the Catskills are set in the distance. To make a loop, return on the groomed Castlepoint Carriageway.
Distance: 8 miles round-trip
Info: www.lakeminnewaska.org/hiking.html; AMC’s Best Day Hikes in the Catskills & Hudson Valley (AMC Books)
Allegheny National Forest
Ridgeway, Pa.
Popular with local skiers, the Brush Hollow skiing area, tucked in the 500,000- acre Allegheny National Forest, has nearly eight miles of backcountry trails in a set of three loops of mostly moderate terrain. Take the Elli loop for a scenic ski into second-growth hardwood forests that include black cherry and maple. Near the beginning of the loop, a scenic overlook showcases the Big Mill Creek valley that stretches northward to the Twin Lakes region. Continue over parts of the trail that are old railroad grades, reminders of the area’s logging history.
Distance: 5.4 miles round-trip (Elli Loop)
Info: www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/allegheny/recreation
—Compiled by Karen Finogle
Contributors: Eric Stones, Sara Sheehy
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