WOOLWICH – The new Nordic trails offer woods, water, solitude and silence. And thanks to a grass-roots effort, there are also lots of kids on cross-country skis at the Kennebec Estuary Land Trust’s Chop Point preserve.
Chuck Mainville of Phippsburg brought the “community-supported skiing” program he started there to Woolwich this winter with the creation of trails at the Merrymeeting Fields Preserve.
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Mainville has help from a number of groups in an effort to grow Nordic skiing in this coastal region. But he said last week — as he skied along the Kennebec River — that this parcel of land has helped to lure new cross-country skiers to the woods.
On a frigid morning last week with the temperature near zero, cars rolled up and skiers between the ages of 6 and 10 hopped out, got on skis and went exploring.
“Oh, he hates it,” said Jen Nelson of Bath about her 6-year-old son, Tadd, who kept falling backward.
“But we’re trying something new as a family. We’re doing it together. They have to explore areas.”
There are half a dozen volunteer coaches in Mainville’s community program who help guide people like the Nelsons, and he’s recruited others who help make the local ski program possible.
Paul Dumdey, a steward for the Kennebec Estuary Land Trust preserve, helped Mainville mark and blaze the roughly 2 miles of new Nordic trails at the Merrymeeting Fields Preserve.
The two men “groom” it with snowshoes and their skis after each fresh snowfall.
“The two of them immediately adopted this vision. It’s really enhanced the opportunity for skiing,” said Alicia Hayburn, the land trust’s outreach director.
“It’s so fun to see the energy over the last week with this. People have been waiting for a (local) place to ski.”
The trails at the Merrymeeting preserve are like a reward for taking up the sport.
At first the preserve loop seems just a big woodlot with old stone walls and tall pines. But then the trail rolls down and up toward the Kennebec River.
“There’s something nice about a trail, rather than just going off into the woods,” Mainville pondered as he skied.
The peaceful, easy sloping trail is perfect for the Nelson family, who tried the community-supporting skiing program last year in Phippsburg.
They liked it so much, they rented skis from the Maine Winter Sports Center this winter to try to master this sport.
Connor Cushman of the Maine Winter Sports Center said what Mainville has done is a great example of how local areas can introduce families to skiing.
“Traditionally, that is not a ski area. It’s exciting to see when someone is trying it for the first time. Living in Maine, I think everyone should try skiing once,” said Cushman, the southern Maine director of the center’s Healthy Hometowns program.
Mainville reached out to other groups: the Phippsburg Sportsmen’s Association, which holds a winter fun day for kids each year; the Phippsburg Recreation Committee, which has received donated skis from community members; and Phippsburg Elementary School.
In less than two years, the grass-roots program has introduced more than 100 youth to cross-country skiing and created local trails at three venues, including the Merrymeeting Fields Preserve.
The sport has grabbed hold of a half-dozen families, but the dream is to grow it.
“There are so many little areas along the coast on little tracts of land you wouldn’t know about unless you came out to ski them. But there are a lot of kids who don’t have opportunities like this,” said Ralph Keyes, a teacher at Wiscasset High School who helps Mainville.
One result of offering such an opportunity is Devin Dauphin, 10, who took to the sport right away when he tried it last year in Phippsburg.
Now he hungers for challenging terrain.
“This has a little bit of everything. Some uphills and some where you have to side step up,” Dauphin said Monday after skiing the Merrymeeting Fields Preserve.
Staff Writer Deirdre Fleming can be contacted at 791-6452 or at:
dfleming@pressherald.com
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