With Monday's snowfall confined mainly to a small strip of Maine's coastal plain, perhaps the best cross-country skiing in the state yesterday was at Portland's municipally owned Riverside golf course, where three to five miles of trails are beautifully groomed by the city and the Portland Ski Club.

Grooming at Riverside golf course is accomplished with a snowmobile plus a packing/tracking drag
ALL PHOTOS SCOTT ANDREWS

Three to five miles of nordic trails are groomed at Riverside

Grooming -- rolling, packing and tracking -- was finished by late afternoon and yesterday evening a number of people were skiing by headlamp, including a group of six from the Maine Outdoor Adventure Club.

Three members of the Maine Outdoor Adventure Club posed for the Ski Bum's camera last night at Riverside: Jim, Cici and Lisa

The combined race team drawn from Portland, Deering and Casco Bay high schools has a competition scheduled this afternoon (Wednesday) and the Portland Ski Club-sponsored middle school team (King, Lincoln and Moore) co-hosts (with Falmouth) a meet on Thursday.

After soooooo much waiting and wishing, it's nice to see quality skiing at Riverside again! Let's hope the weather stays cold. And let's also hope another storm comes along soon to spread the wealth.

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