Sunday, February 11, 2001
Gliding in the City
Urban-dwelling skiers get their kicks at parks and golf courses minutes from home
Copyright © 2001 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
With everything else you have to squeeze into your busy life, there's been no time for that fantasy trip to Jackson, N.H., or Bethel for a leisurely trek through the pristine, snow-covered woods. Your cross-country skis are gathering dust in the basement. What's a city-dwelling cross-country skier to do?
The solution dawned on me one morning a couple of weeks ago as I walked my dog at Deering Oaks. Across from the tennis courts, at the bottom of the hill near the playground, I noticed a set of cross-country ski tracks in the snow. I realized it would be a lot more fun to ski on top of the snow pack than to stick to the plowed roads and paths around the park. And, even if I had only 30 minutes before work, the cardiovascular benefit of poling and gliding would be double what I get on a 30-minute walk.
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Friends meet by chance on the cross-country tracks at Twin Brook Recreation Area in Cumberland: from left, Maggie Guthrie of Portland, Larry Barron of Durham and Ed Doughty of Gray. At right is Jeff Bradley of Windham, who skis on his way to work at L.L. Bean in Freeport.
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Since then, my skis, poles and boots have found a permanent home in my car. I've turned my daily morning walks into mini cross-country skiing adventures. Even as I've lowered my expectations for these ski trips, I have found that the time to myself, under a cobalt-blue sky on snow fields draped with early morning shadows, has been as exhilarating as a day at a real ski resort. And I've discovered that Greater Portland is a veritable mecca for short cross-country ski jaunts.
"This is the best skiing in years," said Jonathan Brogan of Cape Elizabeth, as he prepared to ski at Purpoodock Club in Cape Elizabeth one Sunday morning.
Brogan has been a cross-country skier since he was a kid growing up in Falmouth. Back then, he took short hops around the Falmouth Nature Preserve and the Audubon Society grounds in Falmouth. Now his favorite places besides Purpoodock are Robinson Woods, north of the stone pillars off Shore Road in Cape Elizabeth, and the Greenbelt Trail, which winds through several neighborhoods in town.
At Purpoodock, the ski trails meander up and down the rolling hills in a leisurely, logical way. On a Sunday morning, there are more parents out sledding on the hill near the clubhouse than there are skiers, but, the aspect that most cross-country skiers appreciate is that you can go for long stretches far from the road without running into anyone.
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| Jim Huebener of Cape Elizabeth kicks up some snow while "skate" skiing at Twin Brook Recreation Area in Cumberland. In skate skiing, the skier pushes the skis to the side, as in ice skating, and glides. |
Golf courses in general are great places to ski, no matter what your motive or how much time you have. At Riverside Golf Course in Portland, for instance, you can follow a trail that clings to the riverbank around what is close to the full circumference of the course. That's a workout that will take you an hour or more, depending on your pace. You won't feel guilty about dessert that evening.
If you are a hill-loving nordic skier, golf courses usually have at least a couple of good climbs and swift descents. Purpoodock has two hills on its course that will make you feel (for a few seconds anyway) like a downhill racer. One of the hills ends at a bridge that crosses a brook. Staying on course is highly recommended.
The main problem with golf course/ski trails is that, unless you want to spend your time laying a new trail (the work vs. play factor), you are at the mercy of those skiers who have gone before you. The municipal golf course in South Portland, bordered by three busy streets and within sight of Route 295, is a case in point. A few minutes into my time there, I decided that a couple of drunks had forged the trail. It's one thing to have to negotiate a 45-degree turn down a hill because it's the only path between two trees, but why would someone create a series of hairpin turns down the middle of a fairway? After my first spill, I decided to break my own trail when I came to any steep decline.
The other problem at South Portland was the fact that snowshoers and walkers had intruded upon the trail in some places. In the early morning, when the snow is crusty, catching your ski on the edge of a snowshoe track can be a major pain in the butt.
Fortunately, there are places in Greater Portland tailor-made for cross-country skiers. One of them is Twin Brook Recreation Area, off Tuttle Road in Cumberland. It's a large complex of fields used for all kinds of sports in the other three seasons. In winter, the fields and adjacent woods become the course and training ground for cross-country ski racers. In fact, if you drive by before the sun comes up, you might see a couple of serious skiers, headlamps strapped to their wool caps.
"All kinds of people are out here skiing," says John Tarling, a skier who was involved in developing the course and can be found doing morning workouts. "On Saturdays, the parking lots are full."
Twin Brook is unique in that two lanes are maintained side by side: a wide one for cross-country "skaters" and a narrow one for traditional skiers. Skating is very much like what you would do if you were racing with ice skates on. Tarling says kids can pick up the technique in a day. Indeed, skaters do make it look easy. They go up and down hills with ease and make you feel like you are standing still on the open trail.
Novices beware, though: The hills at Twin Brook get pretty slick and tough to get a grip on after a few skaters have swooshed by. My dog hesitated at the bottom of one icy incline. I took that as a cue to unstrap my skis and walk.
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| Chris Robinson of Cape Elizabeth cleans his cross country skis after a morning on the shores of Crescent Beach State Park in Cape Elizabeth. |
Another place groomed for skiers is Smiling Hill Farm in Westbrook. For $10, you have 35 kilometers of groomed trails to traverse. If you don't have skis of your own, this is the closest place to Portland where you can rent them, for another $10.
One of the closest places to ski just minutes from downtown Portland is also one of my favorite places to get away from it all. It's on the back side of Evergreen Cemetery, behind the Westbrook College campus on Brighton Avenue. People walk their dogs here because they can be off leash once on the wooded path.
If it has just snowed – or if the plows haven't been too zealous – the roads around the lower end of the cemetery make for a good workout. But if the sun has broken through to pavement, you'll want to stick to the wooded paths beyond the duck pond. The path is wide and well-packed thanks to the dogs and their people. And you usually will bump into at least a couple of dog walkers while you are there. The trail reminds me of the paths we used to explore behind my grandmother's farm when we were growing up. You know you are only moments from civilization, but it's still easy to imagine being deep in the woods.
Some people might be spooked about spending time skiing so near a cemetery. To me, it's just one of life's many ironies. After all, this winter's snowfall is the best in many years. Some might even call it heavenly.
Staff Writer Joanne Lannin can be contacted at 791-6451 or at: jlannin@pressherald.com