Fun on the multi-use trail

We spend a lot of time on the Mountain Division Trail in the winter. It's near our house and the snowmobiles pack the snow down to make it decent cross country skiing terrain. Our family budget doesn't always allow for skiing on the groomed trails at Smiling Hill or Pineland (a family of 4 costs around $36 for the day trail passes at each place). Of course you get what you pay for and groomed trails make skiing easier and faster. But the multi-use Mountain Division trails are a nice option for us as long as we accept its quirks and take precautions to deal with the snowmobile traffic.

These trail signs appear at regular intervals along the Mountain Division Trail but we occasionally see an ATV as we did this weekend.

Because the trail is popular with snowmobiles, we are always listening for the sounds of one approaching and try to ski to one side of the trail to allow for moving out of the way quickly. I remind the kids whenever they start moving into the middle of the trail to get back to the side because snowmobilers sometimes go too fast and don't always see us at first (but in our experience, that is not often -- the motorized people are usually courteous and slow down and wave as soon as they spot us).

On the Standish end, there are many smaller trails off the main one that wind around Otter Pond. Those smaller trails are not typically used by snowmobiles so it's nice to have some time away from them. Of course we had to forge our own path but the kids still enjoy the follow-the-leader games.

About an hour into our trek on Saturday Fino and G. realized that they had each others poles. G. has grown so fast that we've had a hard time keeping up with equipment she feels comfortable with (she prefers longer poles and they are nearly the same size as her dad's).

And part of sharing the trail means using our common sense. For instance, there is a portion of the trail with a fence between the tracks and trail. As we headed towards that part, we realized that if a snowmobile was coming in the other direction we had no place to get out of the way except to jump down a large embankment. We opted to ski onto a smaller trail through the trees to avoid that area.

The benches placed at various intervals along the trail are great for water breaks  so we can sit down without having to take off our skis.

And the small hills on the trail are enjoyable to ski down but not so big that the return trip up is fairly easy.



The kids had so much fun on Saturday during our trail ride (we did about 2.5 miles round trip) that we took our 4-H Ski Club onto the trail instead of playing our usual games on the field. We did less than half the distance we did the day before but with all the talking and laughing the group did, they said it felt like they skied a couple of miles.