Take Time for Cross-Country Ski Touring

If downhill skiing isn't your speed, Maine is home to miles of X-C ski trails.

Mainers have long enjoyed virtually unlimited cross-country skiing both in backyards and in the backcountry. In recent years, though, many skiers have been smitten with the smooth groomed trail systems at ski centers, golf courses, and even on farms across the state. Here are a few, arranged alphabetically by town, to consider.

Bethel Inn Ski Touring Center, Bethel
Forty kilometers of groomed trails. 207-824-6276.

Carter’s Cross-Country Ski Center, Bethel
Fifty-five kilometers of groomed trails. 207-539-4848.

Five Fields Farm, Bridgton
Twenty-seven kilometers of groomed trails. 207-647-2425.

Sugarloaf/USA Outdoor Center, Carrabassett Valley
105 kilometers of groomed trails. 207-237-6808.

Chesuncook Lake House, Chesuncook
Forty-five kilometers of groomed trails; hundred miles of ungroomed wilderness trails. 207-745-5330. www.chesuncooklakehouse.com

Harris Farm Cross-Country Ski Center, Dayton
Forty kilometers of groomed trails. 207-499-2678. www.harrisfarm.com

The Inn on Winter’s Hill, Kingfield
Trails link the inn to quality groomed snowmobile trails maintained in the town. 800-233-9687.

Millinocket Municipal Cross-Country Ski Area, Millinocket
Thirty-two kilometers of groomed trails; extensive backcountry.
207-723-4329.

A Fierce Chase Cross Country Ski Trails, Monson
Twenty kilometers of groomed trails. 207-997-3971.

Pineland Farms, New Gloucester
Twenty-seven kilometers of professionally designed and well-maintained trails for novice, intermediate, and advanced skiers with more than five thousand acres of beautiful woodlands and fields. 207-688-4539. www.pinelandfarms.org

Sunday River Cross-Country Ski Center, Newry
Forty kilometers of groomed trails. 207-824-2410.

Carter’s Cross-Country Ski Center and Shop, Oxford
Thirty-five kilometers of groomed trails. 207-539-4848.

Rangeley Lakes Cross Country Ski Trails, Rangeley
Fifty kilometers of groomed trails; extensive backcountry.
207-864-4309.

Birches Ski Touring Center, Rockwood
Forty kilometers of groomed trails; fifty kilometers of ungroomed trails.
800-825-9453.

Black Mountain of Maine Touring Center, Rumford
Seventeen kilometers of groomed trails. 207-364-8977.

McDougal Orchards Ski Trails, Springvale
Eighteen kilometers of groomed trails. 207-324-5054. www.mcdougalorchards.com

Smiling Hill Farm, Westbrook
Thirty-four kilometers of groomed trails. 207-775-4818.

Titcomb Mountain Ski Touring Center, West Farmington
Twenty kilometers of groomed trails; upper intermediate trails serviced by alpine lift. 207-778-9031. www.titcombmountain.com

For additional information, call the Maine Nordic Ski Council (800-SKI-XCME), visit its Web site (www.mnsc.com), or contact a local chamber of commerce.

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