In an effort to get more people visiting Maine state parks year-round, the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands is ramping up its programming and public outreach this winter.
“There’s lots of fun things to do at state parks in the winter,” Gary Best, Regional Manager of Maine State Parks and Historic Sites, said.
This winter, the state is launching its second Maine State Parks Ski and Snowshoe Trailer, a mobile rental shop containing cross-country skis and snowshoes of all sizes. This trailer will travel to state parks throughout Maine, offering free equipment rental to visitors who have paid park admission.
“We’re happy to be able to get this on the road to put equipment on people’s feet so they can get outside and have fun this winter,” Best said. “When the trailer lands, we can outfit approximately 100 people between snowshoes and skis.”
In 2011, BPL launched the first Maine State Parks Ski and Snowshoe Trailer in response to the national and state “Take it Outside” initiatives to get people, especially young people, outdoors and active.
“We looked at why aren’t people getting outside as much in the winter. What are the barriers, and can we possible remove those barriers?” Best said. “We thought, well, maybe they don’t have the equipment. Maybe it’s the cost. Here we provide the equipment at no cost.”
“Then we thought, maybe they don’t know how to use the equipment,” Best continued. “So we sent park rangers and volunteers to ski leadership workshops the Maine Winter Sports Center puts on to learn the basics on how to size people correctly [for skis] and give them pointers on skiing.”
Since 2011, the trailer has been traveling to state parks throughout Maine, outfitting people for the trails.
“There was such a demand,” Best said. “Now that we have two [trailers], we’ve doubled our capacity.”
The plan is to have one ski and snowshoe trailer travel around the southern half of the state, while the other travels around the northern half of the state, Best said.
Maine is home to 36 state parks, and some have better trail systems for winter recreation than others. For that reason, BPL focuses on making some of the better suited state parks more accessible in the winter by plowing winter parking areas and grooming trails.
Popular Maine state parks during the winter include Aroostook State Park in Presque Isle, Mount Blue State Park in Weld, Bradbury Mountain State Park in Pownal, Wolfe’s Neck State Park in Freeport, Lake Saint George State Park in Liberty, Lily Bay State Park on Moosehead Lake, Sebago Lake State Park in Casco and Reid State Park in Georgetown.
This winter, BPL is working to add Range Ponds State Park in Poland to that list. In addition to plowing a winter parking area at the park, the bureau has created a new snowshoe trail and will be grooming 2 miles of cross-country ski trails once the snow cover is suitable for skiing.
BPL will be hosting the inaugural Range Ponds State Park Kids’ Ice Fishing Derby on March 5. In preparation, the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife recently stocked 200 brown trout in the pond, and there are plans to stock brook trout as well.
“We’re coming up with a monthly calendar of events that people can subscribe to for [Maine] state parks,” said John Bott, Director of Special Projects and Communications for the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. “We know people like to have state parks in their backyards, but maybe they don’t know about some other state parks that are in traveling distance. This will help them learn about these other parks.”
To kick off 2016, free First Day Hikes are planned for New Year’s Day at four Maine state parks: Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park, Lily Bay State Park, Sebago Lake State Park and Popham Beach State Park. Details about these guided hikes are available at parksandlands.com, where people can view a full calendar of state park events and sign up to receive text message alerts from specific state parks about weather, trail conditions, parking availability and more. This free service is new this year, Bott said.
“Reid State Park, for instance, has a huge parking problem when it’s busy,” Bott said. “If someone subscribes to that park’s alerts, they might receive a text that the parking is full and decide not to drive 40 minutes to not be able to park.”
Though not all state parks have plowed drives and parking areas in the winter, they are all technically open to the public and regular admission fees apply. However, because gates aren’t staffed, visitors are asked to leave their admission fees in “iron ranger” collection boxes near park entrances.
“It’s an honor system,” Bott said.
To search for Maine state parks in your area, visit parksandlands.com.