ACADIA WINTER TRAILS ASSOCIATION

Elizabeth R. Bright Endowment Benefits Cross-Country Skiers

The Bright family generously created a fund to honor Elizabeth R. (Leila) Bright. The Elizabeth R. Bright Endowment will fund annual grants to support grooming activities in perpetuity, benefiting Acadia’s winter users for a long time to come.

The fund underwrote the purchase and maintenance of grooming equipment, fuel, safety training and equipment, volunteer and staff training and support, and other annual and capital needs of cross-country trail grooming in the park. With the additional equipment and program support, volunteers will be able to groom more of the ski routes--including Aunt Betty's Pond, Eagle Lake, and Witch Hole carriage roads--sooner, taking full advantage of Mount Desert Island's unpredictable snow season.

Over the years, this group of dedicated volunteers has acquired specialized equipment, increased the number of miles of groomed carriage roads, recruited more groomers to the program, and became known as the Acadia Winter Trails Association, a committee of Friends of Acadia.

In recent years, Friends and AWTA volunteers have researched and purchased new machines and track setting equipment. Additionally, they recruited new AWTA volunteers to assist with grooming on the Witch Hole, Eagle Lake, and Aunt Betty carriage roads. Adding a second base of operations and team of volunteers means more trails will be groomed faster, creating more opportunities for skiing and relieving some congestion at the popular Brown Mountain and Parkman skiing areas.

To support this program, contact Lisa Horsch at 207-288-3340 or lisahorsch@friendsofacadia.org.

Status
When available, two sets of volunteer groomers may maintain cross-country ski routes if new snow exceeds four inches. The routes listed below are in priority order for each set of groomers, who are based at the visitor center and at Brown Mountain. For example, the route north of Eagle Lake is the highest priority for the visitor center groomers, while the Upper Hadlock Loop is the highest priority for the Brown Mountain groomers.

While groomers generally follow these routes, as illustrated on the map below, some areas within the routes listed may not be groomed. The information on this chart is accurate to the best of our knowledge; conditions may change between the time the routes are groomed and the information is posted. You can help us keep this information current. If you are out skiing and notice that conditions are different from what is listed here, please contact us at 207-288-3340 or info@friendsofacadia.org.

4/4/2011: All grooming operations have ended. See you next season.