||page updated on April 2nd, 2009||

The 24th Great Caribou Bog Wicked Winter Ski Tour & Race WAS HELD with 114 skiers
Sunday, March 1st, 2009
*16 km Distance*

Last ski of the season today, Wednesday, April 1st, on Pushaw Lake. Got my boots wet getting from the shore to the ice. Skied with Mark Lena from Gould's Landing up to the inlet and back, skating style. Ice was soft, with some open water around shore and the islands. It was a great ski season.
I cleaned up the snowmobiles and drove them into the garage, cleaned and sharpened the two Tidds, and stored other trail maintenance items away for November.
We have trailwork planned for later in the summer; some more ditching is needed here and there on Bangor Hill. We will probably clear a narrow classic ski trail on the former Vohnoutka woodlot that uses some of the pipeline. This will provide an alternative to the Taylor Road which gets snowmobiled occasionally, and also melts out quickly.
Read the 2009 Great Caribou Bog Wicked Winter Ski Tour & Race Summary. Thanks again to all who have helped make this trail possible.

Went out this afternoon (Sun., March 15th), set a track from Kirkland to the City Forest. Please leave the brush at the Kirkland end; it's to discourage snowmobilers from getting on the trail. If you have time, throw more brush or saplings across the entrance at Kirkland. The bog is getting thin; I won't go across again with the snowmobile unless we get more snow. It's fine for skiing. There's a nice track just across Taylor Road toward Newman Hill; you have to walk about 200 feet to get to it. You can also come down the Pink Trail to the rr bed; you just have to walk about 150 feet in the middle. I pulled off the orange flagging and put up some blue diamonds between the gravel road and Forest Ave., did some pruning too. We may groom one more time up around Bangor Hill later in the week.
Chris



ORDER OF FINISH is posted here. If you started at the 11am cow bell ringing, your time should be accurate. If you started before 11am, your time is not accurate and just shows when you arrived in Old Town.
Photos and wrap-up to be posted later this week.
The trail will be groomed until the end of March, from Forest Avenue north to the top of Bangor Hill, and then return on the Pink Trail along the old Veazie railroad bed to the Orono dump area.

POSTED 8:00pm MARCH 3rd: Best conditions of the year, with a track set from Kirkland southward, across Forest Ave, to the old Veazie Railroad Bed (4 km mark to 14 km mark on the course), with the Pink Trail return loop too (2 km), for a total of 12 km of tracks.


Thanks to all skiers, volunteers, spouses, parents, and everyone else who made this event work.

photo from 9pm on Feb.23 of the Great Caribou Bog (this is the trail before grooming!!!)

2007 PHOTOS:

Start of the Tour (left); skiers crossing the Great Caribou Bog (middle photos); sharing stories at the fininsh (right photo).


The goal of this event is for skiers to enjoy the natural world in winter, through lands located in the "backyards" of Bangor, Veazie, Orono, and Old Town. The course winds through upland pine forest, along the second oldest railroad in the U.S., through old growth black spruce stands, across a peatland (the Great Caribou Bog), up and over Bangor Hill where Katahdin can be seen, through experimental forest, and finally across farmland to the end.
REGISTRATION AND START LOGISTICS - this year all skiers will register at the finish in Old Town (village of Stillwater), and be bused to the start in Bangor. Download and print the registration form. Please post mark by Saturday, February 21st.

Left to right: The old Veazie Railroad section; night grooming on Newman Hill; the "lead" pack; touring through the Caribou Bog.


WHILE ON THE TRAIL RECOGNITION AND APRES-SKI THANKS:

Left to right: Building the trail on an old skid road (before) on Bangor Hill; after; the rebuilt bridge with grassy trail at the bottom of Bangor Hill


Left to right: Rock picking on Bangor Hill new logging bridge for access, Pine State Amateur Radio Club members


MORE INFORMATION: Chris Dorion, 866-7806 or Chris Dorion's e-mail or 941-5670 (days) and 825-3230 ( evenings).