Snowshoeing

Taking to the woods on snowshoes in Aroostook County connects travelers to a long northern heritage. In Presque Isle, a pair of 1872 Maliseet snowshoes gathered for Harvard University's Peabody Museum illustrates the historic Native American craft that first mastered the deep northern snowpack. Decades later in 1945, a German prisoner of war interned at Camp Houlton, Helmut Klusson, painted a winter landscape featuring woods sleds equipped with snowshoes while cutting pulpwood in the forest. Up in Fort Kent, master craftsman Edmond Theriault and his son Brian J. Theriault documented their traditional craft in their 2014 book Leaving Tracks: A Maine Tradition, handmaking wooden snowshoes from local ash and rawhide. Today, Brian continues passing down this craft to apprentices through the Maine Arts Commission.

Today, that quiet stride carries travelers through diverse terrain, beginning in Maine's first state park. Aroostook State Park in Presque Isle maintains a network marked with green signage around Quaggy Jo Mountain. Beginners can take the 0.75-mile Novice Trail through a dense cedar swamp that shields snowshoers from the wind and offers wildlife viewing, with an adjoining 0.75-mile spur leading out to a wood-heated warming hut with mountain views. Moderate hikers follow the 1.5-mile Shoestring Trail through old-growth forest or trace the Ridge Basin Trail along the mountain's ridgeline to view exposed ledges and Echo Lake through the trees. For a steeper workout, the 3-mile advanced South and North Peak route climbs Quaggy Jo Mountain to open panoramic summit vistas over the surrounding countryside. Also in Presque Isle, the Nordic Heritage Center provides trails through maturing hardwood forest, where the Field Trail links with Tom's Return to create a pet-friendly snowshoe loop passing apple orchards and conifer woods.

Heading north and east reveals expansive natural networks. At the Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge in Limestone, multiple loop trails start from the visitor center off Route 89, providing over five miles of paths through bog and mixed forest habitats where snowshoers might spot moose, white-tailed deer, snowshoe hares, lynx, and winter birds. Across the refuge, the West Gate system managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service adds another five miles of trails winding around Chapman Pond and Greenlaw Brook. Nearby, the Caribou High School Ski Center designates single-use winter trails strictly for snowshoeing and skiing, while Madawaska Lake Island Trails offers pack-groomed forest routes, including the 0.7-mile Powerline Trail and a 5-mile loop.

The St. John Valley and southern communities maintain dedicated local trail systems of their own. The Four Seasons Trail Association in Madawaska provides 12 kilometers of dedicated snowshoe trails, including a 6.4-mile Marathon Loop that encircles wooded terrain and fields, alongside a sliding hill. In Fort Kent, the non-profit Fort Kent Outdoor Center maintains several miles of designated woodland routes, including Mike's Mountain and the Warrior Trail, where leashed dogs are permitted. Further south in Linneus, the Linneus Sno-Sports Center shares its extensive trail network with snowshoers alongside its weekend clubhouse, completing a region-wide welcome to winter travel.