WILLOW CREEK — The Mattawamkeag River Trail will see regular cross-country ski grooming for the first time this winter, the Recreation Commission announced, marking a major upgrade for a sport that has long played second fiddle to snowmobiling in Willow Creek.
The town has purchased a used track-setting attachment for $3,800 from a ski center in Rangeley and will mount it on the new snowmobile groomer purchased last year. The attachment creates the classic parallel tracks that Nordic skiers require, separate from the snowmobile trail that runs alongside the multi-use corridor.
Recreation commissioner Patricia LaFleur said the investment was driven by feedback from visitors who came for the fall foliage and asked about winter ski access.
“We surveyed every person who stopped at the info table at Thorne’s Bend during peak foliage,” LaFleur said. “Twenty-two percent said they would consider a return trip in winter if there were groomed cross-country trails within town. That’s a meaningful number.”
The groomed ski corridor will run 6 miles along the river from Thorne’s Bend to the old logging camp site at Farr’s Crossing, with an additional 2-mile loop through the Farr Family Farm woodlot. Henry Farr granted the trail easement in exchange for the town maintaining a logging road on the same property.
Dale Fournier, who will operate the groomer as part of his snowmobile club duties, said the combined grooming operation makes economic sense.
“The sled trails need to be groomed anyway,” Fournier said. “Running a track setter behind the groomer adds maybe 20 minutes to the route. The fuel cost is negligible.”
The Willow Creek Ski Club — a newly formed group of 12 residents — will maintain the ski trails and offer a free waxing station at the Thorne’s Bend trailhead, stocked with donated supplies.
Club member Doris Kim said the effort is about making Willow Creek a winter destination.
“The snowmobilers have had their network for decades,” Kim said. “It’s time the skiers had theirs.”