I am a Japanese female who came to the U.S. for the research opportunity as a scientist.
In my free time, I go hiking, backpacking, XC skiing. I love to be in the deep wilderness. I write my adventures from all over the world and Introduce the beauty of nature, from a viewpoint of Japanese.
日本出身の女性研究者かつハイカー。
休日はハイキング、バックパッキング、クロスカントリスキーなどで多忙。
日本人の視点から見た世界中の自然の美しさを、読者が旅をしているような感覚で読んで頂ければと思い、このブログを作成。
2019-01-22
Cross-country Skiing in Maine
Japanese after English (日本語は英語の後にあります)
I went cross-country skiing in Maine last weekend.
Trail
I had heard about cross-country skiing or Nordic skiing, but I didn't have a chance to try it. Because I don't really like downhill skiing, I didn't try cross-country skiing either.
The first time I tried cross-country skiing was in Montana in 2016. Mr.N introduced it to me, since he loves Nordic skiing. He is from Montana, so it is natural for him to like it.
Skies
I got all the cross-country gear for 2017's Christmas gift, well, obviously from Mr.N., and go cross-country skiing in winter whenever I have chance. This time we went to Sebago Lake State Park. There is nice 4-mile cross-country ski loop around the lake. It is mostly flat, so good for beginners like me.
Snow condition was not really great: the snow was hard and icy. However, the good thing was that we didn't see anybody on the trail. It was quiet and peaceful. Despite the cold temperature, I warmed up quickly and enjoyed skiing only with one layer. The lake was not frozen yet and pretty. There was a cute dog on the lake shore near the parking lot. It is always nice to see happy doggies on a trail even at -15C.
Sebago Lake
For me Nordic skiing is more pleasant than downhill skiing. I am able to observe many things, such as trees, snows, animal tracks, sky, mountain in the distance while I am cross-country skiing. I like to see snowshoe hare tracks. Unless a trail is downhill, there is always time to appreciate the beauty of nature. On the other hand, downhill skiing is too fast for me and no time to observe things quietly. Besides downhill skiing trips are expensive. I know that some people like thrilling speed of downhill skiing and there are opportunities to see nice views from high altitude.
I asked Mr.N to pick an intermediate trail next time instead of beginner one.
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