BETHEL – Skier Kara Barnhart came to Sunday River during school vacation to play in the powder.

But the snowmobile trip she and her family took to the edge of the White Mountain National Forest might be more memorable.

Additional Photos

Connor Coughlin, front, and Kara Barnhart, both of Connecticut, join other vacationing snowmobilers on a recent ride in the Bethel area run by Sun Valley Sports. Gordon Chibroski/Staff Photographer

Guide Luke Gray, center, explains the travel and safety rules to a group about to go on a snowmobile excursion. Many of them are snowmobiling novices who came to Maine mostly to ski. Gordon Chibroski/Staff Photographer

Rob Small helps his sister, Catherine, with her mittens during a rest stop. Many businesses that offer snowmobile trips and rentals get customers from nearby ski areas. Gordon Chibroski/Staff Photographer

Snowmobile riders cross the Androscoggin River during a nearly four-hour excursion between Bethel and Gilead. Gordon Chibroski/Staff Photographer

Vacationing snowmobilers cruise up a hill as they enjoy a ride organized by Sun Valley Sports in Bethel. Gordon Chibroski/Staff Photographer

“I don’t know anywhere you can do it where we live. It feels like a tourist thing,” said Barnhart of Glastonbury, Conn. “It’s a nice break from skiing. We’ll definitely do it again.”

The Barnharts are like a lot of skiers who come to Sun Valley Sports in Bethel, where they went on a four-hour snowmobile tour. And Sun Valley Sports’ dependence on skiers is like a lot of snowmobile rental outfits in Maine.

“Ninety percent of our business is from skiers,” said Lisa Freda, owner of Sun Valley Sports.

At Fryeburg’s Northeast Snowmobile Rentals, Terry MacGillivray says his mainstay is the business from area ski mountains, leading snow sports fans north and eventually to his door.

And in Rangeley, quite possibly the snowmobile mecca of Maine, Gerry White gets expert skiers who are novice snowmobilers coming to rent his 13 sleds.

“Probably the majority of people I’m introducing to snowmobiling,” White said. “We get some skiers who usually come on the days the mountain is closed on account of wind. But the bulk of the business is people up here on the weekends.”

According to the Maine Office of Tourism, snowmobiling in Maine brings in $330 million and skiing brings in $300 million.

But there is most definitely a symbiotic relationship between the two.

“We hear it from skiers these days, guys like me. I’m in my mid-50s. Maybe I’ll go skiing for a few days, then snowmobile a couple of days, the whole winter package,” said Bob Meyers, executive director of the Maine Snowmobile Association.

Many snowmobile rental places live off skiers looking for a different adventure, and who’s to say many of those skiers don’t come here because of Maine’s 14,000 miles of wild, endless snowmobile trails?

Sun Valley Sports opened its doors to snowmobilers in 1995 — a fact that surprised even Meyers. It’s since grown into a fly fishing destination shop, with an Orvis endorsement and the flourishing Androscoggin River at its doorstep.

But Sun Valley Sports’ eco-tourism offerings started as the heyday of Maine snowmobiling got going.

“What it’s allowed them to do is turn a seasonal business into a year-round business. People they didn’t want to lay off in the fall, they could have them work the rental sleds and do that in the winter,” Meyers said.

As Sun Valley guides Luke Gray and Eric Melanson led seven sleds on a recent Friday across open fields framed by mountains and stark winter sky, Bob and Judy Coughlin were enchanted.

While the rural neighborhoods along the trails between Bethel and Gilead were residential by western Maine standards, to the Coughlins they were wild and remote.

“I loved the fields. You could see the scenery. But I liked the woods, too, that was something I didn’t expect. I loved the rivers and the bridges,” Judy Coughlin said.

The Coughlins came with their teenage children and friends, the Barnhart family, and all but Judy Coughlin had never ridden snowmobiles before.

“We’re clueless,” Bob Coughlin said as they were fitted for boots and helmets.

At the end of their rugged ride up steep hills and across farm fields, they wanted more.

“I enjoyed it, being in the woods. It’s something to do that’s different than skiing. I definitely think we’ll go again,” said Bob Coughlin.

Staff Writer Deirdre Fleming can be contacted at 791-6452 or at:

dfleming@pressherald.com

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