ROCKWOOD — A warm sun and unseasonably mild temperatures bathed our party of eight as we snowshoed a short section of Blue Ridge on a recent Sunday morning. Nearly two feet of fluffy powder gave way under foot as each step broke through a skim crust. It was a perfect setting and a great day for enjoying the outdoors.

We had ascended the 1,850-foot ridge on snowmobiles provided by The Birches Resort, and our guide for the outing was John Willard, president. It was a recipe for fun: Family and friends, some snowshoes and four snowmobiles. Mix with 40-degree temperatures, toss in some excellent trail conditions and you have what more and more people are finding to be a swell way to enjoy a Maine winter day.

Numbers provided by Bob Myers of the Maine Snowmobile Association say it all: 76,821 Maine residents registered snowmobiles in the 1998 season; 11,417 non-residents did likewise; these people rode an estimated 64 million miles on the state’s 12,000 miles of trails; and they pumped $176.3 million directly into the state’s economy.

A University fo Maine study by Stephen Reiling of the Department of Resource Economics at the University of Maine done for the MSA said the total impact of spending on snowmobiling for 1997-98 was $261 million, accounting for the equivalent of 3,100 full-time jobs in Maine.

If the numbers aren’t impressive, all you need to do is drive through a community like Greenville on a weekend day and take a look around. Remember that what you see is only a fraction of the number of sleds — the rest are out on the trails. Convenience stores and gas stations in snowmobile country often have more sleds in their yard than cars. And in more remote settings like Pittston Farm, you’ll see long lines of sleds waiting for their turn at the gas pump.

Our Rockwood outing was enough to convince me that there’s a whole other culture that most of us never see.

But recent efforts by outfitters like Willard are bringing snowmobiling within the realm of possibility for those of us who don’t want to (or can’t) make a $5,000-plus commitment to get into it. And many of the business people who have concentrated on summer pursuits like rafting are finding that snowmobiling (and other winter activities) can provide them with another healthy financial season and allow them to keep their help on year round.

None of it would be possible, though, without the volunteer effort of 14,000 or more people in 287 snowmobile clubs throughout the state, as well as outfits like The Birches, who do the work of maintaining a trail system which runs throughout the state.

Willard took us along part of the 150-mile Moosehead Trail which encircles Moosehead Lake. The 3-year-old Blue Ridge section is the newest, and its completion allowed snowmobilers to travel the circuit without having to cross the lake’s frozen surface (which had less than six inches of ice in places as of Jan. 16).

After our brief snowshoe romp, we reloaded the luggage sled and headed down the ridge’s back side to Rockwood’s boat landing. The ice between there and Mt. Kineo was adequate for the crossing to the Kineo House where we stopped. About 40 other sledders had done the same, the yard was full of sleds. Then it was onward for a short ride to Pebble Beach, where we parked in the lee and ate a lunch prepared for us by kitchen staff at The Birches.

We got one sled stuck in deep, unpacked snow off the trail. Some tugging and lugging got it free, but we wound up having to change a fouled spark plug. No problem thanks to a wrench and spare plugs. It was a good reminder, though, to be prepared.

You might keep in mind what Rick Scribner, director of the University of Maine at Machias’ Greenland Point Center, said recently about heading out on the trail: You usually can go farther in a half hour on a snowmobile than you can walk out in a day. It pays to take along survival gear if you’ll be in remote areas.

Throughout the several hours we were out on Sunday we encountered party after party of sledders; two, three, four or more traveling together — shiny new machines with riders in outfits to match. As each passed the lead rider would hold up the number of fingers corresponding to the number of sleds following, and each rider in succession would do the same until the last one passed.

Aside from one party of riders who nearly clipped our lead sled, the vast majority of people on the trail were cordial and careful drivers, some more into it than others. Like Tim Conlon, a lawyer from Providence, R.I., and his friend, Brian Ainsworth of Meredith, N.H., who works at a Ski-Doo dealership, both avid riders who got up Sunday morning and headed out for Jackman, then Pittston Farm, Seboomook, Northeast Carry, Kokadjo, and back to Rockwood, some 150 miles in all. Then they got up Monday morning and did a quick 50 or so miles before leaving to go back home. Both extolled the virtues of snowmobiling in Maine and particularly around Greenville, where one can ride some 500 miles of trails.

The two men are representative of a fast-growing number of out-of-state riders discovering Maine snowmobiling. Reiling’s study showed that in 1998 non-resident snowmobile registrations increased 71 percent from a previous study done in the 1995-96 season, with three-day registrations showing a whopping 518 percent increase (from 418 in 1996 to 2,587 in 1998. (Seasonal and 10-day non-resident registrations also showed healthy increases, 43 and 27 percent respectively, from 5,210 to 7,464 and 992 to 1,265.) Meanwhile resident registrations increased 3.74 percent from 69,857 to 72,471 in the same period.

That more and more people are discovering Maine is a tribute to the trail work done by volunteers and the monetary contributions to clubs made by the state and municipalities which recognize the economic benefit snowmobiling brings to Maine.

Scott Ramsay, supervisor of the Off Road Vehicle Division of the Bureau of Parks and Lands in the Department of Conservation, handles grant requests by clubs and communities. Grants to clubs for local trail work last year amounted to $350,000, while municipalities received $1.1 million, he said. The grant money comes from a percentage of the price of gas you and I pay at the pump ($780,000 last year) as well as from snowmobile registrations ($1.2 million last year).

That money pays for a little more than half of the cost of doing trail work, he said. There are many volunteer hours of work, and some clubs shoulder the cost of projects themselves. For example, he said, the Athens AC Lineriders Snowmobile Club built a bridge valued at $10,000 and used no state money.

For a comprehensive look at services provided and trail conditions check out the Maine Snowmobile Association’s web site at (www.mesnow.com) where you’ll find a calendar of events, a summary of snowmobile laws, news about the MSA, a trail map, some snowmobile safety tips, and trip planning advice. Or you can call 287-4957 for information on the Interstate Trail System. The trail condition hotline is 1-800-880-SNOW.

Snowmobiling in Maine

12,000 miles of signed, groomed trails (1) 64 million miles (est.) ridden annually (1) 287 snowmobile clubs 72,500 sleds registered by residents * 11,300 non-resident sled registrations * $84.6 million spent on new/used sleds * $8.4 million spent on snowmobile trailers * $44.8 million spent on trip related expenses * $18.8 million spent on maintenance/accessories * $10.5 million spent on clothing/specialty items * $2.4 million spent on registrations * $747,500 (est.) spent on sled rentals * $$4.8 million spent on insurance *

———— (1) Maine Snowmobile Association * An Economic Evaluation of Snowmobiling in Maine: An Update for 1997-98 by Stephen Reiling, Department of Resource Economics and Policy, University of Maine, Orono