Several days of powdered sugar snow dusting the landscape made for a picturesque early week, didn’t it? An orange sherbet sun tried to burn its way through Wednesday morning’s overcast, making the morning routine of getting ready for work more scenic if not more enjoyable.

I have to admit that by Wednesday I was ready for a break from dusting off the cars, deck, and driveway. A leaf blower would have done the job, the snow was so light.

After a weekend in the Boston area visiting my parents and in Providence with my daughter at college and a trip back to Bangor in Monday’s snowstorm, I was ready to get out and explore something closer to home. So when kayaking friend Robert Causey checked in Tuesday afternoon asking me if I wanted to snowshoe in the University of Maine forest off College Avenue Extension, I signed on. He’s been on a kick of late taking his girlfriend Pam Poisson’s energetic dogs for an evening romp to wear them out. Since daytimes are filled with work, evenings are best for this chore. Merlin and Pearl (the dogs) seem to leap at the opportunity to get out, and since Tuesday (or was it Wednesday) was Merlin’s birthday, he seemed even more energetic. (He hardly skipped a beat when later on in our walk we sang Happy Birthday to him, but that’s probably because he was having so much fun.)

When Causey called, he instructed me to meet him at the car wash on College Avenue Extension at 8 p.m. and we’d rendezvous with mutual friend and fellow paddler, Karen Francoeur, and we’d head up the road a bit, park, and head into the woods on one of the logging roads. Pam joined us as well to try out a new pair of snowshoes.

Even though it was overcast and snowing lightly, the night wasn’t dark. Aside from using a headlamp to get snowshoes and gaiters on, we tromped along without problem without the aid of a light. It could have been that the cloud cover was thin and a full moon above helped lighten things up or that the lights from Old Town and the University of Maine were reflected from the clouds, but it really wasn’t dark at all.

And the snow was so light and fluffy that walking was relatively easy. We’d parked in a parking area where the Sewall Road comes out of the forest. In about a quarter of a mile we hooked a left on the Red Trail and linked up with the Blue Trail and then to Spring Road, following it to Gilman Falls Avenue. It comes onto Route 43 across from LaBree’s Bakery.

From there we retraced most of our path, hooking up with Sewall Road until we got back to the Red Trail. Following the Red Trail south for a bit we decided about halfway (we didn’t have a map) that it might not come back onto College Avenue Extension, so we turned around and headed back to the Sewall Road and back to the cars. Turns out we could have followed the Red Trail and hit College Avenue Extension about a half mile south of where we’d parked. Next time I go I’ll bring a map.

The map of the university trails, by the way, is a wonderful production of the UMaine Campus Recreation Department. A full-color document, it shows all of Marsh Island that includes the University of Maine campus, and all of the trails from the Orono Land Trust to those on campus and the ones in the Demeritt University Forest where we hiked Tuesday night. You can get one of these free maps at Room 140 Memorial Gym at UMaine during normal business hours. Call 581-1082 for more information. Plan an outing sometime and enjoy some of the many miles of four-season trails, many of which are groomed for cross-country skiing.

Polar dip check presentation set

I received an e-mail from my polar dipping mentor Tess Ftorek at Washington County Community College (she’s the one responsible, Mom, for my temporary lapses in sanity and resulting three dips in Passamaquoddy Bay in the past three Januarys). You already know that the charitable event has grown by leaps and bounds over the past five years, and that the Ronald McDonald House in Bangor is the beneficiary. This past Jan. 28, 200-plus folks took the plunge and in so doing raised $31,000 in donations.

A check for that amount (possibly more since donations are still being accepted) will be presented to Pat Beckwith, executive director of the Bangor facility at 11:30 a.m., March 8, in the assembly room at WCCC. Ftorek said everyone is welcome to attend and promises all who do that it’ll be a lot warmer inside the facility than it was on Jan. 28 when we donned our swimming togs and charged into the 34-degree waters to emerge into near-zero temperatures.

By the way, this year’s effort brings the five-year total of donations raised to more than $91,000.

If you didn’t make it to dip this year, I’ll see you next January when it can’t possibly be any colder than it was this time.

Tsunami relief program

Back on Jan. 22 I closed out a column with a tongue-in-cheek reference to a new sea kayak called the Tsunami that Wilderness Systems has recently introduced. It has to be a marketer’s nightmare to have a great product you believe so firmly in be eclipsed by such a terrible act of nature.

Well, exactly a month later I received an e-mail from Michael Collin of Fendler Communications, the company handling public relations for Confluence Watersports, Trinity, N.C., the manufacturer of the Wilderness Systems, Mad River Canoe, and Wave Sport brands. Confluence Watersports “has established a program around the Tsunami kayak where they will donate a portion of the sales from each Tsunami kayak to the relief and rebuilding of the areas affected by the Dec. 26 tsunami for the lifetime of the Tsunami product,” Collin said. More information is available at http://wildernesssystems.com/tsunamicommitment.php.

Confluence will donate a minimum of $20,000 a year through the Outdoor Industry Association’s disaster relief program with AmeriCares for the lifetime of the product, the company said in a press release. In addition to the initial contribution, Confluence will match Confluence employee donations to the tsunami relief fund up to a half day’s pay.

“I have spent a lot of time in the area hit by the tsunami and hope that our contributions over the next several years will help in the relief and rebuilding of this beautiful and majestic region,” said Kelley Woolsey, senior vice president of marketing and sales at Confluence Watersports.

Wilderness Systems launched the Tsunami line of kayaks in August 2004, and anticipates that the boat will be in the market for six to seven years. Based on the product’s lifecycle and sales, Confluence expects to make a total contribution of about $100,000 to the relief fund. Each Tsunami will be marked with a commemorative logo and a statement of remembrance of the tragedy.

Wilderness Systems’ latest touring kayak models have each had weather-related names like Tempest and Tsunami.

For more information on AmeriCares or to make a donation visit www.americares.com or call 1-800-486-HELP (4357).

Ski demo, trek set at Craig Brook

Are you looking for a good excuse to get out and do some cross-country skiing and try out some new equipment as well? The Ski Rack of Bangor and Solomon Skis is having a free demonstration and trek from 1 to 4 p.m., March 6, at the Craig Brook National Fish Hatchery in East Orland. Bring your own skis, but be ready to try out new equipment and talk to the professionals. Weather permitting there will be a trek on Alamoosook Lake and light refreshments will be served.

The events are sponsored by The Friends of Craig Brook National Fish Hatchery and Great Pond Mountain Conservation Trust.

Craig Brook hatchery is located in East Orland, 15 miles west of Ellsworth and 5 miles east of Bucksport on Route 1. Watch for blue and white Maine Department of Transportation signs for the turn onto Hatchery Road. The hatchery facility is 1.3 miles down the road from Route 1. For more information call Gina at Alamoosook Lodge, 469-6393.

Jeff Strout can be reached at 990-8202 or by e-mail at jstrout@bangordailynews.net.