Every week in my Active Outdoors newspaper column, I remind readers that “Life isn’t a spectator sport. Get out and enjoy!” But what do you do when you really would enjoy watching an event or competition? Watching isn’t active . . .

The answer is easy: just become an active spectator.

There are lots of outdoor competitions around, winter and summer. Many of them are just for fun, some are pretty serious, but they are all an excuse to get yourself outdoors. And once you are outdoors (especially in winter) it’s easy to get yourself moving.

A couple of weeks ago, for example, my sweetheart Marilyn and I were at the Mountain Top Inn in Chittenden, Vermont to watch their annual Paintball Biathlon. We enjoyed seeing the littlest kids in the lollipop race, and the younger age groups in the biathlon. But, after awhile, we got tired of just watching instead of doing and drifted off for some cross-country skiing of our own away from the race course. Hey, we were already there, right?

I did some active spectating this past weekend but on a somewhat larger scale: cross-country skiing 11 miles just to watch a part of an event.

We were up near Greenville, Maine, spending three wonderful nights at the AMC’s Maine Lodges, including one night at Medawisla Wilderness Lodge, and two nights at Little Lyford Pond Camps.

Our first night was at Medawisla, because you can drive directly to it. We arrived in the late afternoon, ate a wonderful dinner, slept in our sleeping bags on a comfortable bed in a woodstove-heated cabin, ate a wonderful breakfast—that’s the routine at these AMC camps—then skied a couple of miles on one of their flatter wilderness loop trails to warm up our x-c muscles.

Later that morning, we drove back through Greenville, where the preliminaries were just getting started for the annual 100-Mile Wilderness Sled Dog Race which runs a course from Greenville to Brownsville and return, all in a single day. This is a big event drawing mushers and spectators from all over the northeast.

The excitement was palpable as the mushers pulled in with their rigs and got their dogs ready for the mandatory veterinary checks. But we couldn’t linger for the festivities because we had to ski seven more miles of rolling trails into Little Lyford before dark.

I went to breakfast next morning in my ski gear, ready to bolt out the door for the five-mile ski out to the first race checkpoint where I could join other spectators watching the 14 teams go by. The race started in Greenville at 9 am, and  everyone expected the teams to come through the checkpoint around 11.Fortunately, my route included about a mile and a half of skiing on the race trail. The dogs were much faster than anticipated: the first three teams came flying through, hard on each other’s heels, while I was still a half-mile from the checkpoint.

I saw them coming, stepped off the trail, got out my camera and snapped photos as they went by. There was something magical about standing all alone in the wilds of Maine, watching and listening as those dog teams went by. In the intense quiet, it was easy to hear the panting of the dogs, the soft collective crunch of their booted feet on the snow, and the hiss of the sled runners. I’m pretty sure the people in the crowd at the starting line never heard that.

I arrived at the checkpoint in time to watch the last four teams come through. Yes, it was fun to cheer them on with other spectators. But I preferred watching in the wilds with my own heart pounding, feeling a kinship of exertion and endorphins with the athletes both canine and human.

Then, of course, I skied alone on a longer trail back to Lyford. That’s what active spectating is all about.

Active Spectating: AMC Camp-To-Camp Skiing

We chose to spend one night at Medawisla, and two nights at Little Lyford so I could see the sled dog race. Both camps have plenty of cross-country skiing and snowshoeing opportunities nearby—more than you could possibly explore in several long days.

But there’s another option: camp-to-camp skiing.

Medawisla and Little Lyford Camps are about 18 miles apart by the most direct route (much farther if you have to drive). That’s too much for most people to ski in one day. But about halfway between them is the privately-owned West Branch Pond Camps. In the winter, the AMC and WBPC team up so you can cross-country ski from Medawisla to West Branch Pond to Little Lyford. They will arrange a shuttle so your vehicle is waiting for you when you ski out on the last day.

Depending on the package you choose, they will also transport your luggage for you from camp to camp, or you can tote it yourself in a pack or on a pulk. The people who carry their own gear tend to stay more than one night in each camp so they can enjoy a full day of unloaded skiing.

Both Marilyn and I love the Maine camp experience: comfortable, warm cabins, sumptuous dinners, sleeping in comfortable beds, hearty breakfast, meeting like-minded people. Little Lyford even has indoor toilets, hot showers and a marvelous sauna—talk about luxury.

I’m already making plans for us to go back next year when Chairback will be open and we can do the full adventure, skiing from camp to camp to all four camps.

Active Spectating: Watch the Weather!

While skiing the seven miles out of Little Lyford on Sunday, Marilyn and I got another lesson in just how variable New England weather can be. On our first days in the region, it was bitter cold—as low as 18 below zero. We were very glad to cozy up to the woodstove at night. But on Saturday night it warmed up and the temperature was 39 with a howling wind when we skied out of Lyford headed back to our car. That wind was a harbinger of an approaching cold front. When we reached the car, the temperature was 12 degrees and falling fast.

That’s why you always carry extra clothes when you go active spectating . . .

Active Spectating Update

The AMC has since closed Medawisla for a complete refurbishing, and has opened Gorman Chairback. It’s within an easy day’s ski of Little Lyford.