Daytrip to Camden Snow Bowl
We love daytrips. For us, a day trip can be just about anything between the hours of waking up and going to sleep at home — but the length, distance, and scale are all variable based on the adventure — especially the unplanned parts. Being based in Portland, there are many fun things within an hour's drive. When you go just a little bit further, the opportunities are endless!
Like you saw in our winter escape series, our motto is "go where it’s good." For this day trip, we amended the motto to “when the snow comes, we go.” After many snowless weeks, we were jazzed about the winter storm warnings and decided we couldn’t wait until the weekend to seize a ski. And rather than fully playing hooky, we thought it would be fun to make it part of our daytrip series and bring you along with us!
Our cars were parked in the designated snow ban location and, since we had to get up and out of the house to move them by 8, we thought, why not hit the road just and head to the mountains. We picked up breakfast sandwiches and coffee from Dutch’s and hopped on 295 North. While most ski trips often veer to the north or northwest corner of Maine, we opted for the scenic route to our northeastern destination — the Camden Snow Bowl.
While the scenic route is always the right decision, our main impetus for this route was for a pit stop at the Sheepscot General Store to pick up lunch. As we wound our way through Whitefield, we saw a sign for Chase Farm Bakery dangling from a tree made a K-turn in the next driveway. The sign on their barn listed milk, butter, and yogurt, and, alongside the smell of the cows in the pasture out back, we knew we were in the right place. Inside, we were delighted to see a case filled with bread and pastries (donuts, cinnamon buns, and a fresh loaf of anadama) and a fridge keeping fresh ricotta, mozzarella, butter, and more cool. We were a little too early for the ricotta-stuffed cannolis that she was preparing, but were more than satisfied with our selection of sweets, loaves, and butter that we took with us.
Just down the road, we rolled up to the Sheepscot General Store, which really exercised my decision making muscle. I went with a grilled cheese on rye sourdough, while Cam grabbed a turkey club. With chips and a maple soda to look forward to, we had lunch. Their selection of local provisions kept me entertained and inspired as they prepared our food.
We arrived to the Camden Snow Bowl a little before noon, when the lifts open, and suited up. Our 3-hour lift tickets totaled less than $25 each and we were thrilled to hit the slopes for an afternoon of fun — without investing an arm and a leg! For our first two runs, we rode the double chairlift and enjoyed fresh corduroy trails, before making our way over to the triple, where we spent the rest of our day. While the lift isn’t as fast as the super-quads these days, we loved the pace it took us up the mountain, soaking in the 360º views of the Camden Hills and Penobscot Bay. The conditions were spectacular! Even though there are a fraction of trails compared to some big resort mountains, we still managed to ski over 15 miles, feeling incredibly accomplished and thrilled from a fun day on the slopes. We ate our sandwiches in the parking lot after, relishing that apres-ski feeling of shaky legs and sore cheeks from grinning all day long.
A trip to Camden is not complete in our book without a meal from Long Grain. We called in takeout to enjoy back in Portland. It was the perfect way to wrap up an excursion — warm dumplings, beef panang curry, and pad kemao!
