Not Your Typical Snow Day in the Maine Woods!
The Joys of a Snow Day in the Maine Woods
Ah, snow days. As a kid, they were always a treat–no school or homework, just playing around in the snow. That said, I don’t recall any of my snow days being nearly as fun as Emily Yearwood’s recent snow day in March. All of our heavy snowfall this season has caused a few school cancellations here and there. So when Emily’s preschool notified her that school was cancelled, she headed to her home away from home, The Forks. To be more specific, Northern Outdoors. Emily has a number of special connections with The Forks and Northern Outdoors. She spent her childhood in The Forks area, she’s a Maine Registered Guide for Northern on the river in the summer, and she’s the daughter of one of the company’s owners, Jim Yearwood. That’s probably the best connection, right? Our video expert Zach followed her around for the day and captured everything on film, but here’s a little insight in what’s behind the scenes.
Snow day activity #1: Star in “On The Trail” – Snowmobile Live Report
When your dad is the snowmobile trailmaster, you have access to a tour guide par excellence. Jim knows the trails like the back of his well-worn glove. Emily started riding on The Forks Area Trail Network from an early age! So, of course, when Emily learned that Northern Outdoors was filming its weekly video report “On the Trails with Northern Outdoors” on her snow day, she jumped in to star in the report with Russell Walters, another Northern Outdoors co-owner.  Conditions were perfect and they rode over hill and dale with nary another snowmobiler in sight–the advantage of riding mid-week. Just as they were putting the snowmobiles into the shed, Emily chanced upon an unexpected and totally new activity for her snow day–volunteer eagle rescuer!
Snow day activity #2: Rescue a bald eagle
The local game warden, Chad, had discovered an injured bald eagle near a little lake just below Northern. As a former Northern raft guide, he knew just where to turn for assistance. Chad recruited a few volunteers to help corral it to take to the local animal hospital. Naturally, Emily immediately jumped in to help. After some slow coaxing, they corralled the bald eagle into a tree well and then got it into a secure cage without anyone experiencing its talons. Whew!
Snow day activity #3: Feed deer herd, drive the Terra Tucker Sno-cat groomer
Since Emily teaches preschool in the winter, she doesn’t get much of a chance to ride in the Sno-cat. In fact, she hadn’t been in one since she was about eight! This was something she was hoping to change today. Fortunately, her dad agreed! She and Jim headed out to feed the deer (a Northern tradition) together and groom some trails along the way. On the way back, she got a private groomer
driving lesson from dad. Who better to teach her how to groom a trail?!
At the very end of the day, they took advantage of another Northern Outdoors connection: a  tasty brew at the very brewery her dad founded in 1996, Kennebec River Brewery. Now that’s what I call an amazing snow day with family!
