Cross Country Skiing at Venango County's Two Mile Run County Park

Living in Pennsylvania’s Snow Belt, you’ve got two choices in the winter – you can hole up and wait until Punxy Phil delivers the (hopefully) good news, or you can learn the arcane art of layering and head outside to find a way to enjoy the season. Although cross country (or Nordic) skiing doesn’t have the chi-chi cache of its upmarket downhill cousin, it’s a great way to explore the quiet of the woods for which Northwestern Pennsylvania is justly famous.

Venango County is lucky enough to have Two Mile Run County Park, and, after a couple of years of onerous wrangling over the management of the park, it’s back to its formal glory. In the winter, that means not only things like ice fishing (when we were there, the lake had been stocked with thousands of Rainbow Trout) and sledding (on hills complete with ramps), but taking part in exploring the park’s 2,695 acres via the groomed cross country ski trails marked for beginners, intermediates and experts. Afterwards, there’s even relaxing by the fire in the lodge.

I took the opportunity this week to head out to the park to introduce my daughter to the sport and, although she arrived with some trepidation, an hour later we were sharing smiles and snow crusted clothes. More importantly, a day later, we were still talking about how much fun it was.

Ski rentals are available from 11 AM until 3 PM Monday-Friday and from 10 AM until 2 PM on Saturday and Sunday. Not sure if it’s for you? Two Mile Run County Park is sponsoring free “Learn To Cross Country Ski Days” on January 30 and February 13, 2010.