Journal Entry for February 19, 2011; Sugarloaf USA. The rain that fell yesterday, plus the freezing temperatures last night, has put a hard crust on the snow. The trail crews worked through the early hours of the morning grooming the trails, but even so, only about a third of the trails are open, mostly on the lower and western flanks of the mountain. The day is partly sunny, yet a large cloud hangs over Sugarloaf Mountain, though the sky to the north is clear. The temperature at 11AM is only a little below freezing, yet a strong wind is blowing, adding to the chill. The snow quality is pretty poor, a coarse granular. We work our way over to the west flank of the mountain, searching for trails that are not too rough and sluggish. We settle upon several serviced by the Bucksaw Lift, including Tote Road and Haywire. The Bucksaw lift is a sluggish double, so we have plenty of time to admire the scenery as we ascend the mountain. We can see Burnt Hill to our east, and Bigelow Mountain to our north. Bigelow is a long ridge that includes the Horns, West Peak and Little Bigelow. They are mostly wooded, except at their summits, and fairly steep. The woods around Sugarloaf has a suprising amount of birch, mixed in with spruce and white pine. We ski until about 3:15 PM. The temperature slowly falls during the day, and is about 15 Fahr4enheit when we leave. About 4 hours, including a break for lunch at the base lodge. On the way back to our hotel in Lewiston, we stop to view the sunset over Lake Auburn (Auburn Maine).