- Up next on "Borealis."

Lace up your skates and get ready for some action as we take you to Western Maine for the annual Rangeley Pond Hockey Festival.

- [Seth] It's like a natural high.

And, yeah, you know, it's mostly about having fun.

- [Aislinn] Retirement means kayaking for this Mount Desert Island resident every day, no matter the season or weather.

- My wife thinks I probably was an Arctic explorer in another life.

- [Aislinn] Join us for a behind-the-scenes tour of the Maine Wildlife Park in the depths of winter.

And tag along at NEVI Fest, an event where people with visual impairments learn to ski and snowboard in the mountains of Maine.

- [Willow] It's just my everything.

It's my favorite thing in the world.

- Stay with us.

- [Announcer] Production support for "Borealis" is provided by... (lively music) (scene swooshing) (bike gears clicking) - [Announcer] At Poland Spring, we've called Maine home since 1845 and are proud to be part of the community, over the past two decades investing over $14.5 million in the place that we call home.

Poland Spring, Maine spring water.

The Nature Conservancy in Maine joining science, action, and innovative partners to help connect communities and address the global climate crisis.

From our forests to our rivers, to the Gulf of Maine, learn more at nature.org/joinmaine.

- [Announcer] And by viewers like you.

Thank you.

- You guys ready to hike?

(laughs) (upbeat music) (loon hooting) ♪ I wanna get lost in the wilderness with you, darling ♪ ♪ I wanna get lost in the rivers and the roads ♪ (crowd cheering) ♪ Get you up on the mountainside ♪ ♪ And just go ♪ - Welcome to "Borealis."

I'm Aislinn Sarnacki.

In Maine, wintertime can be peaceful, fiercely beautiful, and cold.

It's a time to play on skis, snowmobiles, and skates, but also it's a time to rest and reflect.

We're here at the Maine Wildlife Park in Gray, which closes for the winter as animals take a break from the crowds.

- [Worker] Hey, Bonnie, good morning.

- [Aislinn] But the animal caretakers are still busy tending to the park's many furry and feathered residents.

In a bit, we'll take you behind the scenes, but first, let's head up to the Rangeley Lakes Region, where frigid temperatures are no match for a group of party hockey players who prefer to play the game as it was intended, on the pond.

(upbeat music) (skates scraping) - We are on Haley Pond in Rangeley, Maine.

We are playing our 18th annual pond hockey tournament.

We're here with 10 rinks and 26 teams ready to play some pond hockey all day.

♪ Hello out there ♪ ♪ We're on the air ♪ ♪ It's hockey night tonight ♪ - [Alyssa] We have four women's teams this year, one co-ed team.

(player cheers) ♪ And the puck goes down the ice ♪ - [Alyssa] We have women's players from South Carolina.

We have men's players from Aroostook County.

Our co-ed team comes from Florida, so we've got kind of all down the East Coast.

♪ Oh, the good old hockey game is the best game you can name ♪ ♪ And the best game you can name is the good old hockey game ♪ - It brings in a winter crowd.

Saddleback's right up the road, and a lot of people head there, but this brings people directly into town, into the restaurants, into the shops, into the rentals, into the hotels.

They're a super fun crowd.

They just wanna be here, they wanna have a good time.

So it brings a lot of kind of lively action to the community for the weekend.

♪ We see them slide the puck inside ♪ ♪ It's a one-one hockey game ♪ - It's like a natural high, and yeah, you know, it's mostly about having fun.

We're battling to just keep skating.

(laughs) - I'm digging it.

You know, ice is a little choppy, but we're up there buzzing.

Boys are having a good time.

- The stoke is high.

The weather's cooperating, which we've needed, and it's really nice right now.

It's just everybody seems to have a blast right now, so.

- I think it's the small-town feel.

It's the, we've got snow banks for boards.

We've got everybody's kind of close together.

We've got warming tents where everybody's with each other.

We've got evening events where the teams gather, and they hang out.

They go out to dinner together.

They do these things.

And so they've made relationships among other teams as well, and that keeps people coming back and also drawing in new teams.

♪ Oh, the good old hockey game is the best game ♪ - [Alyssa] Rangeley is a very picturesque place to be.

So we're on the ice.

We're surrounded with little snow flurries like we're in a snow globe.

We've got the mountains around us.

- [Resident] If you want to be in an outdoor recreational area, there is no place like Rangeley.

We have everything that you could possibly want here.

♪ Is the old hockey game ♪ - [Performer] Hey, Ted!

He shoots.

He scores.

(performers applauding) - Pond hockey sure is a great way to enjoy winter outside and get some exercise at the same time, but if you wanna stay active year-round, the trick is to find activities that you can enjoy during every season.

For our next story, we visit with someone who takes this idea very seriously.

(gentle upbeat music) Each morning, Bill Weir drags his kayak across his lawn and enters the ocean, rain or shine, no matter the season.

(tranquil music) - I tend to like the winter.

Maybe it's the challenge.

My wife thinks I probably was an Arctic explorer in another life, you know, Amundsen and Byrd.

Shackleton's like my idol.

(water splashing) - [Aislinn] Last year at the age of 74, Bill retired from a career in banking.

He was worried about what he'd do with all his free time, so he decided to try and paddle every single day of the year.

- Well, I always kayaked a lot.

I was involved with a group called the MDI Paddlers probably 20 years ago.

Then I kept paddling more, and they were older and kind of dropped out until I was sort of by myself.

Then I went from 30 paddles a year to 50 to 100 to 150 to 200, and last year I did 352 paddles.

I didn't miss many days.

- [Aislinn] Paddling year-round in Maine comes with challenges.

In the winter, it can be so cold sometimes that the ocean water freezes around his home on Mount Desert Island.

- Ice can be a problem.

I mean, I've slid across the ice before where my boat wouldn't go through.

Couple of times I've gone out, and I have an ice axe in the front.

I would pack it and pull myself across.

- [Aislinn] On rare occasions, Bill decides that it's simply too windy or cold for paddling, so he'll go for a hike or cross-country ski, anything to stay active.

- I got a lot of energy as my wife will tell you, you know, and I had to focus it some way, and most of my energy is in the morning.

I still get up at five o'clock every day, and I walk a mile.

Maybe if I was living someplace else, I might feel differently, but this kind of beckons to you, huh?

I mean, I don't see how anybody can just stay inside.

- [Aislinn] Bill learned outdoor skills from his parents, grandparents, and other mentors, and he's made it his mission to pass on that knowledge and enthusiasm.

- I'm real big on life vests.

I've taught courses at the YMCA before where I gave away life vests and also had people jump in the pool and see if they could put 'em on when they're in the water, and you can't.

You know, I've never seen anybody be able to do it unless you push it against the side of the pool or whatever.

- [Aislinn] Bill takes safety in outdoor sports seriously.

He served in the Coast Guard Auxiliary for 25 years, performing safety checks out on the water.

And prior to becoming a banker, he taught at a high school in New Hampshire, where he imparted outdoor survival skills to teens.

- Life sports like hiking and canoeing and kayaking, something that you can do, I'm proof, your whole life.

- [Aislinn] The vast majority of the time, he kayaks alone, so he has to be extra prepared.

He always carries a bag of survival gear, including two radios.

Sometimes, especially during the warmer months, he's joined on the water by his children, grandchildren, and friends.

And like many avid paddlers, he has an impressive collection of boats, paddles, and life vests to lend out.

- You the equipment that really helps you out.

It works well.

As you get older, you need every edge.

That's for sure.

- [Aislinn] Paddling every day is just one way that Bill has chosen to embrace retirement.

- You gotta be involved in the community.

I think that's important around here, particularly as you get older.

- [Aislinn] Currently he's a lieutenant at the Tremont Volunteer Fire Department involved with water rescue and training.

He teaches CPR and organizes blood drives for the American Red Cross.

And he's a steward for two islands on the Maine Island Trail, including one that's just a short paddle from his home.

- [Bill] I go by it almost every day and keep an eye on it.

That's right, I am the official monitor.

- [Aislinn] So what is it about paddling specifically that has him hooked?

- It's quiet.

It's beautiful, relaxing.

You could be in a sweaty gym next to people and huffing and puffing and not wanting to be there, but you gotta be there to stay in shape.

Or you can be just taking your time gliding out in the water, breathing all that great Maine air.

- When you put it that way, it seems like a no-brainer.

(water lapping) Well, I don't know about you, but Bill inspires me to get outside more often and spend a little bit more time paddling my kayak, no matter the season.

Now I know you've been waiting to see all the amazing animals at the Maine Wildlife Park, and now it's time.

(joyful music) (gentle upbeat music) The snow sparkles in the morning sunlight, and all is quiet at the Maine Wildlife Park in Gray, but not for long.

The park's many wild residents are waiting for breakfast.

- [Jade] Ready for breakfast?

Yeah, he gets a mix of three different specialty moose grains.

- [Aislinn] In the winter, the park is closed to the public, but Byron the moose and the other park animals still need caring for.

- The pumpkin is his favorite part.

So every day he gets a gallon-size bag of pumpkin, and this is to support his digestive health.

- [Aislinn] Jade Canak is part of a small team that makes up the park's full-time staff.

Together, they feed the animals, clean their enclosures, and plan for the busy season ahead.

Byron lives in a special enclosure in the winter, but in the warmer months, he'll be moved to a larger space with trees.

- He loves wintertime.

Oftentimes when it snows, we'll seem really running around his enclosure, enjoying the snowy space, kicking his feet around.

- The park is home to more than 30 species of animals that call Maine home, from large mammals like Byron to rare raptors like Elsie the golden eagle.

So all the animals here are non-releasable.

- Correct, our mission inside the larger mission is we do not wanna take animals from the wild.

We take that for whatever reason, wide variety of reasons, cannot go back to the wild.

- Each wild resident has a story.

Marilyn the bald eagle was struck by a vehicle and lost part of her right wing.

Miriam the beaver was orphaned, then barely survived pneumonia while in rehab.

Timber, the silver melanistic red fox, was an illegal pet.

At Maine Wildlife Park, these animals have found a safe place to land.

- Our mission is not to provide animal for you to look at.

It's to provide a home for an animal that needs it, and we can use it to educate you.

That's how we kind of see ourselves.

- [Aislinn] The Maine Wildlife Park started as a state game farm for ring-necked pheasants in 1931 and has evolved over the years.

In the '70s, pheasant rearing was phased out, and in the early '90s the facility transitioned into a self-sufficient wildlife center.

Many people don't realize this, but while the park is owned and operated by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, it isn't state-funded.

It's solely supported by admission fees, grants, and donations.

Superintendent Howie Powell has worked here since 2010.

He started as a gamekeeper.

- It must be a very special place to work.

- Incredibly, and it takes a very special, perhaps a touch-odd person to work here a long time.

It's very much a...

It's not a typical career.

It's more of a lifestyle/mindset.

- It's really cool to come here and be like, "Wow, I live among these animals."

I think that's a big reason to come, sort of remember that the world is bigger than just the humans in Maine.

- [Aislinn] Violet Mandrake visited the wildlife park on field trips as a child.

Now she's in her second year working as an intern here and steadily gaining more responsibilities.

- I love it here, not just because of the animals, but the team here is so lovely and welcoming.

Like they really treat their interns with respect, like you are one of them.

Yeah, it's just a great community.

- [Worker] We have seven cats in the park, and they each get their own personal meal.

We're kind of like private chefs for the animals.

- [Aislinn] The majority of the animals' food is donated by local grocery stores and butchers, hunters, and landscaping companies.

- [Worker] Bonnie, good morning.

- [Aislinn] Bonnie, a 21-year-old Canada lynx, is the oldest cat in the park.

- [Worker] During the open season, the animals are all used to having hundreds of people observing them, watching them, but in the winter, it's five or six staff members.

So they're used to a different way.

It's a lot quieter.

It's a lot more peaceful.

- [Aislinn] This is a nice period of rest for them.

- Yeah.

It's a nice period of rest for us too.

(laughs) - [Aislinn] The park sees over 120,000 visitors during the warmer months.

- So we try to make sure all the animals have like a level of like respect and comfort with us.

But we are very hands-off with the animals.

So we can enter some of the enclosures with them, but unless we're having to provide like medical care, we're very hands-off.

We try to just remember and treat them like they're wildlife.

- [Aislinn] To remember you're watching wildlife and not pets, all you have to do is visit the mountain lions.

(mountain lion roaring and snarling) - She still pounces on her dish every morning, you know, like it's a wild rabbit or something, but it's a bowl of boneless chicken and venison and beef.

But she's still a mountain lion, so she pounces it like a mountain lion.

- [Aislinn] The three mountain lions at the park have been in captivity their whole lives.

Yet they display natural behaviors such as pouncing on their food.

Maryanne, the smallest mountain lion, lives alone for her protection.

Patty and Spencer are siblings and live together.

They were orphaned when their mother was shot by a hunter in Montana.

- [Worker] Best-case scenario is that all of Maine's animals are living out in the wild.

So the ones that have to come live here with us, we try to give 'em the best life possible and the most natural life possible.

- [Aislinn] The last confirmed sighting of a mountain lion in Maine was in 1938.

Though this is up for debate.

Regardless, these top predators are among the most celebrated residents at the park, but you don't have to be big and powerful to capture the hearts of visitors.

- [Zach] Hold on, hold on.

I'm gonna make it all one, an entire box of salad to get her greens for... She'll root through and try to find her favorite things.

- [Aislinn] Miriam the beaver is entertaining to watch because she's often busy, well, being a beaver.

- Storing food, building her den, trying to dam up the outflow system, all the things that she does that we sometimes, (sighs) "This is gonna be work today."

But it's great because we love seeing her do it.

And just like all our animals, we like seeing them exhibit their natural habits.

It's so rewarding to see them be able to do that.

- [Aislinn] Miriam was named after a woman who loved the park so much that she volunteered as gatekeeper for over 30 years.

Devoted volunteers are a key part of the operation.

The park continues to evolve with new programs, improved enclosures, and a steady stream of animals that need a home.

- [Worker] We'll go give the deer their produce.

It's a little different every day.

They're probably some of the only deer that will ever get the taste of cantaloupe, pineapple, papaya, mangoes because we get our produce donated from grocery stores.

- In the last few years we've really ramped up our education, where we are doing more school programs.

Every day we do two keeper talks where we'll pick an animal for a day.

- [Aislinn] Why do you think it's important to educate people that come here?

- Coming here allows them to see animals that they might not see in the wild.

If somebody lives in downtown Portland, chances are they're probably not gonna see a moose running around.

But I think that being able to have that tangible view of seeing Byron, seeing, you know, Louvie the black bear, seeing Marilyn the bald eagle, it really puts it into perspective why wildlife conservation is important.

- [Aislinn] Wait, there's a bear?

- Louvie is our bear.

She's our black bear, and she is right now currently hibernating.

She's actually in torpor, which is a stage of decreased metabolism.

So she's sleeping away for most of the winter.

We still check on her, but we're very quiet when we do so so we don't disrupt her sleep.

We're looking forward to seeing her again in the spring, that's for sure.

- [Aislinn] Wildlife rehabilitators around the state care for injured and orphaned wildlife with the hopes of returning them to the wilderness, but that's not always possible.

That's when the park may receive a new resident.

- Sometimes there are empty enclosures within the park, but that's something that we really like to celebrate.

Unlike some zoos, we don't purchase any animals.

All the animals are here because they're unable to survive on their own in the wild.

So if there's an empty space, it just means that we have an area ready for an animal if it happens to ever be in need.

- And when the next furry or feathered new resident arrives, this dedicated team will welcome them.

The Maine Wildlife Park is open from mid-April to Veteran's Day each year.

You can buy a day pass or a seasons pass online or at the entrance.

If this episode hasn't inspired you enough, this next story will.

We're headed to the slopes to meet a group of people who are defying the odds in a sport that's not always accessible to everyone with the help of Maine Adaptive and their dedicated volunteers.

(gentle upbeat music) (gentle music) - The mission of Maine Adaptive is to take folks with any sort of physical or cognitive disability outdoors and find what makes them shine and what makes them happy and create programs to allow them to enjoy the outdoors.

- Sugarloaf and Maine Adaptive have been partners well over 20 years.

We want people to be able to have access to this mountain, and it's such a wonderful resource for recreation.

So to be able to have multiple populations be able to enjoy this, it's something for everybody.

- My role at Maine Adaptive is to run all of our specialty programs, and they're either based on a common disability or a common skiing style.

What's going on right now is our NEVI Fest, which is for people who are either blind or visually impaired, and we bring people together for multiple days to try and work on their skills.

You find people sharing equipment they've found that helps them or tips they've found or other programs that they've found.

So there's a lot of support that happens because people have a common ground to start from.

- [Toby] Everyone who you'll see today are volunteers, and they are incredible, well trained, and really critical to what we do.

- But you know, my Dad is scared.

(parent laughs) He's scared to do it.

- [Toby] People who have never skied before will come to this program, be able to start from the ground up and understand how it's done.

And a lot of people have gotten their first start as blind and visually impaired skiers with us here at Sugarloaf.

- I love Sugarloaf.

It's where I learned to ski.

I'm not really an athlete.

I just happened to try skiing once, and I loved it so much that I had to come back and do it again and again and again.

And now I do it every chance I get.

I feel the speed of going downhill.

I feel free and happy.

Sandra started skiing with me since I was a beginner, so, yeah, 11, 12 years?

Yeah, it's all about trusting the guide, right?

Because my life is, like, in her hands.

- We have a lot of teams here that have skied together for many, many years, and the relationship that develops between guide and skier is really incredible.

So obviously with blind and visually impaired skiers, communication is the most critical piece.

You'll see some folks using different radio systems, but you'll also see folks not using radios and just doing verbal cues.

- Three, two, one.

- [Toby] So the instruction can really vary.

We have some upper mountain skiers who are gonna be just skiing with verbal commands from their guides.

- [Willow] We go pretty fast usually and can end up further away from each other.

So the radios make it so that Louise does not have to shout my turn commands to me.

- There's a lot of obstacles while you're guiding.

There's people, and there's moguls, and there's chairlift poles, so I'm constantly telling her if something's coming up.

I always check the trail report to see what's been groomed and what hasn't.

She never says no.

(laughs) She likes challenge, so it's kind of neat because we both like a challenge.

(gentle music) (skis swooshing) - I have been to NEVI Fest before.

It was really fun, and I decided I had to come back.

So I have been really skiing since I was like five, and then I had the accident at 15.

So I had all the muscle memory already to deal with ice pellets or grass and rocks and all the gnarly stuff that you run into.

So I was able to adjust pretty easily to it.

For me it changed because I can't see the trail anymore.

I can't see when people are getting close to me.

I put all my trust in Louise, my guide, and I trust that she'll get me through things.

Louise and I kind of clicked first day, like really quickly.

In fact, I had a guide yesterday said we ski like poetry 'cause we ski so similarly.

She's like family now.

- I've been with Maine Adaptive for 17 years, and I've been guiding for 15.

It's a challenge, and I really like it.

It gives you a really warm, fuzzy feeling inside when you know they may not think that they can do something and then they accomplish it.

And to see the smile on their face is just so rewarding.

Perfect!

(skiers cheering) Good for you, Willow.

There you go.

- [Guide] Tyler and I have skied together for what, Tyler?

Probably four or five years now?

- Yeah.

- Yep.

- [Tyler] A number of years.

- A big part of blind guiding is trust, and the more we ski together, the more that builds up.

- I find that helps if I know who I'm skiing with to build a rapport.

I can be more confident and have more on-the-trail momentum.

- [Guide] Just watching Tyler being able to enjoy a sport that I love and to see the progression, it's pretty cool.

- The future of NEVI Fest as far as Sugarloaf is concerned is why stop where we're at now?

- [Guide] Go.

And left.

And right.

- We want more people to be able to experience this.

You can't not be inspired.

They're not victims.

They're victors.

It's just such a spectacular, empowering thing and why we really embrace Maine Adaptive, its community, and we're really proud to be partners with them.

- Go.

- Just being outdoors is good for our mental health.

It's also good for our physical health.

Skiing adds an element of excitement and danger.

There's a lot of people who say, "You're blind, and you ski?"

That's not what we say.

We say, "You're blind.

Would you like to ski?"

- I've had a lot of people tell me that I can't over and over and over again, and eventually, like, you start believing them.

- Go ahead.

- NEVI Fest really brought me out of that bubble, and I realized I wanna do all the things that made me happy before.

I don't wanna give up on my life just because I went blind.

Come on, Louise.

The only thing holding me back now is my vision, and if I can figure out a way to conquer that, then I'm set.

I've met a lot of people through this program.

They never thought before that they could do any winter sports, or they were never encouraged to try.

This really not only shows people who aren't disabled that disabled people can do so many different amazing things, but it also helps people who are disabled realize how much more they can do for themselves.

And that's why it's important.

Just keep pushing forward with your life.

Live it to the fullest and try to do all the things that make you happy.

- They have this winter activity that I love and that I'm out connecting with people, the volunteers and the participants.

And that's why NEVI is such a special event, one event where a lot of us come together and see each other and have fun together.

- I believe in everyone 100% from the very beginning, but one of the big joys is seeing how surprised people are in themselves and what they can accomplish.

Skiing is skiing.

We're all doing exactly the same thing on the snow.

We're just all doing it in slightly different ways.

At the end of the event, you just feel incredible.

And to be able to share that with people who wouldn't be able to be here without us is just an incredible honor.

- [Skier] Sweet, I think we got it.

- You think?

(crowd cheering) - All the worries of the outside world just kind of disappear within skiing.

It's a freeing feeling, and it's always felt like that for me, and it still does even after I went blind.

That never changed.

It's just my everything.

It's my favorite thing in the world.

(skis swooshing) (tranquil upbeat music) - Thank you for joining us, and remember, all of our segments and episodes plus bonus content and behind-the-scenes are available on our YouTube channel.

Until next time, get outside and enjoy the outdoors.

(tranquil upbeat music continues) (tranquil upbeat music continues) (no audio)