By Martha Brennan, ONSC member

When you've exhausted all Cleveland-area XC-ski locations, try heading east for a change of pace. That's what a fellow Ohio Nordic and I did on Jan. 13 as we drove I-90 east in search of white corduroy and endless track. Our itinerary: day one at Wilderness Lodge in Wattsburg, Penn. and then day two at Allegany State Park, New York.

As snow fell during our drive, I soon found out that Wildnerness Lodge has questionable signage (Advice: print out the directions to their location from their website). According to maps, it's located on Weeks Valley Road. Despite driving on that road and following the blue and white skier signs, we never found it. The roads in that area are hilly and I recommend a vehicle that's good in the snow.

WEBMASTER'S NOTE: Wilderness Lodge's website is www.thewildernesslodge.net.  It has detailed directions which makes finding the trails a breeze; if you have them with you! Currently the trails are in wonderful shape for skating and classic.

Our back-up plan was near-by Peak-n-Peek. There, we cut trail on the upper golf course, all-the-while being buffeted by wind and snow. Tired of that, we skied down a closed alpine run to the bottom (sorry ski patrol). Not having paid for a lift ticket, we had no choice but to trudge back up the hill staying clear of alpinists. When one of my skis came off, I used it as a walking stick.

We jumped back into the car and once again searched for Wilderness in the hope that they had freshly groomed trails. Unfortunately, we didn't find it, but we did find a steep hill about a half a mile long that had been closed for the winter. It had a good base we skied down it twice for kicks.

After eating some rather Americanized and bland Mexican food at Herraduro (the horse shoe in Spanish), we spent the night at the Red Roof Inn for $ 50 (AAA discount) in Jamestown. It snowed several inches that night.

The next morning we drove to Art Roscoe Cross Country Ski Area in Allegany State Park -- 30 miles east of Jamestown in Salamanca, New York. We skied all morning in an area called Summit Trail. We passed the trail groomers and saw them hard at work clearing fallen branches from the trail and rolling the surface. We helped out by shaking snow off bent-over branches. With many inches of fresh powder, the conditions were soft and slow but the scenery more than made up for the extra effort. We skated some and diagonalled as well.

We ate leftovers for lunch at the old Tudor lodge by the lake. We watched small, young does pilfering bird seed from window ledges while we grazed on left-over Mexican. The gift store in the lodge had a microwave and a random selection of nonperishable food items including horseradish. I was hoping to find milk for my cereal -- no luck. After lunch, we skied the long Ridge Run loop trail and rested in a lean-to. I knew I was on track when my companion, skiing ahead of me, left Turkish apricots on the trail for me.

A relatively short drive from Cleveland, Art Roscoe Cross Country Ski Area has over 30 kilometers of trails, and cabins too. They sleep four and require a two night minimum stay. The cabins right next to Summit Ski Trail cost between $ 55-70/night. Unfortunately, they are not equipped with pots or pans, so bring your own if you want to cook a meal.

Driving home was slower than normal due to flurries and squalls. We exited the highway to get gas and then found out that the entrance back on was closed due to accidents. A slight detour got us back on track.

If you enjoy skiing on groomed trails surrounded by trees covered with snow, you will like Art Roscoe Cross Country Ski Area at Allegany State Park. The trails are on a mountain with an elevation of 2152 feet. The 2-3 hour drive from Cleveland (good weather) was well worth it when you consider the number of trails and snow coverage. It coast $5 a vehicle to enter the park on the weekends. The park also grooms many kilometers of snowmobile trails. We were tempted to ski them seeing that were very few snowmobilers the Wednesday we there. Call Art Roscoe Cross Country Ski Center at 716-354-9163 for snow conditions. To make a reservation for a cabin at this Allegany state Park, call 1800-456-CAMP for cabin information. Cabins 1-14 at Summit trail would be ideal for accessing the main cross-country ski trails. This park is western New York's largest cross country ski area and highly recommended as a day trip or an over-nighter.