Over dessert, an Acadian specialty of sublime sugar pie, Antworth told me that New Brunswick is home to 7,000 kilometers of groomed snowmobile routes.

“More than 50 percent of the trails are on crown land, under the jurisdiction of the province,” he noted, as compared with the numerous trails in Maine that are on private land.

The next morning, after gassing up at an Irving station, I spotted a rare white ermine digging into the snow. Then we were off and running to once again cross the Saint John, this time on a long railroad bridge that spans the river.

We would spend the morning snowmobiling through dense forest and on logging roads past timber mills. The highlight was Route 19, a narrow railroad bed lined with towering balsams weighted down with a fresh dusting of snow. For lunch, we stopped in the small French village of Saint-Quentin and dined on croque monsieurs while talking with other snowmobilers.