Into the Wild

If you are looking for a good way to get outside during these long winter months, I would highly recommend snowshoeing, a sport whose glories I was just introduced to this weekend.  I am more of a snowboarder when it comes to winter sports and the thought of trudging through the snow on over-sized metal shoes didn’t thrill me at first but I decided to give it a whirl anyways (mostly as an excuse to not have to run around Greenlake instead).  I dragged myself out of bed at 6:20 on a Saturday morning (a miracle in and of itself…) and we made it to the trail head by 9:30.  After spending some time fiddling with the snow shoes and figuring out how they work (I am still convinced I was wearing two right foot snow shoes) we headed out into the fresh snow.  Imagine all the joys of hiking in a winter wonderland minus the sinking thigh-high into snow then floundering to get out again with every step.  Instead you trot right across the surface and bravely forge up mountainsides all thanks to the snow shoes.

One of the most important parts of snow shoeing is picking a good trail.  The MOST important part is bringing a good trail mix.  But of course everyone knows that.  We took on  Skyline Lake trail up at Stevens pass and the views were well worth the initial uphill climb.  But I understand that not everyone is blessed enough to live here in God’s country (that’s Washington state, by the way) so check out trails.com to find somewhere near you.  Happy hiking!