New Shoes

Snowshoes that is.  This week I took up snowshoeing, two outings down and I can't wait to go again.  It's like hiking but in snow, go figure, except you feel like a duck and have to consciously avoid stepping on yourself.  Geez.

For our first venture our friends Michelle, Derek and their dog Colby showed us the ropes.  We went to Gold Creek Sno-Park down I-90 about 50 minutes SE of Seattle.  Our original intent was to take the easy hike to Gold Creek Pond but it was Saturday and the place was hella packed so we did a little off-roading, just us and the dogs, and didn't see a single soul.  

A few things I learned that trip:   

-Eat a bigger breakfast, snowshoeing is hard work.

-Drag your feet!  I almost broke an ankle disregarding this advice while stepping down a steep slope.

-Make the dog wear shoes if the top layer is crunchy from rain, poor Sagan had some raw pads by the time we finished.

The second trip was on a weekday so that left  Michelle, Colby and I.  We again went to Gold Creek Sno-Park but tried out the Kendall Peak Trail and this time almost no one was there.  Kendall Peak Trail is a 9-mile round trip hike but seeing that I am sorely out of shape we only completed a 5-mile hike with an elevation climb of 1000 ft.  I hope to do the whole thing when my snowshoeing (and cardio) skills improve.  The snow on the trail was really packed in so we did some off-the-beaten-path snowshoeing on the way down.  It's much more satisfying to crunch along untouched snow.