So girls! I finally got to go snowshoeing on Sunday.
My DH and 2 DD’s packed up the car and headed up to a really cool area near Mt. Hood. It is in a canyon and a great place to XC ski, sled, snowshoe or just build a snowman. And, only an hour from our house!
So, the weather was perfectly clear – not even a breeze and the sun was blazing. We all slathered on 45 SPF and sunglasses. My little girls just got snowshoes at the end of last year, so it was really their first time on shoes for any length of time. A little getting used to, but they caught on pretty well. They are mostly focused on eating snow and playing in it, but we finally got them moving.
We got them out of the parking lot (the toughest part) and into the woods. We finally got up on a ridge over the snow hills and the kids were starting to lose interest, so my DH (who got to go skiing for a whole day last weekend on his own, do don’t feel too sorry for him) agreed to take the kids and let me take off into the woods for a couple of hours. I don’t like to go by myself, but this is in a canyon and you can basically follow a river and some power lines and even in a total whiteout be able to navigate out. I had an hour to go out and another hour to get back, so I took off like a machine through the woods. It was just beautiful and I was off trail for most of the time, so I didn’t see anyone. If you have not snowshoed before, breaking trials is really hard – the snow was about 3 feet deep, so I would sink a little and have to use my quads to move forward – so I was just soaked with sweat. When I would get too overheated I would hop back on the trail for a while. It was going slightly up the whole time, so it was easy to stay sweaty. There were tons of trails snaking through the woods because all the snowshoers were loving the scene.
I got to the edge of a huge hill that I had been down a few other times before and it was just hideous to get up and down. I only had a 15 more minutes to my hour out. I stood for a while and thought, “What is the use of all this working out if I’m going to walk away from stuff like this!” and hopped down it. After that there was a tiny river crossing with a little hop, and then a huge wall of snow. I saw some people snowshoeing on top of the wall, but they had come from another side and it was pretty gentle. With only a few minutes left, I powered straight up the wall. It was about 3x as tall as me and pretty much vertical. At the top was a lovely ridge and I continued up for a spectacular view of a snow circe and of course, the majestic Mt. Hood was visisble at all times! It was really wonderful. I was covered with sweat, my quads were burning, but I was in heaven.
The way back was equally great. It was mostly downhill and I started getting a little cold and less sweaty, so I could just hop off trail and into the deeper stuff with is really requires quad power on the way down! What a workout!
I met up with my family back on the trail. They had spent the whole 2 hours building a snowman and drinking hot chocolate. We followed it up with a couple of sled runs and some mint Oreos. The kids were cashed on the way home and when 8 PM came, Mom was not far behind!
I felt great all day – I have shoed there many times but not when I am in this kind of shape. I have been doing Cathe like a machine the last 2 months and I have never felt better.
Go for it girls! Let’s hear some adventure stories!
There are a few pics in my picturetrail of it, but they aren't very good. It was so sunny that it was hard not to overexpose.
Melissa
Keep your head in line. Your butt will follow.
http://www.picturetrail.com/pellmel
My DH and 2 DD’s packed up the car and headed up to a really cool area near Mt. Hood. It is in a canyon and a great place to XC ski, sled, snowshoe or just build a snowman. And, only an hour from our house!
So, the weather was perfectly clear – not even a breeze and the sun was blazing. We all slathered on 45 SPF and sunglasses. My little girls just got snowshoes at the end of last year, so it was really their first time on shoes for any length of time. A little getting used to, but they caught on pretty well. They are mostly focused on eating snow and playing in it, but we finally got them moving.
We got them out of the parking lot (the toughest part) and into the woods. We finally got up on a ridge over the snow hills and the kids were starting to lose interest, so my DH (who got to go skiing for a whole day last weekend on his own, do don’t feel too sorry for him) agreed to take the kids and let me take off into the woods for a couple of hours. I don’t like to go by myself, but this is in a canyon and you can basically follow a river and some power lines and even in a total whiteout be able to navigate out. I had an hour to go out and another hour to get back, so I took off like a machine through the woods. It was just beautiful and I was off trail for most of the time, so I didn’t see anyone. If you have not snowshoed before, breaking trials is really hard – the snow was about 3 feet deep, so I would sink a little and have to use my quads to move forward – so I was just soaked with sweat. When I would get too overheated I would hop back on the trail for a while. It was going slightly up the whole time, so it was easy to stay sweaty. There were tons of trails snaking through the woods because all the snowshoers were loving the scene.
I got to the edge of a huge hill that I had been down a few other times before and it was just hideous to get up and down. I only had a 15 more minutes to my hour out. I stood for a while and thought, “What is the use of all this working out if I’m going to walk away from stuff like this!” and hopped down it. After that there was a tiny river crossing with a little hop, and then a huge wall of snow. I saw some people snowshoeing on top of the wall, but they had come from another side and it was pretty gentle. With only a few minutes left, I powered straight up the wall. It was about 3x as tall as me and pretty much vertical. At the top was a lovely ridge and I continued up for a spectacular view of a snow circe and of course, the majestic Mt. Hood was visisble at all times! It was really wonderful. I was covered with sweat, my quads were burning, but I was in heaven.
The way back was equally great. It was mostly downhill and I started getting a little cold and less sweaty, so I could just hop off trail and into the deeper stuff with is really requires quad power on the way down! What a workout!
I met up with my family back on the trail. They had spent the whole 2 hours building a snowman and drinking hot chocolate. We followed it up with a couple of sled runs and some mint Oreos. The kids were cashed on the way home and when 8 PM came, Mom was not far behind!
I felt great all day – I have shoed there many times but not when I am in this kind of shape. I have been doing Cathe like a machine the last 2 months and I have never felt better.
Go for it girls! Let’s hear some adventure stories!
There are a few pics in my picturetrail of it, but they aren't very good. It was so sunny that it was hard not to overexpose.
Melissa
Keep your head in line. Your butt will follow.
http://www.picturetrail.com/pellmel
