Snowshoeing

[Crankin]

Did my third snow shoe of the season. It was 40 degrees out and very nice. We went to the Stow Town forest, where I've done a bit of mountain biking, walking, and cross country skiing. We weren't sure if we should just hike, but we brought the snow shoes and decided to use them. The further we got into the woods, the snow became more powdery. There were more people than I've ever seen before using snow shoes. A few were skiing, but it's really not the greatest place to ski; they plow a path, but it's not groomed. Anyway, we found trails I've never been on, one being a hill with about 500 ft. of climbing. My endurance is definitely not great since the fibromylagia started, but I managed to slog up. I haven't really stopped exercising, despite everything going on with my health, but I have not been doing as much really hard stuff.
Still, it was great. We only ended up doing 2.2 miles in 50 minutes, but it was a pretty tough work out.
It's supposed to be 60 on Tuesday! I will be riding my Voodoo commuter bike, since the roads are just a mess of sand, salt, and melting snow.

[Jolt]

Did my third snow shoe of the season. It was 40 degrees out and very nice. We went to the Stow Town forest, where I've done a bit of mountain biking, walking, and cross country skiing. We weren't sure if we should just hike, but we brought the snow shoes and decided to use them. The further we got into the woods, the snow became more powdery. There were more people than I've ever seen before using snow shoes. A few were skiing, but it's really not the greatest place to ski; they plow a path, but it's not groomed. Anyway, we found trails I've never been on, one being a hill with about 500 ft. of climbing. My endurance is definitely not great since the fibromylagia started, but I managed to slog up. I haven't really stopped exercising, despite everything going on with my health, but I have not been doing as much really hard stuff.
Still, it was great. We only ended up doing 2.2 miles in 50 minutes, but it was a pretty tough work out.
It's supposed to be 60 on Tuesday! I will be riding my Voodoo commuter bike, since the roads are just a mess of sand, salt, and melting snow.

I guess it was just a snowshoeing kind of day around here--I snowshoed today too (first time ever)! There's a wildlife sanctuary/park here in Worcester that has quite a few trails, and occasionally I go there to run. Today I decided to go there, and figured I'd bring my snowshoes and do that if there was still enough snow on the trails. It was fairly packed down but I decided to snowshoe anyway, just to start getting a feel for it. It was fun and I'm looking forward to the next big storm so I can hopefully get out in fresher snow. It was easier than I thought it might be, with the exception of going downhill in a controlled fashion (I ended up doing what felt like a duck-walk that was about to turn into a run--not exactly graceful, but it worked)! As for the supposed 60-degree weather coming on Tuesday, that is officially just ridiculous for this time of year!! Sorry to hear about your health problems and hope you feel better.

[Crankin]

It is actually easier for me to run downhill on snow shoes than to run down just in hiking boots. I just push that foot forward and get the crampon to dig into the snow. You never fall that way.
The duck walk feeling is normal. You eventually get used to walking with your feet a little further apart than normal. Just remember to do some extra stretching of the hips and It band afterwards!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Jolt- congratulations on your first shoe-in!!! Snowshoeing is easier than I thought it would be too, in terms of figuring out what to do. But it's also harder than my biking and fitness walking in terms of giving me a good cardio workout. If there's fresh deep powder and hilly trails and you're the first person to break the snow, then snowshoeing is hard work! If you're walking over someone's previous trail, no matter how small their prints are, it's immediately way easier.

Robyn,
I have read that when going downhill on snowshoes one should put weight down onto the heel of your foot so that your heel crampons can dig in and so that your foot will plant down level instead of tilted toe downwards. Feels odd at first to put your trust in that heel to stop you from sliding, but I'm finding that it works well for me so far in deep snow going downhill facing forward.
Have you found this heel down technique to be good in your own descents?

No new snow around here for the next few days...we're having a major warm spell. I'll have to be patient.

I find that I don't need to do much in the way of keeping my feet apart while shoeing- only have to do it a tiny bit when walking straight- but I wonder if perhaps that's because of my women-specific tapered Tubbs shoes. They are supposed to be tapered to suit a woman's gait more and supposedly prevent one from stepping on one's own shoes and tripping. Can't figure out if it's just my naturally wide hips, or my women's specific snowshoes that are helping me with that.

One funny thing is that if i am standing still gazing at the beautiful scenery (code phrase for "desperately trying to catch my breath"), and then decide to turn around and walk in a different direction, I have to consciously remind myself that I am on snowshoes. If I don't remind myself every time before I turn and move, I tend to just step right on my other shoe while turning and almost fall flat on my face. Too funny.

[Crankin]

Lisa,
I have women-specific snow shoes, too (Atlas). I don't do much of the duck walk, either, but it does take getting used to at first. Mine don't have heel crampons, so that's why I use the technique I described. I guess they weren't meant for the super rugged terrain, but I've never had an issue. I ran down a pretty steep mountain in the White Mountains last winter, and as you know, I'm a downhill weenie!
It's really nice out today, but I rode the trainer and did some core work at home. The streets are a mess of melting stuff. Hope to be on the Voodoo tomorrow afternoon.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Lisa,
I have women-specific snow shoes, too (Atlas). I don't do much of the duck walk, either, but it does take getting used to at first. Mine don't have heel crampons, so that's why I use the technique I described. I guess they weren't meant for the super rugged terrain, but I've never had an issue. I ran down a pretty steep mountain in the White Mountains last winter, and as you know, I'm a downhill weenie!

Oh, that's different if you don't have heel crampons then!- makes sense for your shoes. I'm impressed that you ran down a steep hill with no heel crampons! You sure you weren't "snowboarding"?


Here's a fairly good snowshoe resource website I came across:
http://www.esnowshoes.com/index.php
their "snowshoeing 101" articles links look like some interesting reading:
http://www.esnowshoes.com/snowshoeing_101_main.php

[Alex]

DH and I went snowshoeing up the Mill Creek Canyon Road today. The canyon is a bit south and east of Salt Lake City and the road is closed about 5 miles up. There are always a lot of cross-country skiers and snowshoers on the road. As we were on our way up the road, a huge, HUGE, bull moose appeared around a bend in the road. At that point, he was far enough away that my first thought was, "Oh, I wish I brought my camera." Then, as he continued walking down the road in our direction, my thoughts turned to, "Oh, I wish we brought our bear spray."

DH suggested we get off the road, but the snow was so deep that he sunk in almost to his knees, even with snowshoes on. We then retreated down the canyon road. However, as we started down the road, the moose picked up speed and started chasing us. DH said, "Get behind a tree!" (DH has done mountain ultramarathons, so he had read a book a while ago about what to do when you see a moose, a cougar (which he encountered in this same canyon a couple of summers ago), etc.) Unfortunately, we had to cross the road to get to the trees as all we had on our side of the road were saplings and such. We booked across the road, but I couldn't quite make it to the trees, so I held my breath and stood still as the moose ran by me, oh say 15 feet away. He continued right past me, and ran right by the tree that DH was hiding behind. We saw the moose stop further down the road and, if there was a thought bubble above his head, it would have said, "HUH?" We stayed out of his line of sight and then he went into the woods. I wish I had my heart rate monitor on just to see how hard my heart was beating!

I honestly can't say that I'll go snowshoeing up Mill Creek Canyon again!

Right before we saw the moose, I was saying that we should have brought our dog with us, as he would have enjoyed the exercise. I'm so glad he wasn't with us. I just did some Internet research and, apparently, moose will charge and chase dogs, especially if the dog is barking. I am 100% certain that my dog would have barked at the moose. Yikes!

We told the people coming down the canyon road what we had seen, so that they could be prepared. It was truly the most frightening thing I have experienced in a very long time!

Alex

[Jolt]

Jolt- congratulations on your first shoe-in!!! Snowshoeing is easier than I thought it would be too, in terms of figuring out what to do. But it's also harder than my biking and fitness walking in terms of giving me a good cardio workout. If there's fresh deep powder and hilly trails and you're the first person to break the snow, then snowshoeing is hard work! If you're walking over someone's previous trail, no matter how small their prints are, it's immediately way easier.

That probably explains why it didn't feel like that hard of a workout--I was walking over EVERYONE'S previous trail for most of the way. It had been quite a while since the snow had fallen, so that had given the place plenty of time to get lots of traffic. It would be great if the next big snowfall is on a day when I can get up the next morning and go before a bunch of people have broken trail--then I'll get a feel for how much of a workout it normally is!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Alex- that's an amazing and scary story!!! I get scared even when I look at a stuffed moose in a museum.....they're so BIG!!!

[Crankin]

I think I would have peed in my pants and fainted if I was being chased by a moose! A couple of years ago we were hiking in our neighborhood conservation trails when I heard a weird animal noise. There have been black bear sightings in Concord, mostly in the early morning, so I think this must have been on my mind, even though it was almost dusk. I ran like h*** back to the car.
Lisa, you can be assured I was not snowboarding! I used my poles to run down that mountain and it helped. It also might have been that the ascent was really steep in a very short time and I was struggling. I was happy to get down.
It's 8 AM and already 40 out!!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Lisa, you can be assured I was not snowboarding! I used my poles to run down that mountain and it helped. It also might have been that the ascent was really steep in a very short time and I was struggling.

Impressive!

It's 8 AM and already 40 out!!

Yes, it's 11am and 40 degrees here too! If it weren't supposed to rain I would be on my bike! Definitely tomorrow though....

EDIT: This afternoon the sun came out and i DID in fact go for a 13 mile bike ride- it was so warm and lovely! My first bike ride of the year.

[roadie gal]

Moose are scary critters! I'm glad you're OK.

We got about 3 new feet of snow at this altitude (LOTS more higher up). In order to walk the dogs this morning I had to put on my BIG snowshoes - the ones I used to wear when I weighed 20 pounds more and carried a heavy pack - in order to just walk the dogs in the morning. Of course, those smart dogs made ME break trail. Even with the big shoes I was sinking to my knees. We were only out for an hour. I'm exhausted now!

[Alex]

Now that I've completed all my internet research about moose attacks (shouldn't have done THAT right before bed ), I thought I should report on the rest of Sunday's snowshoe adventure. I LOVE my new Redfeather Strider snowshoes. They are perfect and light and a very pretty blue. Previously, I rented the Denali Ascents and I really needed to widen my stance with those. With the Striders, I can walk almost normally.

At certain points, it was snowing and blowing so hard that our tracks disappeared almost as soon as we made them. Amazing!

Alex

[Alex]

Robyn,

If I thought there was a bear, I'd have set a new land speed record!


Lisa,

Glad you had a great ride!


Roadie Gal,

If we didn't shovel pathways in the backyard for our dogs, they would need snowshoes, too!


Alex

[Jolt]

We got another decent snowstorm last night/this morning (probably about 8 or 10 inches here; I didn't measure so that's a guesstimate) so I decided to snowshoe this afternoon at the same place I did last time. I was surprised and rather disappointed to find already a well-broken trail (boy does this place get a lot of traffic!), but once I reached the brook crossing I noticed that the trail beyond it had not been broken. This is probably because said brook crossing was a little tricky given the recent thaw and resulting lack of thick ice--it was a matter of carefully stepping/jumping from rock to rock. Once I got across, the shoeing became more of a workout which is what I was looking for. I also felt like less of a klutz this time!