First Adventure of 2021: Snowshoeing

For my first adventure of 2021, I decided to ease into this lifestyle of new experiences by going snowshoeing for the first time ever in my life!

I had only heard about this winter hiking activity within the past couple of years, but for some reason, had assumed it was something complicated and therefore, had written it off.

But, now was my chance to jump on the bandwagon.

Being the impulsive person that I am, I spontaneously came up with the idea on Saturday afternoon with the intention to head out to the mountains the very next morning. Determined to see this through, I figured my first step should be to secure myself some equipment. However, since I had never done this before, I quickly hopped on the interwebs to see what gear one needs to go snowshoeing.

As usual, Google never failed me. It just confirmed that I was super late to the (apparently) wonderful world of snowshoeing.

After devouring several articles of experienced snowshoers, I learned that I only needed to procure myself a pair of snowshoes and some hiking poles to be on my merry way. Well, that seemed simple enough!

My first thought was to head over to Amazon (as I often do), but with my super tight deadline of needing them by the morning, I quickly realized I had to find an alternative.  Wracking my brain for solutions, I remembered reading that REI had rentals and figured that was my best shot for getting the snowshoes.

With only 23 minutes left until my local REI closed, I navigated to the rentals page only to find that all the snowshoes had been reserved for the night. Feeling a wave of disappointment that I was going to have to nix my snowshoeing adventure, I crossed my fingers and checked to see if they had any available to rent the next day and, lo and behold, they did! I don’t think I’ve ever registered for something so quickly in my life.

With my plan back in action, I resolved to be at REI bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as soon as they opened in the morning.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one with that idea.

After waiting in line (a socially-distanced one, of course) for forty-five minutes and receiving a quick and dirty rundown of how to strap on my newly-rented snowshoes, I was off to the mountain.  

Despite driving through heavy rainfall that then turned into heavy snowfall, traffic galore at the exit, and off-roading through a barely plowed parking lot heaped with snow and ice, I finally arrived at the Nordic Center of the nearest ski resort.

Excited to begin my new wintry adventure, I spent the next seven minutes attempting to strap on said snowshoes by the car before the aha moment came and they stayed on my snow boots. Clearly, I had not been paying attention to the tutorial when I picked them up. Luckily, snowshoes are a relatively simple piece of equipment to figure out. I grabbed the hiking poles and started my trek across the semi-hazardous parking lot. After about 30 seconds of walking with them on, I felt pretty confident in my nascent snowshoeing skills.

It wasn’t until I finally reached the Nordic Center lodge that I realized I had no idea where I was going. I shuffled past the ski lift, marched to the conveniently set up information window, and asked the attendant where the snowshoeing trails were located. He pointed vaguely in the distance towards an intimidatingly steep incline and mumbled something about having “quite the trek ahead of me to reach the trails” while handing me a map.

Finally giving up pretending that I had actually understood the map, I turned around and looked at the general area he had indicated. Well, I had made it this far, I decided. No way I was going to give up now!

About ten minutes into battling my way up the suddenly waist-deep snow with questionable looks from the onlooking skiers gazing down at me from the ski lifts while witnessing my (very obvious) struggle did it eventually dawn on me that just maybe, this wasn’t the path to take.

Once I released myself from a precarious position after having sunk one leg into a snow-hidden creek crossing, a freshly groomed Nordic skiing trail suddenly appeared out of nowhere to my left.

Exhausted and sweating, I immediately made my snow-coated way over there. I definitely wanted an adventure, but backcountry snowshoeing was NOT what I had signed up for. Being careful to stay to the shoulder of the groomed tracks, I put a little bounce into my step as I started to really enjoy the much more manageable and picturesque alpine scenery. Now, this was what I had in mind when the notion to take off snowshoeing had first popped into my head the previous afternoon.

Having used up quite a bit of energy while struggling up the steep incline during the first part of my hike, I was only able to snowshoe for another 45 minutes or so before I reached my limit. Snapping a couple of pictures of the gorgeous winter wonderland surrounding me and appreciating the silence of the snow falling, I turned around and started heading back towards the parking lot.

I usually stick to Spring through early Fall hikes and it was a completely different feeling to be out in nature during the winter. Taking the plunge and trying a new outdoor activity that allows me to enjoy the mountains in the winter was such an invigorating experience. I would love to go snowshoeing again and 10/10 recommend it for anyone looking for a relatively easy (and inexpensive) way to get outside during the winter. All in all, it was a very enjoyable experience for my first adventure of the year and I’m very proud of myself for seeing it through to the end.

Takeaways

1. My first adventure of the year/first attempt at snowshoeing was pretty successful!
2. I would definitely do it again and suggest it to others as well.
3. I would probably research a different area with a more accessible trail dedicated to snowshoeing.
4. Investing in my own snowshoes would be more convenient than renting them each time in the future.
5. Time to brush up on my non-existent map navigation skills in general if I’m going to become more outdoorsy.