This past week I went for the first real snowshoe hike in about 20 years in the mountains. We had received our first big snow of the season here along the Wasatch Front. 
With one of the local ski resorts getting 46" of snow in a day of storm. Having been away from the snow and cold and the mountains for so long, naturally I was just itching to get out there and get into all of it.
Saturday was my chance to snow hike, so after doing a few things in the morning, I went up Big Cottonwood Canyon to Mill D North to begin my hike. A friend of mine Tammy went with me. She had a pair of her own snowshoes, having started the hobby last season and was also anxious to get out herself. We began at the trail head and went up a little while before putting on the snowshoes. It did not take long to get into the stride and feel of the snowshoes.
We had planned to go on up to Desolation Lake which was at about 9300 feet elevation and about a 2000 foot ascent from our starting point. The hike was smooth and pleasant for the most part, I'm still getting acclimated to the altitude, after all those years living just above sea level, so I had to rest a bit here and there. We had a number of nice scenic views.
Upon arrival at the Lake, which had now frozen over and was also snowcovered, we toured around the little valley, took some photos and horsed around a bit. I did a little running and jumped off a couple of snow covered bolders into the powder snow. It was getting late into the afternoon, and the sun was already shading the lake so we hiked up above the lake into the sun and packed an area so we could sit down and cook some lunch. Tammy got out her MSR stove and we melted a snow/water mixture and cooked up some backpack lasagne, very delicious, and warming.
As we finished eating the sun was already going down on us and a cold fog was flowing toward the lake. The trek down the mountains to the truck was nice, with several nice sunset vistas. We kept the snowshoes on all the way to the bottom, as the snow that was soft near the bottom on the way up had frozen and was slippery, the cleats on the snowshoes added good stability. All in all a very fun hike. See more photos on picassaweb.google.com/pdpeacock.
With one of the local ski resorts getting 46" of snow in a day of storm. Having been away from the snow and cold and the mountains for so long, naturally I was just itching to get out there and get into all of it.Saturday was my chance to snow hike, so after doing a few things in the morning, I went up Big Cottonwood Canyon to Mill D North to begin my hike. A friend of mine Tammy went with me. She had a pair of her own snowshoes, having started the hobby last season and was also anxious to get out herself. We began at the trail head and went up a little while before putting on the snowshoes. It did not take long to get into the stride and feel of the snowshoes.
We had planned to go on up to Desolation Lake which was at about 9300 feet elevation and about a 2000 foot ascent from our starting point. The hike was smooth and pleasant for the most part, I'm still getting acclimated to the altitude, after all those years living just above sea level, so I had to rest a bit here and there. We had a number of nice scenic views.
Upon arrival at the Lake, which had now frozen over and was also snowcovered, we toured around the little valley, took some photos and horsed around a bit. I did a little running and jumped off a couple of snow covered bolders into the powder snow. It was getting late into the afternoon, and the sun was already shading the lake so we hiked up above the lake into the sun and packed an area so we could sit down and cook some lunch. Tammy got out her MSR stove and we melted a snow/water mixture and cooked up some backpack lasagne, very delicious, and warming.
As we finished eating the sun was already going down on us and a cold fog was flowing toward the lake. The trek down the mountains to the truck was nice, with several nice sunset vistas. We kept the snowshoes on all the way to the bottom, as the snow that was soft near the bottom on the way up had frozen and was slippery, the cleats on the snowshoes added good stability. All in all a very fun hike. See more photos on picassaweb.google.com/pdpeacock.
1 comment:
perry,
i just finished reading all the posts and man, its great!!! the pictures look awesome!!i hope i will get the other snowshoes soon, as for the new material this could be a winner! i am exited to see if it will hold up. i will talk to you soon
sherm
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