Family Snowshoe Hike

We had a family snowshoe hike, with the kids from North Carolina in town; it was a perfect opportunity to all go out together. 

The day was almost perfect for a hike, at least in my opinion, it was snowing lightly, and the temperature was around 30˚ and a very light breeze. 

There was a group of 6 family members and 3 friends. We met at the Wilderness Innovation building in Springville, Utah; gathering up 

snowshoes and ski poles for each person. 

I had figured on going somewhere close to save travel time and allow us more time in the snow, fortunately living here in Utah along the Wasatch Front Range, that is a simple proposition. We drove less than 5 minutes to the head of Spring Creek Canyon, a limited access watershed area. It is beautiful and free from development. 

We headed up the canyon in the creek bottom, with everyone getting used to the feel of using snowshoes, we had 6 different models. Once up the canyon a bit it widened some and I started jumping of drifts and creek banks into the soft light powder snow. Everyone gave this a try, with some of us doing it all the rest of the hike. For me that is one of the fun things to do, rather than just hiking along a trail. 

I wanted to get up the canyon to a spot I wanted to show for doing some winter camping in the snow. When we arrived there the guys wanted to climb up some rocks and view a small cave. I stayed behind to heat up some hot chocolate, but found in the confusion of loading backpacks that I left the pot behind, so I wound up just building a fire. 

All in all we all had fun, even Jeff who had a snowshoe binding rivet break. We did all kinds of jumping and running on the way back down. A very fun day for all, we can’t wait to do it again. 

--Perry

Spring Creek Canyon Hike

In the pic: Zach, Shauna, Jeff, Sarah, Jen, Becky, Jake, and Jon.

Here we are on Valentines Day, the family and some friends, in a snowstorm, hiking up Spring Creek Canyon, near Springville, Utah. Some of the group arrived a few days earlier from Charlotte, NC. Several members had never been snowshoeing prior to this day. 

It was a really nice day for our snow hike, mid-twenties, fresh snow during the night and still snowing during our trek. This a good area to snowshoe since it is not difficult for those new to the sport, but still enough fun stuff for those more experienced or adventurous. Lots of places to jump off into the fluffy new powder snow.

I had been up in this area a number of times scouting around, getting familar with the canyon and looking for a spot that would be just right for some winter camping. I had found a place and wanted to see if Zach agreed that this was the place.

We had a good deal of fun getting up the canyon to the campsite, while there some of the guys decided to climb up some cliffs and look into what was a small cave. I worked on a little fire, just for kicks. I had forgotten the pot for heating the water for hot chocolate, bummer, again, oh well still had lots of fun.

All the snowshoes functioned quite well except for one had a grommet failure, all in all not too bad for the 7 pair of snowshoes we made at Wilderness Innovation.

The day was so fun and it was nice to have a good group to go with, no complaining, a great time.

Here's a couple links to some short video clips: Clip 1  Clip 2

Now go ahead, have a blast in the snow!!