I strapped these things on my feet and I could walk in the snow.

Joseph and I went snowshoeing yesterday up in the mountains a little ways west of Vail. It was called Powderhound trail which I found in the trail book his brother Daniel got us for Christmas. (Thanks Dan & Jodi!) It was a short trail, just 2.75 miles--I wanted a relaxing time out since it was our first time using the snowshoes for real hiking.

We were getting near where we knew our trail head should be and we pulled off into a parking lot to look at a sign and the old Ford Focus got stuck. Joseph dug out behind the wheels with my windshield scraper, and we put the cars floor mats under the front wheels and after about a half an hour of rocking, spinning tires, and me pushing, because evidently I am the strong one--we got out. Having conquered the snow gods of the Rockies, we got on with our hike a little ways down the road.

The trail was pretty well packed; there had already been lots of people on it, but the snow was deep (at least 2 feet in the shallowest places) and I'm pretty sure we would have been post holing if we were just wearing boots. We went through some really dense pine forest with boughs full of snow what kept going down the back of Joseph's coat. We had some great mountain views as we were at pretty high elevation, but we didn't see any wild life except for a few birds and lots of bunny tracks. You can tell those by the cute little circle tail print in the snow behind the feet--so cute!

Walking in the snowshoes was pretty comfortable for me. Since mine are women's, they are not as wide as the men's, so I don't have to walk with my feet very far apart. The snowshoes are good not just for keeping you above most of the snow, but they also have crampons mounted on the underside, so metal claws dig into the ice and snow. This way you can walk steep slopes and make your descent with out slipping.

As an end note- please notice that I got Joseph to wear the dreaded fanny pack...and I think he liked it. Worn in the front--middle aged person at the theme park----worn in the back when hiking--highly cool and keeps your back happy since it doesn't have to carry the weight. That's all I have to say about that.