Frances Slocum Snowshoe Hike
Friday, December 26th, 2008On Sunday, Sarah and I went for our first snowshoe hike together, at Frances Slocum State Park. The park roads were snow-covered, so we did not venture down the big hill to the lake. Instead, we decided to hike a portion of the Deer Trail. Sarah wasn’t feeling too well, so we only did a short hike.
Some other hikers had already gone through, some with snowshoes, some without, so we were not blazing our own trail. We saw a group of hikers without snowshoes and they were doing OK, but the snowshoes definitely worked to our advantage, especially in a few tricky sections. Unfortunately, the trail was not well marked and we got off track. We eventually found our way, although there was one section of trail we never did find. As we were wandering around, a couple of deer bounded across the trail ahead of us.
We made our way down to a beautiful creek. The rocks were covered with snow, but water was flowing through the creek, leaving bits of snow sticking up here and there.
The wind blows snow down from the trees
The creek crossing was tricky, and Sarah was not amused. However, she did a great job and I think secretly had fun doing it.
The trail more or less followed the creek for a few minutes. We reached a footbridge and decided to turn around.
We lost the trail for a few minutes, and blazed our own. It’s a lot easier to have off-trail excursions like this when there’s a bunch of snow on the ground. You can walk right over a lot of debris, shrubs, etc.
Sarah, smiling during the creek crossing
Sarah, a near sunset behind her
It was a great way to spend a couple of hours in the snow together. Sarah did a great job her first timeĀ snowshoeing, and I enjoyed my second such outing.
December 26th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
I went snowboarding, today (kind of a Christmas tradition/habit if I don’t go home to visit family). It was really nice to be out in the snow and not have to pedal a bike through it!
Looks like you guys had fun, too.
December 27th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
“Me”. Nice MUSA pants. Sometimes I forget and end up out on the town in those; they’re amazingly comfy. and to repeat Jon above, looks like fun was had by all.
December 28th, 2008 at 12:46 am
Thanks, Tim. Love the MUSA pants. They’re great for cycling, of course, but they are lightweight and dry very quickly, so they are also great for hiking.