I’ve had a pair of snowshoes since 2016. They were a birthday gift from my wife. That was the year of the January 2016 blizzard, which dumped over 2 feet of snow, and the snowshoes saw a good bit of use that winter. Since then, though, they have mainly collected dust, as we have yet to have any snowfalls even approaching that magnitude. This past weekend, though, we got a storm that dumped around 11″ of snow, followed by several hours of sleet. The result was a hard-packed snowfall with a crusty glaze of ice on the top. I remember as a kid, we got a snowfall like that one year. We had a metal realty sign sitting around (can’t recall why we had it or which realty it was for) and I repurposed it as a sled. My parents’ lawn was not what you would call steep or hilly, but it had a very slight slope to it that was enough for gravity to carry me from one end to the other while sitting on that metal sign. I did it over and over, and it was tons of fun. This type of snow is not good for walking or hiking, as the icy layer is slippery, and my feet often tend to punch through, making for a laborious slog. However, it is perfect for snowshoeing. The snowshoes distribute my weight over a larger area, reducing (though not totally eliminating) the punch-through issue. They also have spikes to provide traction on the ice.

Today, I carried the snowshoes to the trailhead about a half mile from home, where I often go to take short hikes or ride my mountain bike. I hiked a 2-mile loop, and really enjoyed it. The forest is beautiful with the snow cover and the shiny, crusty glaze of ice. There were some human footprints near the trailhead, but farther in, I only saw animal tracks (likely deer). I’d estimate that I was able to go at about 70-80% of my usual hiking speed, which wouldn’t have been possible without snowshoes. We are in the middle of a really arctic cold snap, with lows in the single digits and highs in the low 20s, and everything was frozen solid, which made it relatively easy to cross the 2 or 3 streams along the way. I lost the trail in a few places, but was able to pick it back up each time with the help of the trail map on my phone. It also helped that I’m highly familiar with these trails. I also snowshoed here back in 2016, when I didn’t know the trails as well, and it ended up being more of a random walk through the woods. I had much better luck today, and really enjoyed the time outside. It was a great way to shake off the cabin fever. If the opportunity presents, I may try to get out one or two more times while the snow is still on the ground.