Wild Bound

The sky had turned a dusky pink as we pulled into the parking lot on the side of the Forest Service road. The snow was about 6 inches deep and all the other vehicles in the parking lot were big trucks with snowmobile trailers behind them.

Brenton popped the trunk on our little Kia Rio, and we hurried to strap our new snowshoes on. The afternoon was slipping by fast, and we only had about 3 hours before sunset. The clouds were heavy with unfallen snow.

I slipped my arms into the straps on my backpack, buckled all the buckles and we set out to put a few miles on our snowshoes.

Right away, I noticed that the snow wasn’t really deep enough to need the snowshoes. We were just out there for practice, and to get a few newbie mistakes out of the way.

Newbie lesson#1:

About 1/4 mile into the hike we stopped to test our alcohol stove in the cold. We tried to move quickly to get the stove lit while our bodies were still warm from hiking. Priming an alcohol stove in cold weather requires extra priming fluid.

After three attempts the stove finally lit and we heated up some tomato soup.

Newbie lesson #2:

After eating the soup, and attempting to scrub out the pot as best we could, I decided to learn freezer bag cooking–at least for winter hiking and camping.

We packed up our gear and got back onto the trail. The snow was rotten. Two weeks ago, we had 18-24 inches of snowfall (overnight), then we had a week of 50%deg; weather. The first snowfall had turned into an ice crust over top of an air pocket, and the snowfall from the night before was powder on top of the ice crust.

We kept falling through, but it wasn’t as jarring as trying to post hole with out snowshoes over rotten snow.

Newbie Lesson #3:

About 1/2 a mile into the hike, my backpack woes began. The pack was heavy because we hadn’t had time to plan what we were going to carry. I am glad that we were just doing some test conditioning rather than actually trying to get anywhere. Backpacking requires pre-planning every ounce of weight. Maybe someday I’ll be so used to packing my backpack that I can just throw things in, but someday isn’t today and I doubt that it will come for quite a few years.

Newbie Lesson #4:
Enthusiasm waned at about 3/4 of a mile into the hike. My pack was too heavy and it wasn’t adjusted properly for my body. We decided to turn around and head back to the car. I need to adjust my pack so it hugs my body. The temperature started dropping and by time we got back to the car, I was ready to head back home.

Our first snowshoe hike was a pilthy 1 1/2 miles. Those newbie mistakes may not seem like much but they could have had disastrous results if we had planned a longer trip for our first snowshoeing hike. Next time I’ll try to remember my camera too.

Live and learn, and don’t jump off the high dive until you know how to swim.

Popularity: 32% [?]