Saturday morning we got our winter gear together, grabbed our snowshoes out of storage and headed up to Artist's Point at Mount Baker in Washington State. It was a busy road up, with lots of people heading to the nearby ski hill.
The most amazing part of the day was the weather. Lower down in the valleys, they were forecasting a high of -1, however up on the mountain we were experiencing an inversion, which meant it was 10 degrees in the shade! I think my thermometer even hit 20 degrees in a sunny, South-facing bowl!
It was a real joy to feel my hiking muscles working again and a humbling reminder of the extra challenges of hiking in snowshoes.
The return trip gave us excellent views of Mt. Shuksan and took much less time than the uphill had. I love tromping easily downhill through fresh powder on my snowshoes!
It looks like this winter is going to bring lots more snow than last and I hope to get out on my snowshoes often, even planning an overnight trip or two!
What will you do this winter to stay in trail shape?