A month or two ago, Ben pitched a snow fit. He plopped down into a chair in the living room and demanded we drive our Corolla up the mountain, to the snow, and just sit in it for a bit. I said no. Largely due to the Corolla's lack of: chains/studded tires/ability to handle a hill. And it seemed rather cold and I have absolutely zero shoes to wear in the snow. He was not pleased.
A few weeks later, however, Rachel invited me to go snowshoeing with her on Mt. Hood and had the generous support of her boyfriend's 4-wheel drive truck. We planned the trip and on the day-of, learned it was raining, then icing, then raining again on Hood and we cancelled our trip in favor of the nightmare that was the trek to Abiqua Falls (where it was also raining). I also snagged some Sorel snow boots that have worked wonders out in the wet and snow on recent hikes. I linked them above as they're wonderful shoes and are down to $69.50 right now (three colors).
Fast forward a week and the conditions were right to head to Mt. Hood to snowshoe. We rented snowshoes in Welches and then visited Frog Lake. It was surprisingly crowded all over the mountain, but Frog Lake, once we got off of the main track full of sledders, kids, and X-Country skiers, we found the path to the actual lake to be really quiet and peaceful. It was my first time snowshoeing and probably my new favorite thing.
Snowshoeing, if you haven't done it, is awesome because it's hiking (easy) that allows you to traverse puffy banks of snow without sinking through. We did some tests in bare shoes versus snowshoes and found we just fell right into the high drifts and ten or so feet of snow covering the ground. Ben was prancing through the snow like a gazelle, taking advantage of the snowshoe letting him go off-roading through the forest instead of on the main, paved track.
By the time we saw Frog Lake, trekked back, and then explored down another path, we'd gone 5 miles and were exhausted. My calves were aching the next day from lifting a heavier than usual show, but it was well worth it! I'm hoping we get to go again this year to another hike on Hood to further expand our snowshoe repertoire.
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