I managed to make it out for my first Snow Shoeing trek of the winter! Yaaaay and there was much rejoicing. The friend that I had been pestering to come out with me, decided to go even though he didn't have any snow shoes. Instead he just wore some really comfy moccasins and tried to stay on the harder packed snow of the path.
We ended up going out to Chester Lake in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. It took us almost 2 hours to get out there and the hike itself ended up taking ~3 hours (round trip). It was beautiful out there though, despite the grey cloudy skies. The weather was pretty warm too and I think me and my buddy ended up dressing a little too warmly for our adventure. I think I'll have to do some research on appropriate clothing before venturing out again. I will also have to track down some gaiters or snow pants too.
It took us a little longer than I thought to get up to the Lake itself and after 2 hours we had finally made it there. I think if we do this a little more frequently it wouldn't be so bad on the next attempt. Strangely enough, going down was much quicker and we made the return trip in just 45 mins! :o)
I hope my friend is able to get himself some snowshoes before next weekend though, as I'd like to go out again. It wasn't a huge set back for him this time around, but there were several occasions where his foot punched right through the path and he ended up burying his leg in snow. lol. I'm sure he was soaked by the time we wrapped up the hike. Snowshoes would definitely have kept him on the top side of the snow. ;o)
I'm not sure that we'd do the same trail again, but there is plenty of snow out there so I'm sure we'd be able to find something that would make for a great excursion!
