Written by Kyle
It feels like if you’re going to live in the mountains, you need to take advantage of all the opportunities you can… especially in the winter, which is pretty long here. Out of the blue Bee asked, “Do you want to go snowshoeing?” Being that she’s not usually that down for cold-weather activities I immediately said yes. We decided to go on a Sunday, sunny and a high of 30° with some fresh powder on the ground seemed like perfect conditions. We headed to San Juan Sports in town to pick up some free loaner equipment. This is such a great little outfitter and I highly recommend checking it out whether you need gear, clothing, or a beer at the Sunnyside Bar next-door.
We took our newly acquired gear and headed up to Ivy and Lime Creek Trail at about 9400 feet elevation in the Rio Grande National Forest. We decided to head down the road first which had a trail broken already from some snowmobiles, we figured we’d get our feet wet so to speak and see how these guys worked. It’s actually super simple and intuitive to use snowshoes, you just have to adjust your stance a little wider and be careful when turning around so you don’t trip yourself (or whoever is behind you) up. I decided to take a stroll off the road to see how it would do on very deep powder. It ends up snowshoes only do so much, if it’s 4 feet deep powder…you will sink four feet!
After some laughs, we made our way down to a good spot to look down the valley, absolutely stunning in winter. We made our way back to the trailhead and up a snowshoe path. It’s definitely a bit more challenging going uphill and through the woods, especially when you reach areas where the trail has not been broken yet.
It’s still amazing to get back into the woods and some of these areas which we haven’t seen since snow started in October. We decided to call it a day and head back down to the truck. It was a great time and something we’d like to try to do further. If you’re looking to break that cabin fever go borrow a pair of snowshoes, and give it a shot!
Ramble Around 