The Yearly Snowshoe Trip

We go snowshoeing but once a year...

when the snow is thick, but not yet thick enough for enjoyable skiing (this is my opinion - Ryan accompanies out of love for me, not the snowshoes).

Saturday up Camas Creek in the Bitterroots was one of those days: patches of snow deep enough to wade through, and patches melted out and muddy.  Hoar frost in many places, and some cracking crust that I hope did some consolidating in the warm spell this week.

My MSR snowshoes are burly plastic and steel, and I don't worry about scraping them up on rocks the way I do with skis.

I love the quiet and slower pace of the snowshoes, nimble navigation through any and all conditions and mostly I love being out in the mountains at a time of year when no one else is around.

There's a big storm blowing in the mountains right this moment, expected to drop 18 inches or more in some of our favorite backcountry ski locations.  I imagine next week we'll abandon the snowshoes for the skis.