I'm a huge fan of getting people outside. If people never experience the wonder of the wilderness for themselves they won't be ready to sacrifice to protect it. It's crucial for everyone to get out and reconnect with nature. I wish everyone could have the kinds of experiences I have; where it's just me and the raw wild. That's what I strive for when I take new adventurers out with us. That's what I try to show to people I take into the wilderness on their first adventures.
That's not what we were finding at the Hyak and Gold Creek Sno-Parks. Both are great places to snowshoe or just wander in winter, but neither are particularly long. This means all the people that are craving that first experience wind up concentrated and stepping on one another.
When we arrived to get in on the fun there was nowhere to park. For more than a mile from either trail head the cars were packed in. There were even cars waiting to take spaces as others vacated.
Rather than stalk returning hikers in hopes of getting a spot we crossed back under the freeway and headed up the Nordic Pass trail. It's one of those unofficial, unmarked "routes" that winds though heavy forest, across small glades, and up a moderate slope.
We (that included Clara and Henry, two of their friends, and Treen) broke trail for about a mile. Although the route is marked occasionally with blue diamonds on the trees I've never been able to follow it very far. We had the same experience, finding a grand total of one diamond before we were officially off track.
What's great about snowshoeing is you don't need a trail. In theory we were heading up toward Hyak Lake, but in reality we were just marveling at the snow. It's not often we have powder deep enough to swallow a kid so this was a real treat.
Over the course of a couple hours we managed to cover a whopping two miles. The gain was only 200 feet. To get to Hyak Lake, the first landmark on the Nordic Pass Trail, would have been another three miles round trip.
The kids didn't care. They were stoked to be in the snow and playing with friends. Treen didn't care. She was as happy as ever running back and forth as we stretched out along the trench. I had another trip up to the lake planned for a week later so not getting that far wasn't a problem for me. Therefore, I didn't care.
We would have had fun on a more crowded trail. With some judicious off-trail travel we could likely have found some quiet even there. But instead of being yet more sets of snowshoes packing down a couple of roads we got to experience nature's peace. And maybe that's why my kids and their friends want to go snowshoeing again.
