Remember the navigation tips for snowshoeing? "Walk the safest, shortest, most direct, easiest line between you and the destination." Pretty simple, huh? Clearly, anybody can go snowshoeing. But where should you go?
You could just follow existing tracks, but why? You're constrained to established trails when there's no snow. This is your time to go where you want to. It's better to find a fun spot on your own and go there. If you were looking at this spot with a common mapping tool (e.g., Google Maps) you'd see this peak rising out of the trees with great views all around. Seems like a good choice.
There's no name and it has no trail. Nobody goes here in the summer because it'd be a brutal bushwhack. Few people make the trip in winter because there's no trail. (Sense a theme?) Of course, that means the best time to go is in the winter when the travel is (relatively) easier and there nobody there.
We started in the really cold, really dark parking lot. As usual. The first section was actually on a real trail so those miles flew by. We got into snow quickly, but snowshoes weren't necessary until we left the trail. At that point, the slope gets steep in a hurry and the snow was none too firm. That meant slow going and lots of sliding in the wet snow even with... wait for it... Tubbs Snowshoes.
Yeah, of course the Tubbs get an ambassadorial plug. This was a perfect trip for them to shine. We carried them when the trail was dry. We used the flotation when we were in the soft, rotten snow in the trees. We used the heel lifts on the steep slopes, but flipped them down when the grade moderated. Above the trees, the snow was hard, but the traction kept us from sliding around. So yeah. Go buy Tubbs! (Amazon affiliate link.) Ok, enough of the ad. (Somebody has to pay the bills around here.)
When we broke out of the trees we had found our great views. Mount Rainier, the always tempting Granite Mountain, Silver Peak across the valley, everybody came out to play. Even a few lone trees braved the huge avalanche slopes. Needless to say, we weren't going down that way. Instead, we marveled at the views, snacked, and followed our own tracks back off the summit and into the trees.
We did run into three others on their way up. They were following our tracks (suckers!) and I couldn't blame them. It was definitely easier following in someone else's footsteps, but that kind of defeats the purpose of going where nobody else goes. And isn't that one of the reasons snowshoeing is so great? Go find your own piece of winter wilderness and love the solitude.
