Snowshoeing and Josephine Again

I picked up a pair of snowshoes at a bargain price from REI the other day. $65 seemed like an amazing bargain, since snowshoe rentals around here run around $10 a day! For six days rental, I got my own pair. They aren't really high-end, off-trail snowshoes, but when I headed out Tuesday to give 'em a shot, I was pleasantly surprised to find that they work great.

I headed up Baldy, past the falls, to the start of the trail up to the Sierra Club Ski Hut. The showshoes (Tubbs Trail Adventure 30's) seemed to work just fine, even up the steep trail. I'm looking forward to trying them out some more. The snow was just great -- deep and fluffy. We really got hit with a bunch of precipitation this week!

While up on Baldy, I learned some lessons. The road was clear, and there was no need for chains, but when I tried to park in the ski area, I managed to get stuck. Some guy helped push me out (and then I helped him push his truck out) -- as soon as I got back, I went down to Wal-mart and scored myself some $32 chains. Hopefully that'll ensure that I don't get stuck again.

Anyway, Wednesday I headed out with the usual crowd in the hopes of doing some more snowshoing. There wasn't that much enthusiasm for it, though, so we wound up doing the already scheduled hike up Josephine. To our surprise, there was even less snow up there than last time. Oh, well, it was still fun.