~ Snowshoe Fun ~
Over this past weekend, I went snowshoeing with a group of friends, to include Josh, Elizabeth, Amy, David, my Dad, and dogs Buddy and Lebowski. We shoed near Idaho City and had a fun time. It was not the most glorious day, weather-wise, but I was very pleased that we were able to get out of the rain that was happening at the lower elevations. The snow upon which we shoed was on the crusty side, but perfectly snowshoeable.
As can be imagined when one gathers a group of friends wearing silly footwear in the snow, the maturity level did not always remain at high levels. This was evinced by several snowshoe races. Wow, running whilst wearing snowshoes is extremely hilarious! In addition, later in the shoeing, Elizabeth abandoned all self-composure and ran down several hills with her arms, legs, and hips flayling everywhere. She explained to us that such form served to maintain the ideal stability when running down hills in snowshoes. To test her theory, I tried it, but did not feel particularly stable...
We shoed around for a while until a few peeps had to return to Boise, and those remaining chose to hike up into the mountains farther. The below photo is not the greatest of all time, but I like it because it shows the pre-existing snowshoe trail that we found and that it took us up some mountains and through the trees.
Once we quit the snowshoeing, we enjoyed some greasey food in Idaho City. I salivate just thinking about my onion rings... yum!
~ some sunshine therapy ~
Despite the consistently grey skies, the still cold air, and the growing depression (emotional not financial, heh), I hadn't realized we were having an inversion until I overheard some folks talking about it. Having spent the vast majority of my winters here, I must say that the inversions do not bother me as much as some. For me, they are a normal part of winter. Even still, during an inversion, the best medicine for the soul is to make one's way above the grey, cold, still air, to sunnier and warmer ground.
On Saturday, in celebration of Elizabeth's birthday, I went snowshoeing with Elizabeth, Edvin, and Josh to Whoop-Um-Up. The sun was glorious. We snowshoed Lower Lamar Loop, which took us about an hour and a half. During that time, Josh and I did our fair share of goofing off, which included an attempt at hiding from Elizabeth and Edvin and then jumping out at them.
After snowshoeing, we went to Hilltop for some burgers and beers. The beer was good, the food was totally subpar in both quantity and quality.
More photos on my photoset
On Sunday, I decided to make more use of my snowshoe rental and dragged my dad and his dog up to Grimes Creek for some snowshoeing. Again, the sunshine was wonderful.
Note, I love how Dad and the dog have the same facial expression in this photo.
The dog is really something to behold. He has a very impressive amount of energy, as evidenced by how he kept running at top speed up and down the side of the mountain next to the trail.
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3471/3208171806_56e532e99a.jpg?v=0")
We snowshoed for about three hours and were able to get up to a summit before the trail went down the other side of the mountain. On the way down, we both kept tripping over the toe-spike thingie on our snowshoes which prompted some mutual mockery.
More photos of this one on my photoset
~ outlook ~
Recently, I've been giving a lot of thought to the impact that having a more positive, more optimistic outlook has on one's overall health, wellbeing, and quality of life. This is not at all related to anything that has been going on recently, but is just more of a general life thing I've been thinking about. Life is too short to spend one's time being negative and stressing out about things that don't really matter. For example, today I had a long conversation about this with a friend who has noticed a significant decline in her partner's blood pressure when stress is reduced and they participate in more 'fun-loving' activities. They've even made a resolution to try to not let things like the economy and the impending doom get them down, which I think is very refreshing. With all that is going on, I've sensed that we ("we", as in the general we, not the you and I "we") are really good at self-fulfilling prophesies.
Yesterday, Josh and I rented some snowshoes and went up to Grimes Creek again. The snow was somewhat crusty and packed down, so the trekking was much easier than last time. Not exerting ourselves quite so much, we were able to go much much farther, all the way tracking a herd of elk which we saw off in the distance at one point. We even came upon evidence we hypothesized was left from a wolf hunt (probably a deer or somesuch creature). It was interesting to examine the different tracks in the snow (some possibly elk, deer, wolf, and coyote) and consider the behavior and patterns.
Snowshoeing is an activity that makes one's legs and core feel really strong. I'm surprised at myself that I've never before engaged in this activity, because it is right up my alley of things that I enjoy. Plus, it seems to be much more affordable than many other winter sports. And I like the idea that one doesn't need to go to an established snowshoe trail, but that one can just find some pretty snowy space and explore.
(More photos on flickr).
