Lose Holiday Pounds On New Snowshoe Diet

Seattlest suddenly became a snowshoer yesterday. After pestering a snowshoe-aware friend of ours for about a year, the stars aligned, and we got the call that there was a small expedition heading out that night for Snoqualmie Pass. Arrangements were made (we put on our snow boots and a scarf), and at about 6:30pm we were on our way to do some night snowshoeing. It rained most of the way, but sure enough, as we approached the summit, white flakes were floating down and unaware drivers began gliding off the freeway in lazy pirouettes.

We went to Gold Creek (a summer version of the hike is described here). Our guide Steve loaned us some snowshoes, gave us a quick instructional live presentation on how to fasten them onto our feet, and advised us not to get careless and trip over our now-larger-than-usual feet. Not having snowshoed before, we were a little trepidatious (not a real word) about starting out with a night hike, but it was an easy trail. Like cake! It circled a semi-frozen lake; the three miles took us almost exactly 90 minutes (and with us was a very pregnant young woman who's due the next day or two, so what excuse do you have).

We all had something like miner's headlamps strapped to our heads, but the light pollution from the nearby ski slopes was bouncing off the low cloudcover, and bathing everything in a soft light. Most of the time extra illumination wasn't needed, unless you were going off-trail to inspect a tree, bush, or rock. Fresh small animal tracks were visible in the snow, rabbit and possibly fox. After our inaugural run, we at Seattlest cannot recommend night snowshoeing highly enough. It helps you break out of a rainy gray workday routine, the trail is yours alone, and we'd noticed we lost two pounds this morning.

Our expedition was organized by a friendly group called Weeknight Wanderers, an informal collection of people trying to avoid cabin fever at all times of the year. The website asks you to "join" to get notices on events, but there's no fee involved -- it's mostly to help manage their email list. [Apparently they're a Christian group, although there was no testifying or baptizing on our expedition. If Christians terrify you, don't push it. There are other groups out there for you to join.]