Snowshoeing up Mill Creek Canyon

Using a tree for help

Colton and I were excited to go snowshoeing when his sister Bree brought it up. So, we rented shoes, packed up our cameras, and headed out, but it wasn't what we expected at all. Our first problem came with Colton and I forgetting to cut the ties off of the snowshoes his mom had bought from Costco. Luckily the kind people at REI were able to fix that problem. When we got up the canyon, there wasn't enough snow to snowshoe! I mean, there was plenty of snow for the cross country skiers to ski up and down the snow-covered road, but it was a sad day for avid snowshoers. After we hiked up a good ways carrying our snowshoes, which by the time we stopped we had all stripped down our multiple layers, we decided to go off the trail. (For those looking to snowshoe here when there actually is snow, there were quite a few people walking on the trails still. SO this is a good place to go when there IS snow :))
It was Ben's idea, mostly. I definitely wouldn't have picked a 99 percent inclined hill to hike up with snowshoes and poles that weren't the right sizes for any of us. BUT it was very fun!

Colton being stuck in the same spot for like five minutes trying
to go up the hill. It was really funny, because I just walked
around the other side of the tree and beat him up the
"trail" we were trying to make.

After a grueling fifteen minutes or so of hiking with our snowshoes up the side of the mountain, literally, we sat down to rest. After a while we took off our snowshoes and hiked to the peak, which was much, MUCH easier without our snowshoes than with. Go figure. I suppose the snowshoes we got weren't cut out for Extreme Snowshoeing, as is likely if you are going anywhere with Ben.

Ben the Pack-Horse

The snowman no one but me believed in, perched atop her precarious post.

I built a snowman on a stump, much to the amazement of Colton and Ben, who didn't think I could do it. 

Smiling at the delights of belly sliding

It was a hard day of hiking and sliding and not so much snowshoeing, and our next goal is to cross country ski up the trail!

Trail Slide

Proof that I am not the only one who smiles at the delights of belly sliding