This past weekend my Environmental Studies class The Culture and Natural Histories of the Adirondack Park went on a field trip to Old Forge to go snowshoeing. My professor insisted that there is a huge difference between reading about the Adirondacks and actually being there among the mountains and coniferous forests. Of course, I did believe him. I agree that the real thing is almost always better than the written or verbal description; however, I can’t say I was super eager to get out of bed at 7:30am on a Saturday and go out into the 20-degree weather. It doesn’t help that Upstate New York’s weather is by no means accommodating. Despite my reluctance to get out into the cold, I was still really excited to go snowshoeing. Being from Washington D.C I am not very familiar with winter sports and activities that require significant snow, so it is fun every time I get the chance to try something new.
When I heard that we would be snowshoeing, my mind immediately conjured up images of those old snowshoes you seen in movies about the 18th and 19th centuries. You know, the wooden ones that almost look like fancy tennis rackets tied to your feet. For some reason this particular type of snowshoe fascinated me and I was so excited to test them out. To my dismay, when I went to meet my class and select snowshoes for the trip, I learned that there have been significant advances in snowshoe technology, all of which have taken away from the cool wooden aesthetic they previously offered. To those such as myself who are not hip to modern snowshoe equipment, they are kind of like thick, short plastic skis with spikes on the bottom, and to be completely honest, they are pretty ugly.
Over the course of our excursion, I learned even more about snowshoes and all of my misconceptions about them. For some reason I thought I would be able to just walk right on the surface of the snow without really sinking in. I was wildly wrong in thinking this. They really just make it easier to break trail and keep your footing, rather than let you float across the surface. Still, I see how they make it significantly easier to navigate deep snow. I also thought they would be a lot harder to walk in than they actually were. I certainly struggled at first, but it was much easier to get a hang of than I thought it would be.
Ultimately, the best part about snowshoes is that they let you access the most hidden and treacherous parts of the woods with ease, which provides a very liberating sense of freedom in the wilderness. Even 2ft deep snow and steep hills can’t prevent you from exploring and it feels surprisingly cool to be breaking trail and going into relatively uncharted territory. Overall, I would say that snowshoes are a great way to explore the Adirondacks and I would definitely do it again.