a little snowshoeing trip

Saturday we went for a little snowshoeing tramp in the woods. It was so nice to be able to drag out the old snowshoes after several years! It has definitely been a long time since we've been. I love snowshoeing and was so excited to get down the trail once again.  

 I love having Dave know the forest and trails so well, because we get to see so many beautiful places that don't have a ton of traffic on them. We went to Reid Lake for our little jaunt this time. There were a lot of different trails, but we chose to just do one small loop to gauge how the boys would tolerate things.

 Hank and I getting ready to go. I added some ties to his owl hat so his cheeks would stay warm. He wasn't a big fan of the ties, but he did stay warm!  I like how the ties look like a mustache in this picture.

I carried Hank in the trusty green backpack

 And Jed got to ride in this fancy little sled! It has a waist harness so it can be pulled behind skis or snowshoes. Jed absolutely loves it.

 He got all snuggled in with our extra coats, the lunch, his blanket and train

 and then we zipped him up! He can ride with his head out, but for some reason, he prefers not to. Eventually, we want to get him a pair of snowshoes of his own, but he really likes riding there and it works well for now.

 At Reid Lake. It is just a small lake but really pretty. We didn't get to stop because Hank would cry every time we stopped for more than about 2 minutes. Oh well--the point wasn't to stop, anyway.

We did have a good time chuckling about this boat that is stuck on the ice in the middle of the lake. Dave said that in the fall, it was beached on the shore, but it must have gotten loose and now it's frozen into the ice. Since it's overturned, we're not sure what will happen to it when the ice breaks up.

 We continued down the trail instead of coming back the way we came, since we wanted to do the loop. I love the forest in the winter--so pretty and clean. 

 A bald eagles' nest

 We saw several trees that have started budding out already and I was so excited! I do love winter, but this time of year, I am definitely ready for spring. I don't know what kind of tree this is, but it is so pretty.

 After a while in the backpack, Hank got very fussy. We knew he needed to stop and eat but there wasn't a good place to feed him--no "sittable" logs close to the trail. So Dave decided to give him a shoulder ride to see if that helped while we looked for a good place for lunch. I felt bad that Dave had to pull Jed and carry Hank, but there wasn't time to rearrange, because Hank would cry if we stopped for that long!

 I did have time to get a good shot of two of my handsome men!

 

Finally we found a good place to have lunch. Dave and Jed ate their sandwiches while I fed Hank, and then they played in the snow.

Jed had a blast shaking the snow off the tree limbs, stomping to make holes in the snow and using a flexible trail marker as a catapult.

 Then Hank sat in the sled while I ate my lunch. Everyone likes the sled! 

 

After lunch we switched and Dave carried Hank in the sling so he could sleep. I pulled Jed in the sled and wore the backpack. I must say, the sled is cozy to sit in and convenient to store extra coats, but it is not very comfortable to pull. The sled is attached to the harness with bamboo poles, and they don't have very much give in them. There is a lot of pulling on your body while you pull, and when you go downhill, you practically have to run so the sled doesn't come up under your legs. I told Dave I will not be walking to Zion pulling the sled! We are borrowing it from a generous friend, and while I think I would be happy to make a covered sled, if we do end up building our own, I think we'll use something less rigid to attach the sled to the harness.

I also had a little bit of trouble with the sled because at one point in the trail, we walked across a frozen beaver pond on an elevated boardwalk that curved in the middle. I thought I had anticipated the curve well enough that the sled would just follow me...but it turns out I didn't, and Jed went overboard inside the sled. It wasn't a big drop--only about 18 inches--but after that, he wanted to ride with his head out to see where we were going!

Above is the route we walked--from 1 to 2 to 7 to 8 to 1. We all had lunch at 8 and Jed got dumped off where the path curves back towards 1 after the little pond.

You can see there are a lot more trails to cover in the area and I am excited to go back for another adventure! I think everyone really enjoyed themselves, and I'm so glad. We want our boys to enjoy being outdoors in every season as much as Dave and I do. Even if they do have to nurse and nap outside, and even if they get dumped overboard!