Long feet
Last Sunday's wander in Odiorne State Park on the New Hampshire coast was gated by the fact that I was wearing (only) boots on my feet. There were places that I wanted to walk where the snow was at least knee deep and wading through deep snow wasn't high on my list of things to do. I still had a pleasant walk, but thoughts were stirring.
I've thought about buying snowshoes the last couple of winters; somehow it never moved past the thinking stage. Last Sunday evening I started by telling myself I'd head to REI one evening after work to look at and pick up a pair of snowshoes. I thought again, knowing that the likelihood of me going shopping after work was very small. Ah, saved by the web! I looked at the snowshoes stocked by REI as a starting point, read some reviews, looked at descriptions, perused the manufacturers web sites. The Atlas Snow-Shoe Company grabbed my attention, and I chose a pair from their trail walking classification. I checked the REI and LL Bean web sites for availability only to find that both were showing my choice as not in stock but available with a wait. You know me, don't you? Once I decide I need something, I don't like to wait. I did a quick web search and discovered that Zappos had the snowshoes I wanted. Their free overnight delivery worked quite well, even though the delivery was delayed by a day because of road conditions due to Tuesday's snowstorm. My new "long feet" we in my hands and ready to be used by Wednesday.
My small foot made a bit longer by my Atlas Elektra 9 snowshoes
Today was my first day of wandering on snowshoes. My goal for the day was to get used to walking in them, and to play with my camera. I thought about using a baby camera instead of my dSLR. I went as far as to bring a little camera with me just in case I felt unsteady on my now rather long feet, but I felt comfortable on the snowshoes as soon as I started walking.
I walked in deep snow, and I walked on tracks that others had made. Both worked. Happy...
More photos from today can be viewed in the gallery Along the New Hampshire coast - 2011.
