Snowshoeing begins

     This is one of my favorite times of the year!  One could say that it is the most wonderful time of the year...hmmm, why does that sound familiar.  Anyway, it is a great time of year.  This is when everyone starts anticipating all of the winter activities.  Most people do concentrate on skiing and snowboarding, however, my knees don't really care for that all to much.  No, for me, it is all about snowshoeing.  The great thing about snowshoeing is that it is basically an extension of the hiking season, and boy do I like to hike.

     Today was pretty much the beginning of the snowshoe season for me.  With all of the snow recently it was a given that I was going to go sooner rather than later.  I'm glad it was sooner.  We went up to Paradise, at Mount Rainier National Park, as we figured it was going to have the most snow.  There was about 5-6 feet of snow up there today with clear skies and temperatures around 35 degrees.  It was absolutely a perfect day to snowshoe.  I actually got really hot up there today.  So much so that I was actually seeking some shade, not that there was much, but I did find it of course.

     When we got up there we were actually greeted by the parks finest.

    The snow was almost too blinding, almost!

     And some fresh tracks!

     It was such a great day to get up to Mount Rainier!  The winter is just as good as the summer but with less people.  I love it.