The winter season, particularly in the Pacific Northwest, can be a discouraging time for some outdoor adventurers. The key to really embracing winter is to find a love of winter outdoor pursuits: downhill skiing, backcountry skiing, snowshoeing, sledding, etc. Once you get addicted to one or two of these, winter becomes something to look forward to instead of dread.
I do love skiing but it can be pricy. Lift tickets can be $50 to $100 per person, and that doesn’t include renting gear. If you buy your own gear and get a season pass you can get the per day cost down a bit, but that requires devoting almost all your weekends in the winter to ski days. If you’re a diehard ski enthusiast it might be worth it, but for the rest of us a day of skiing for a couple is going to cost around $200. Snowshoeing is a much cheaper way to enjoy the snowy forests and mountains, albeit at a slower pace. We rented snowshoes for the weekend for $56 total, plus the price of parking at the sno-park was $30. We haven’t bought snowshoes because we’re not sure if we’ll still be in the PNW next winter and I hate to drop a ton of money on something that will just sit in the garage. The $30 for parking was also for a day pass – you can buy a yearly sno-park pass for $40 and a yearly state park pass for $30. Just another example where planning ahead can save you quite a bit!
Our original plan was to snowshoe skyline lake; however, by the time we got there (after 11:00 AM), all the parking lots for Stevens pass were full. Plan B was to check out Lake Wenatchee, which was a few more miles down highway 2. There had been a LOT of fresh powder the past day or so, and even with snowshoes on we sank knee-deep in the fresh snow. We had to follow the tracks of previous snowshoers to avoid this. They have a two mile snowshoe loop that we tried to follow, however we must have made a wrong turn at some point because we ended up going closer to 4 miles.
This area also has groomed trails for cross-country skiers, which is something I would love to try some day. If we knew we were going to be living in this area more permanently, I would absolutely buy snowshoes and make an effort to get out more often. It’s a fantastic way to enjoy the outdoors. The other factor making it more difficult is the time spent driving; it’s at least a 2 hour drive for us to get to appreciable snow. Close enough for a weekend escape, but not close enough for a regular outing. I would highly recommend the Lake Wenatchee area for snowshoeing. The bathrooms were very clean and spacious and the view of the lake (right by the parking area) is fantastic.
I would advise anyone traveling from the Seattle area to check the WSDOT’s website for road conditions. On the day we went, chains were required on all except AWD vehicles. What are your favorite winter activities?