RonnieAdventure #0245 - Snowshoeing Mount Charleston Wilderness Area, Clark County, Nevada

There are a number of places that I have wanted to visit in the Spring Mountains during the winter, but the problem has always been the deep snow that covers the trails. So, when REI had their winter clearance sale and snowshoes were 51% off of the retail price, they made me an offer that I couldn't refuse. Of course, they should have given me a commission because I also talked several other people into purchasing snowshoes!

We had decided to make a trial run to test our new equipment, but when I picked everyone up on Saturday morning I realized that I forgotten to tell Kolohe that we were going to do part of the Mount Charleston North Trail Loop, which is fairly strenuous. The trailhead starts at 8,500 feet and goes over a 10,000 foot pass on the way to RainTree (an old Bristlecone Pine Tree). 

Since none of had ever been on snowshoes before, we started by following a trail that other snowshoers had made leading into the Mount Charleston Wilderness Area. This had its advantages and its disadvantages. It is nice to follow a trail with packed snow because you do not have to lift the tip of the snowshoe very high with each step; but, the disadvantage was the uneven snow packing and the trail was quite narrow in some places.    

Once we were higher on the mountain, there were less human tracks and more animal tracks, which was interesting. It also gave us the opportunity to try walking in fresh, unbroken snow. Fortunately, I had the camera, so only those on the trip will ever know if any of the snowshoers did not lift the toe of their snowshoe high enough while walking and fell forward into the powdery snow. 

We eventually reached a high enough elevation to see the Bristlecone Pine Trees, but we didn't make it over the pass to RainTree. (We found that snowshoeing takes a lot more time and energy than hiking on a dry trail.)

Going downhill turned out to be more exciting than going uphill because the spikes on the bottom of the snowshoes are slanted backward (i.e., toward the back of the snowshoe), so it requires a slightly different walking position. Anyway, the next day I realized that I had used some muscles in my hips and ankles that are not typically exercised when I go hiking. 

On the way down the mountain we knew that it had been a great day because Mother Nature provided us with a spectacular view over the Spring Mountains and a beautiful rainbow.