West Jordan hikes in Snow - more

The latest development on the Snow hikes is that now a bunch - well 2 - more people were in on it ... Comprising all of our fair and capable siblings this time. This was a well received excursion from what we hear. We are much pleased with the killer low cost entailed in bringing it about. So ... on to some narrative.
Being slightly more limited on time we did not go all the way to our furthest point of prior exploration, but it was still pretty cool and afforded some time to experiment with the shoes. People like experimenting with the shoes. We went to (Brighton) Dog Lake, which is the next thing below Lake Mary.
Now for the pictures and explanatory text.
This is the crew at the aforementioned Dog Lake basin - soubriquet "Dog" - with the basin rim in the backgound. The way down out of here is immediately behind the folks through yonder low spot between the trees.

Thinking that a view of Dog basin and the bowl rim behind it might be of interest I turned 180 and shot the following...
Sorry if this looks cold, but it actually was a very pleasant day. We never go when it is bad weather anyway. And finally ..... Another shot of us - Melissa on camera in order to show DDadson ... I think we giggle about our moist noses (a euphemism as you suspect).

I had a picture posted here this was written, but it got deleted and I have not been able to get it back yet....

For now we have been going to Brighton - a ski area - which means we share our venue with the downhill folks - skiers and boarders - and have to be alert to the downhill traffic. We generally work our way up through the ski area to our target area just outside the main area but still in moderate avalanche control from the resort. We travel along the side of the main ski runs, which we now call "the freeway" and cross quickly as necessary. So our route to Mary is ..
Up the freeway for several intersections to the Dog turnoff. Hang a right up the wall to Dog (the toe cleats on the shoes are a big help). At Dog there is generally a whole bunch of yummy soft powder in the basin. Continue across Dog to the west, then up another wall to the top of the Mary hill. As an alternate, one can go a little further to the right after leaving Dog and go up the draw over to the Lake Mary Dam. That would be the route used by Joshua and friends back in the day. Owing to a minor issue with gear rentals, one of us was using the original homebrew shoes of yore. Worked pretty good until the Dog wall when I decided to remove them to avoid slipping back down hill. Of course, the Phoenix folk - Joshua anyway - have been there, done that and we hope it triggers a memory or two. Now the rest are all caught up on the fun... sort of.

West Jordan hikes in Snow - first cut

So ... Snow specifically, and the colder northern areas generally, have not been getting great reviews lately ....
Which is fine ... cold weather is not for everyone ...
Actually, our temperatures are more or less OK for this time of year and our roads are mostly clear...
Enough for us still to get up to see some pretty countryside with snow on it....
We have discovered that with a couple of key modifications to clothing, it actually is possible to ...
HIKE (using snowshoes) in the winter. We shall now show some recent shots of some of us trying this idea out....
These are all at Brighton Ski Resort. We have been up on 2 excursions so far (01/10 and 01/17) and there may be others - We can only HOPE. So, getting to the pictures....
First, we have to show the obligatory scene of the cars in the Lodge parking lot so here is a ....
Typical view of Brighton Lodge parking lot on a Saturday (2009.01.10) during ski season

We need to show something a little jazzier than cars though, so we now provide a preview of what it looked like from way up in the boonies on the 2nd and more extensive excursion; We had fun getting to where this was taken....
This (below) is the Brighton bowl, with Clayton Peak at the right, as viewed from the hill overlooking Lake Mary (9709')
Next we show some actual outing participants, with the lovely majestic snow country as a backdrop...
This one is Amanda with Lake Mary behind her - her typical pleased self in winter wear and correspondingly shod.

Having shown a participant at all the summit that was safe to visit (9709), it is time to put all this dignity in perspective.... To get where she is shown above, it becomes necessary to look as she is shown (below) one or more times ....... Amanda is shown here during the first trip - really our practice trip - somewhat less composed but still quite cheerful... (sort of like exercise barbie in re the mildly undignified pose but with way more clothing than just designer leg warmers and without the silly painted-on-plastic smirk) . Face-plants such as these result from crossing snowshoe tips or tails, having snow collapse under only one foot or from otherwise losing balance. But the snow is so soft and cuddly that she does not really mind all that much (check out the genuine smile of delight). This face-plant was actually deliberate for demonstration purposes, but there were others. You are all and severally more than welcome to try this yourselves on an occasion in the near future. But it is still a little tricky for you to try this at home ... not near enough snow is why.....So now an answer to the obvious question ..... What is this all about, anyway?? 'Tis a similar re-living of that first renowned trip in days of yore starring Joshua and the Varsity guys ..... 'Tis then further combined with the present day mantra "Dad wants to get some exercise and also be someplace interesting".... Hence, DDadson thought it would be a nice idea to go back up to the old haunt, but with new eager participants and with some variations of equipment which answered questions left hanging from earlier adventures. So, this time it was .... Amanda (the new people) and rented snowshoes with traction devices (the equipment) ...... We like the results so far, and it is still a farily cheap thrill. It also - in view of our typical reserve and temperament - beats screaming down hills out of control, possibly even maiming the self. You might be a Clark if ....... So, chalk this up as yet another way to ENJOY (rather than be bummed at) the frozen north country .... OK, so ... Snowshoe hiking is an acquired taste, and it took us all of 2 hours to acquire the taste. All this for a mere 3 hours of time on the hill plus some gear set up and take down. We like it.