Shoein'

So playgroup was at my house this week. I wasn't working, so you know what that means? That's right someone has to get the dogs out of the house so no one gets upset when they get a face-full of dog slobber. It's clean slobber, it's not like they eat their own feces. Somehow that's not reassuring to a child. Since we were going out I called my brother-in-law to have some company for the prospect of snowshoeing. After a short period of deliberation I convinced him to go. "I'll go if I don't have to carry a kid." In all fairness it does make hiking a great deal more difficult when you have 45+ lbs of wiggling mass strapped to your back. I wonder if it would be easier to carry jello on my back.
We set off up the Salt Lake Overlook Trail with two hyper dogs, snowshoes, and my trekking poles. It was Micheal's suggestion that I leave the sled in the car, which was probably a good idea. It didn't take long before Micheal was slowing his pace ever so conspicuously.
Today in church we talked about the language of Nephi, and how no one talks like that. "No one would name a river or valley when they come accross one." I leaned over to Jen, "Micheal does." I then related the story of hiking along the trail and Micheal claiming, "This is Newman's pass." He then explained how his friend had chucked his breakfast all over the mountainside in that particular area, so they decided to name it Newman's Pass, almost like Lehi in his metaphors.
It was funny to watch the dogs sink in the snow and have to swim back to the trail as we got closer to the top. THey weren't used to having so much powder to hike through. It's fun to be able to take them. Hurray for Millcreek canyon on odd numbered days.
On the way down I realized what an advantage Micheal has since we got him those new snowshoes for Christmas. MSR's are cool (That's why I asked Derek if I could store his at my house - Come on you're not snow shoeing in RI). We took short-cuts on the way down, cutting straight down instead of going to the cutbacks. THis is quite fun (almost as good as sledding down). Then we decided to take a shortcut straight down this ridge to meet up with the trail. We were obviously the only ones that had this idea because there was no sign of any tracks. This is where I started to covet the MSR's. Micheal and I just take off down the hill, only he keeps going and I'm stuck in snow that's probably 4-5 feet of mostly powder. My shoes are so big (they have to be to carry Morgan-plus the frame style is much more bulky) that I just slide all the way to the bottom of the heap of snow and then try to yank my feet out. This is not an exercise my legs are used to, I would venture to say no one's legs are used to this movement, so I quickly became fatigued and had to rest numerous times. Callie and Roxy are way ahead with Micheal, they just look back bewildered (what is going on?). I couldn't even stand up on my own accord halfway down the hill, it was a good thing I had my poles so I could pull myself up with them. Finally I just slid like a penguin down the last 150 feet (Throwing my arms back and forth in the swimming motion, head first - you know like a penguin). I need some MSR's, they have better traction, so I wouldn't slide the to bottom of the snow, and they're smaller, so pulling my foot out wouldn't be such a chore.
Short story long, it took us a little over an hour to get up, and maybe 25 mins to get down. 2+ miles up, less than a mile down. Good times. Sorry, no camera on this trip.