Joel Hainley

Got out this weekend for a bit of snowshoeing. My mom bought some snowshoes for Amy and I for Christmas and it was the first weekend that we’ve been able to get out and give them a test run. So Sunday morning we drove up to Roseville REI and picked up a 2010 Sno-Park Pass and then headed up to Donner Pass to do our first run. Parking was easy, and it was just a short walk from the parking lot to the left of Boreal under I-80 to the north where the trail started.  There were a lot of dogs and Brodie didn’t know whether to go and play with them or roll around in the snow. To say he likes snow is an understatement.

We headed up the hill and into a meadow covered with snow. There were trails going everywhere so we opted to follow a trail that meandered through the meadow hoping that it went somewhere interesting. After about 10 minutes the trail left the meadow and started climbing up a hill. Within about 5 minutes of climbing I could definitely feel the altitude but it was just so quiet and peaceful it was worth all of the work. We stopped where we had a bit of a view and shared some water and a Clif Bar and Amy fed Brodie snow.

As we approached the highest elevation we would see for the day, we could look back across the valley and just see the top of Boreal (see image below). We wandered around along the top of the trail looking to see where we could drop back down to the meadow when we caught sight of another trail and were able to move down the hill and come out north of the meadow, after about 10 minutes of walking we were back in the meadow and headed for the car.

I was surprised about how much work snowshoeing was, but the rewards were definitely worth it. We were able to get outdoors and take the dog for a walk and see some really great views. We debated going into Reno for dinner and to see some friends but we got a late start and figured we wouldn’t get home until 10pm if we went to Reno and we both had things that needed to be done before work on Monday. So we dropped back into Auburn, stopped at Ikeda’s for a burger and headed home. Brodie slept in the backseat the whole way home.