Snowshoe Shakedown in Southern Idaho

Another Weekend Down the Drain:

I was sitting at home during another storm that was rolling into the Salt Lake Valley, wondering when I would get out of the house and get some trail under my feet. I had planned a nice 10-mile trek for a shakedown since most of the prior storms’ dump of around 10-15 inches of snow was all but nonexistent.

I casually checked my phone and saw that Friday the day I had planned to go for this hike another storm was coming and they expected big delays on the road and were cautioning people to stay home until roads were cleared. So I did what any sensible person would do.

I rented out an Airbnb in Alma, Idaho, and got out before the storm was set to roll into the Wasatch Front.

Well, that storm came way sooner than expected and I ended up delayed for hours and missed two days of snowshoeing in the backcountry of City of Rocks National Preserve and Castle Rocks State Park and traded it in for one afternoon of it the next day.

When I got to Almo, I ended up just grabbing a steak, checking into the Airbnb, walked next door, and hopped into the local hot spring, before heading back to the bunkhouse and watching some TV and knocking out for some Z’s.

The Next Day:

I was awoken by Coyotes in the early hours of the morning. I cooked my breakfast loaded up and headed out on my first snowshoe adventure!

I set out to conquer around 8.5 miles on a loop I had planned out among the mountains and castle-like rocks. I had made it around 4 miles and to the high point of around 6900ft and had to backtrack around a mile and take a different trail due to the iciness of the huge granite rocks and not being able to traverse them safely.

After scrambling around through knee-high snow, trees, boulders, and the tips of sagebrush I stopped and had some snacks in the sun and took this gorgeous photo of me with the backdrop of the valley behind me. I made some tea to warm up on the inside and watched the snowshoe rabbits glide atop the snow while enjoying this view.

After this good long break, I decided to head on down the trail again. I ended up coming up to the crossroads of the trail I had originally planned that came down from the high route and then I ended up crossing paths with some skiers who were doing the same trail I was but wanted to go up and over the high point. I cautioned them but they continued.

I meandered back down and did about a mile of a road walk and looked back at the land that I had just been snowshoeing in for the past 4 hours and was just mesmerized by the beauty this landscape emulated. I ended up only doing 6.5 miles of the 8.5 I wanted, but I still crossed it off as a success due to the nature of the activity.

My philosophy is: Any miles are good miles.

I said goodbye, loaded up, and headed back to Utah in hopes of safer and clearer roads returning to the Salt Lake Valley.

-Scott