Snow Shoeing at RTA

What a perfect day to be outside!! My biggest dilemma this morning was to decide what to do and where to do it. I knew that Alicia and the Afton regulars were having a snow shoe fat ass and potluck at Afton State Park which was extremely tempting. Then Brad from the MN Dead Runners list posted an open invite to join him at RTA with a local Eden Prairie reporter doing a story on snow shoe running. A few others were planning on a 50K fat ass through the streets of Minneapolis and St. Paul. And yet someone else wanted to go snow shoeing at some park I've never heard of.

After a few sleepless nights at the end of this past work week, I decided not to set my alarm and just let nature take it's course. Woke up about 7:30 to see that temps were 3 degrees. (Heavy sigh). After futzing around waiting for the temperature to rise and trying to decide what I was going to do, I ended up heading out to RTA for my first round of snow shoeing all winter. Can you believe it? It's March Eve and I'm finally getting around to snow shoeing :)

Got out to RTA at about 10:30 to find absolutely nobody there. Apparently, not too many people joined Brad this morning as I only saw 2 sets of snow shoe tracks. The snow was perfect. About 6-8 inches of fresh fluff, clear blue skies, sunshine, and no wind.

When I got to the top of the biggest hill overlooking Hwy 212, I had unmarked snow and got to make first tracks. The snow was a little thinner and kind of crunchy, but still plenty of cover for the Red Feathers.

I probably would have been better off trying to get a longish run in rather than snoe shoeing, especially since I'm waaaay behind on my mileage after picking up a stomach bug last week, but the trails had too much snow for shoes and I fear that the running paths were probably glare ice.

I'm glad I had a day to be outside enjoying the North Woods. Happy March!