Forest Lake

This week's hike was to Forest Lake in the James Peak Wilderness area. The hike started in the same spot as the one 3 weeks ago to Crater Lakes, at the East Moffat Portal. The East Moffat Portal is this cool train tunnel that goes through the Continental Divide. When a train enters or exits the tunnel it makes a tremendous amount of sound. The first time we were here, we neglected avalanche safety, but this time we stopped ignoring the danger because we were equipped with new BCA Tracker S avalanche tracker transceivers. The trackers were a gift from me to Katie for Valentine's day because what says love more than showing concern for your loved one's safety?

But just having the avalanche tracker transceivers isn't enough to be safe, you also have to know how to use them and have the accompanying gear to go with them; an avalanche probe and a shovel. However, just having the avalanche tracker transceivers isn't enough to be safe. You also have to know how to use them and have the accompanying gear, an avalanche probe, and a shovel. We practiced using the transceivers to make sure we at least knew how to use them roughly, and we'll continue to practice using them in the event that we need to find one another buried in the snow.

The avalanche tracker transceivers weren't the only new piece of gear that I brought on this snowshoeing adventure.We were in Sierra Trading Post last weekend and I found a pair of snowshoes on clearance for $29! Usually, a good pair of snowshoes cost well over $100, but I got extremely lucky to snag a pair for so cheap. To be fair, these weren't all that high quality and were probably only $80 snowshoes to begin with, but they were very similar to the snowshoes that I already owned, so I knew they would work for what we were doing. My current pair of snowshoes weren't in dire need of replacement yet, but they were getting close. I was planning on getting a new pair after this season anyway so this was maybe a little premature, but I couldn't pass up a deal like that.

Since we've been to this area now twice in a month the second time wasn't nearly as exciting as the first. I think we got better views the first time (at Crater Lakes), but the views at Forest Lake were still worth the hike. I think we'll save the other hikes in this area that we want to do for a different season.