When my mom gifted Rob and me with snowshoes for Christmas a few years ago, we took them out for the first time to Wachusett Mountain and loved it. We insisted that snowshoeing would be our workout for the winter, with grand ambitions to take them to Blue Hills, the Fells, and around Boston along the Charles during the week, plus treks on the weekends. That ambition was short-lived (we’re prone to hibernation), but we have managed to take them out for a couple spins this winter.
The great thing about snowshoeing is that it requires little money and little technique. We’re in serious budget mode to save up for our roadtrip van, so the cheaper the activity, the better. Pat’s Peak in Henniker, NH is 1.5 hours from Boston and offers two snowshoeing trails. They’re coded like downhill skiing trails: a green mile-long loop that’s perfect for beginners, and a blue three-mile loop with more elevation. The trails are free to use but they do offer snowshoe rentals if you don’t own your own. We opted for the green trail for our first time out.
There were several hills that made us work up a sweat, but totally manageable if you pace yourself. It took us a minute to find the trailhead (you walk on the downhill trail near the lift for a bit before turning onto the snowshoe trail), then got a little lost on one turn but were able to easily make our way back. As long as you keep the downhill skiers within earshot, you can’t go too far off track. We were by ourselves the whole route and it was a great trail to shake the dust off our snowshoes.
COLLEEN FLYNN 