I'm not ready for winter

Last night as I was walking the dog, I started thinking about this winter hiking thing. We've been fortunate to not have a lot of rain and low temperatures in October, and the recent snow-spitting, cold days have kind of put me in a funk.

So, I went to our local "sporting goods" shop (www.lahouts.com) and checked out gear for snow and ice. I have snowshoes in my trunk - still there from last year when they NEVER got used - but if I'm going to commit to hiking in the winter, something tells me I may need more rugged equipment. The salespeople there are always helpful, which was good because I know nothing about that sort of thing. After talking to the guy for 15 minutes, and looking at my options, I'm thinking I'll go with Kahtoola's MICROspikes. (www.kahtoola.com). YakTrax aren't sturdy enough, and the other option, name of which escapes me, looked more helpful if I was going up into the alpine zone....which I don't believe I'm ready for.

On a totally (kinda) unrelated note, did you know they made running snowshoes? Don't know about you, but I think I'll stick to just trying to walk uphill in the dang things. They are pretty cool looking though.

Now, I just have to investigate something to hike in. Thinking that my trail hikers aren't going to cut it!