Hiking in snowfall winter, you need a pair of snowshoes

Sundance Canyon - Waterfall with full of snow
Picture taken by Keiyan Ng

Another first time this year. Yesterday I went hiking with friends in Banff. More importantly, I got a chance to try on the snowshoeing. It was fun because I have never hiked on the snow. The trail we picked call Sundance Canyon. According to Parks Canada, this trail is about 4.3km to end of pavement, plus 1.2km loop through canyon, 145m elevation gain; 3 hour round trip. Our starting point was different with Parks Canada. I had 5.5 km (round trip 11km) according to my tracks record, and it took us 4 hrs and 15 min to finish the trail. We stopped few times to take pictures and have lunch. There's a waterfall at the end of the Sundance Canyon, and my friend told me it's very beautiful. When I arrived there I only saw snow, but it's still very nice. If I get a chance, I would love to go in Summer time. Hiking over snow was totally different experience. Overall, the experience was great, and I really enjoyed it. I found that I used much more energy compare to regular hiking because I had to lift up my foot higher. Another interesting thing I found, I almost fell off when I tried to walk backward. Snowshoes are not design for moving backward. If you want to, you need to move like a car, make a U-turn.

Picture taken by Keiyan Ng

The trail that we walked on from Google Earth

Another view of the trail map from Parks Canada

Modern Snowshoe

Tradition Snowshoe

So What is snowshoe? 

- Snowshoe is a footwear that allow you walk over the snow. 

- Snowshoe works because they can distribute a person weight on a lager area. 

- Some historians believe that snowshoes were invented from four thousand to six thousand years ago. 

- North Americans Native developed the most advance and diverse snowshoes. 

- Tradition snowshoes made by hardwood frame with latticework of rawhide lacing. 

- Modern snowshoes made by lightweight metal frame with nylon/neoprene deck and synthetic fabric. 

- In the past, snowshoes were very important tools for traders, trappers and whoever lived around the areas of deep and frequent snowfall. 

- Now snowshoes are more for people who want to hike around during the winter time. 

- During wintertime, some schools offer snowshoe program in their physical education classes to help combat obesity. 

Source: Wikipedia-snowshoe