In my past thoughts about snowshoeing, I conjured up images of myself stylishly bundled up, casually tramping over snow, enjoying a low-impact activity. I'm sure that's a possible scenario: after all, in a 'how to snowshoe' video I watched, I chuckled to myself as two middle-aged women vigorously pumped their arms and helped each other down small hills around their housing development.

For our first time snowshoeing, we chose a scenic, intense hike that, at moments, had me wistfully thinking about those two ladies traversing among condominiums. We hiked up Cooper Spur, which is on the North side of Mt. Hood, pausing along the way to take in the clearest view I've yet had of Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, and Mount St. Helens. My pauses conveniently conincided with the moments I was unable to take another step, as I caught my breath and waited for the lactic acid in my quads to calm down!

Our snowshoeing adventure spanned 2,000 feet up (and then 2,000 feet down), took over 5 hours, included a minor detour across a ski slope, and finished with an inadvertent trip down and through a ravine. We rewarded ourselves with Double Mountain beer and pizza. And while I didn't bring my camera (and groaned at my error as soon we reached our first spectacular view), I'm pleased to have these iPhone pictures to help me remember the trek.