Snowshoe Adventure on the South Boulder Creek Trail

Snow came early to the front range this winter, and after our first adventure to Indian Peaks Wilderness, when we unexpectedly played in a lot of snow, we immediately purchased Snowshoes. During our previous life in Michigan, we actually ran in a few snowshoe races, so we knew how to use them at least. I found a great deal on some RedFeather snowshoes at Sierra Trading Post (make sure to find a 30% discount code!!), and it finally snowed enough this last week to venture to the high peaks and try them out.

Here is the video of our Snowshoe adventure:

Trip Details:

With so many trail options, I decided to go with a low avalanche risk area- I didn't want us to get in over our heads! I chose the South Boulder Creek trail to Rogers Pass, in the James Peak Wilderness area, outside of Rollinsville, CO- starting at the East Portal Trailhead. It looked like a challenging hike that could get us above treeline, and hopefully had a lot of snow!

Here is where the East Portal Trailhead is located

Topo map of the trail. We took South Boulder CR Trail, but there are other options as well. 

The drive from Golden was easy, and the gravel road from Rollinsville, CO to the trailhead was plowed and very drivable (compared to the 4th of July trailhead outside of Nederland- that road is basically impassable). As we were headed to the trailhead there didn't seem to be a lot of snow on the ground, and I was nervous that the snowshoes wouldn't be necessary. However, as we pulled into the parking lot, we saw groups of cross country skiers, snowshoers, and alpine touring skiers all headed out- there was definitely enough snow!

Getting our new snowshoes on for the first time was a breeze- so far, so good for our new toys! The trail had at least 4" of snowpack on it as we started out, and luckily for us, plenty of other people had been through, making the trail very obvious. For the first mile, we probably could've gotten away with no snowshoes, but as we slowly climbed in elevation, the snow just kept getting deeper and deeper.

Starting out in nice hard-packed snow

Happy Snow Runners!

After 2 miles, we were in love with the snowshoes- they did exactly what they were supposed to do, and kept us from post-holing, or sinking way down into the snow. We could tell that someone else had attempted to hike this high- there were very deep bootprints, probably up to someone's knee in the snow. Even though she doesn't weigh a lot, Cody was still sinking in a lot of spots.

Running in Snowshoes is fun!

Snow's getting deeper- Cody put on her boots

As we got above treeline, most of the tracks we were following stopped, leaving us with only one other set of ski tracks- and lots of fresh snow. The sky was really dark, and snow started falling while we were up there, but it was just beautiful.

Tree Line

Gorgeous view- you can see it was probably sunny in Denver!

This was the best part of the whole day- plowing through fresh, deep, light, fluffy snow! We had so much fun trying to run, falling a lot, and watching Cody be a goofball.

Breaking trail

Cody had to practically swim through the snow- she was buried up to her chest!

Cody tries to herd Ryan through the deep snow

Look at Cody's face! She follows us so closely that she's constantly covered in snow

After breaking trail for a bit, and enjoying the deep snow, we also realized that we literally know nothing about avalanche safety- so after 4.5 miles we turned around, before we actually got to Rogers Pass, and before the mountainside got too steep.

Can an avalanche come down from there??

Above treeline

This trail was perfect for snowshoeing, cross country skiing and alpine touring. The grade is challenging, but do-able, and the trees weren't too dense for making turns. Bombing down the mountain on our snowshoes was a blast. We can not wait to get our hands on some Alpine Touring skis, so we can get the aerobic workout of going uphill, with the thrill of coming back down! It looks like there's enough snow on the ground for it to work!

At the end of the day, we were very happy with our snowshoe purchase. The snow out here is a lot deeper than anything we've been in Michigan, which makes them a lot more necessary. They also gripped very well on the more groomed trails at the bottom of the mountain, and handled the very few icy spots well. I will do a full write-up on the snowshoes soon!

After a 9 mile snowy run

I also highly recommend the South Boulder Creek trail, heading to Rogers Pass. I can't wait to get up there again and check out some of the other trail options!

Garmin Details:

As you can see- we almost made it to the lake! However, you can also see from the pictures that there wasn't much 'seeing' going on that day. And our feet were cold.