West Virginia Outdoors...

Wild & Wonderful Snowshoeing

Two winters ago, I tried snowboarding and fell in love with yet another way to enjoy West Virginia winters. This past season, my new-found passion was snowshoeing. It’s a great way to explore the wilder parts of West Virginia without getting up to your armpits in snow.

My first exposure to snowshoeing was up at Snowshoe Mountain (304/572-1000, www.snowshoemtn.com) last year. They’ve established an excellent program, offering a great way to do something off the slopes for an hour, a half-day, a day, or more.

With just the most basic instruction and fitting, we were heading down ???? Trail within minutes. Just 100 feet down the trail, we felt like we were in our own world, well away from the modern condominiums, lifts, and people. Though I love hammering down Snowshoe’s new Shay’s Revenge, this quiet mode of winter transportation had its advantages to body and soul (snowboarding gave me a few bruises to both my body and ego). Along with many other trails, the Cheat Mountain Trail provides a perfect way to snowshoe out to the new wilderness cabin.

This winter, I’ve already made plans to head further afield with my newly-purchased Atlas snowshoes. The Mountain State offers both flat and steep terrain to fledglings and veterans alike. There are several commercial operations to get you started, as well as lots of trails ideal for snowshoeing.

Canaan Valley State Park (304/866-4121, www.canaanresort.com) and Timberline (304/866-4801, www.timberlineresort.com) are both great place to try snowshoeing. Canaan offers a complete snowshoeing program and more than 30 miles of marked trails, while Timberline provides a lift ride up to the top of Cabin Mountain, an ideal place to explore many miles of open terrain before heading back down to the base. Both also offer great access to the Monongahela National Forest and Canaan’s system even connects to a ten-mile trail to Blackwater Falls State Park

Famed White Grass Touring Center (304/866-4141, www.whitegrass.com) is another excellent place for snowshoeing. With snowshoes and more than 30 kilometers of trails, White Grass’s legendary Chip Chase can show you a side of West Virginia I can promise you’ve never seen.

The same holds true with Elk River Touring Center (304/572-3771, www.ertc.com). Gil Willis and his family have a great base for snowshoeing adventures, including more than 25 kilometers of trails and trips up to the Highland Scenic Highway.

Of course, the West Virginia state park system (800/CALL WVA, www.wvweb.com/wvparks) also offers many great spots for snowshoeing. Along with Canaan Valley, some of the places I plan to explore this winter include Blackwater Falls, Watoga, and Pipestem, all of which I’ve heard receive above average snowfall. I’m also going to pack my Atlas snowshoes anytime I’m going to be near the Highland Scenic Highway.

I wish I had tried snowshoeing in wild and wonderful West Virginia sooner. Though it just may be the perfect winter sport, this winter I’m going I’m going to follow Rick Steelhammer’s advice and try some snowmobiling!