For the last 2 years I've been going snowshoeing primarily during my lunch break on days immediately after a nice snow storm and mainly around my backyard and neighborhood. The most common trail is one I make up from my backyard through the nearby shool's fields (Fairview South School). I also do a lot at Beverly Hills Park and a little bit at Wirth Park South. I've gone only a couple of times at Retzer Nature Center (which is a good choice since they rent snowshoes so I could have a buddy go with me) and Laphem Peak State Park.
This year the plan is to try some new locations and get a bit more variety of trails. The goals will be 12 snowshoe sessions, that's basically 3 times within every two week period between begining of January and end of February - the prime snow time.
My snowshoeing sessions tend to be at least 30 minutes but usually not longer than 1 hour. This year we'll set the goals as: 12 total
1 Major outing of at least 2 hours
3 Long outings of at least 1 hour
8 Short outings of at least 40 minutes
Trail ideas
- Local - ability to get in a trek with no more than a long lunch - mainly the Short Outings
- Mitchell Park - especially try the Dog Hill for a leg workout, the back trails by the river and new boardwalk, and the baseball diamonds and little hills beyond them
- McCoy Field
- Beverly Hills Park
- Fairview South School
- Wirth Park
- Nearby but too far for a lunch break
- Laphem Peak State Park
- Nashotah Park, Waukesha County Park - Sun, Jan 24
- Menomonee Park, Waukesha County Park - Sun, Jan 3
- Retzer Nature Center - Sat, Jan 13 (before 1pm Planeterium show)
- More distant, need to schedule at least a half day (or more)
- Glacer Park (follwed by mass at Holy Hill) - target: Saturday, Jan 2
- Kettle Moraine State Forest—Southern Unit (Sun, Feb 7 pre superbowl?)
- John Muir trail—11.4 miles, intermediate to difficult
- Stute Springs/Homestead Trail—1 mile, easy to difficult
- Bald Bluff Trail—0.8 miles, difficult
- Ice Age Trail—30.6 miles, intermediate
- Kohler-Andrae State Park - Black River Trail—2.5 miles, easy (Sun, Feb 7 pre superbowl?)
- Peninsula State Park, Door County
