Snowshoe U

It was a pleasant 40 degrees and sunny today when we ventured forth for our winter hike. We had to relocate the hike from the Land Trust's Nicholdale parcel to the Shelton Lakes Recreation Path to have some safe areas to pull off, but otherwise things worked great.

We met at the Shelton Intermediate School and took a little while to get organized.

Most people had snowshoes, and we had a number of doggies. The trails were packed down pretty well, and we added to that compaction. We crossed the street and went in by Silent Waters.

The conga line worked it's way forward to the Silent Waters Bridge where the Conservation Commission took their 2011 Team Photo (minus Ed & Jim).


Unfortunately, we didn't get a photo of everybody crossing Rt. 108 in snowshoes at the crosswalk, but it looked funny. We ventured past the Dog Park and headed up the RecPath past Hope Lake.

The route was pretty easy, although there were some soft areas if you didn't have snowshoes. At one point we passed other snowshoers going the other way. Traffic jams on Shelton's trails - in winter - who knew!

We went down to Oak Valley Road & then looped back along the Paugussett Trail on the backside of Hope Lake.


We stopped at various places along the trail to enjoy the scenery, catch our breath and enjoy a snack.

Some folks stopped at the Dog Park on the way back (it was busy), some walked back along the road, and the rest of us snowshoed or hiked back along the trail.

It was a fun afternoon & it was great that everybody could come out to explore the park in the winter. It was a good workout & I'm sure all the 2-legged and 4-legged hikers will sleep well tonight.