Where to run?
Does anyone have some good suggestions for snowshoe running destinations close to Vancouver. Last year, I tried using my snowshoes on the POCO trail with mixed success. Fresh snow is good fun for this type of activity but i found any amount of foot traffic or snow mobile tracks quickly reduced the effectiveness of snowshoes.
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Millstream Trail in West Van
During the crazy snow after Christmas I headed up to Millstream Trail in West Van - I pasted a link to a Google map below (next time I'll use the handy GMap macro I just noticed!). The trailhead is at the intersection of Millstream Rd & Chartwell Dr and is really well-travelled & well-marked. Millstream Trail itself may not have snow all winter, but about 500m along the trail there is a fork to the right (I can't remember the name, it might be part of Baden-Powell?) and that trail goes straight uphill where you should eventually encounter snow. If you keep going you'll cross over the powerline clearing and come to an intersection with the Skyline trail which should have snow most of the winter. I pack my snowshoes in so that I can climb up to the snowline without them and then put them on when I need 'em - the day I went I needed them almost right from the trailhead!
You can get a great map of North Shore trails at the Book Warehouse (and probably also at big box bookstores...) for about $7, it's waterproof and I've found it really helpful for navigating that trail network. I HIGHLY recommend having a map, and you DEFINITELY need enough clothing and nutrition for encountering potential problems if you head up there in the snow. But if you're prepared you can have a great time, for free :) [well, I guess it's not quite free 'cause you have to get there, unless you brave riding your bike to the trailhead!]
Have fun! Here's hoping for more snow :) [yeah, I know it's annoying, but I love it! Everybody has to slow down a little, and maybe enjoy life a bit more... and maybe consider getting a job like mine, where the commute is a 2-minute walk from my front door!]
http://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=112803394639754958307.0...
You can also drive to an entry point for Skyline trail itself (which I just figured out from a map on this website, for the "XTC challenge" event in July) further north along Millstream Rd - this way you could skip the uphill part from Millstream trail. But it's pretty :)
Great suggestion. That