I learned something today. Hiking in foot-deep snow is freaking hard.
We got a foot of new snow last night (that was a record 1-day snowfall for January for us) and I decided to take advantage of it and do a little hike, no pack, on relatively flat ground (like we have much else around here). I choose an easy 4-mile route and headed out. I wanted to see how much harder it was to walk, and how well my OR Gaitors did with my Keens (low tops).
I was shocked at how hard it was, way WAY harder than walking in 4-6 inches. I was doing good to average just over 1.5 mph and my calves were KILLING me after about 15 minutes. Now, I'm not in thru-hiker shape by any means, but I do put in around 20 miles a week just to stay in decent shape.
Now that I'm home my calves are burning more that they ever have in my life, burning kinda low on the calves. They hurt just sitting here. I cannot stretch them as the pain is too great. This could be an ugly weekend. On the good side the OR gaitors were champs. My socks were not so much as damp.
I learned that if I ever do attempt a thru, that I'm taking a zero or two if the trail gets such snow. WOW