TUBBS FLEX TRK Snowshoes Snow Shoe Pair 24" Men's Black

Snowshoes for Sale

In areas where the snow is deep, snowshoes can be really helpful if you want to be able to get around freely instead of trudging through snow banks. The snowshoe works by disbursing your weight to keep your feet from sinking into the snow.

Modern snowshoes are made from man made materials and have some advantages over the traditional ones that are made from wood and leather bindings. The advantage is the lightweight materials and the shoe material can be bent to have a better shape to give you leverage in the snow. However there are some advantages from the traditional ones too, and some just like the design better.

The snowshoe needs to be made in such a way to let the snow fall away and not collect on the shoe and causing undue weight. You don't want your feet turning into giant snowballs getting heavier as you walk until you can't move anymore.

It used to be that anyone working in snow country had to have these to get around but now with snowmobiles and such they have become less important. However there is always a need for them in deep snow. It is important to have a way to get out without being dependent on gas powered machines.

Photo used under Creative Commons from nonanet

On this page you will find these brands and more. Tubbs, Atlas, Wooden, MER, Redfeather and ohers. Also how to make your own.

Adventure in Idaho A Tall Tale

My wife and I live in northern Idaho in a little cabin off the beaten tract. Our driveway is about a quarter of a mile long and comes off of a gravel road that has just a few homes scattered along it. Our area is pretty remote and we are lucky to have the plow come once a week to clear the main gravel road during the winter. We have an old tractor with a scoop to plow out our long driveway and only clear it every three weeks or so to go into town for supplies.

After a snowstorm there is no way out until we clear our own driveway and the plow clears the gravel road, and we like it this way. After a snowstorm we feel that we are snug in our cabin with all the wood that we need to stay warm and cook our food. Also no one is likely to bother us at all and that we are hidden away from the world and all of its problems. Our only fear is getting out in case of an emergency. However we have communication and the nearest rescue can come out on snowmobiles if needed.

Continued below... Commissions Earned

Once day I was hiking through the woods using my snowshoes to keep on top of the snow. Each day no matter how snowy it gets we always try to get out. Some days our exercise is shoveling around the cabin during a snowstorm or blizzard but if the weather is fine we go on long walks in our snowshoes.

On this day I was following a snowmobile tract along a logging road about one mile from our home. Some of our neighbors have snowmobiles and I was curious on where this one was going. Probably was out joy riding and enjoying the weather. It had been sunny for the last couple of days and perfect for having fun outside in the snow.

I was holding a fur tree branch that I could use as a broom in case I heard the machine coming back. Since I didn't know who it was I wanted to be cautious and cover my tracks using the small evergreen limb as a broom. The pine needles would wipe out most of the signs and they would not notice my tracts until they had gotten farther along and that would give me time to hike away. Plus they would most likely drive over my tracts, which would help hide them for a ways making it hard to know where I had left the trail.

Some would think I was being too fussy about hiding my tracts but there are some strange characters out here and it pays to be cautious. Rounding a bend in the road I could hear the faint sound of the machine as it was coming back toward me. Moving swiftly but carefully I walked backwards along the snowmobile tracts for about 30 feet before heading for the nearest tree. I used the pine broom to cover my trail and just had time to slip behind a tree when the snowmobile came into sight. It was carrying two men and they had rifles. I hunched down and kept still as they zoomed pass.

As soon as they were out of sight I headed off into the woods and up to the top of a ridge that paralleled the logging road. From up above I could see parts of the road below and could keep an eye on it as I headed for home. Sure enough it wasn't very long before I heard the machine coming back up the road. They were looking for me. I had covered my tracts for a ways before discarding my broom but they might be able to follow the faint trail I had left behind from the sweeping.

However my escape was well hidden because the machine covered my tracts as it went and they would not know where to look to find where I had left the road. They were probably looking for an easy to spot trail and could easily miss the faint sweeping marks that I left behind when leaving the road. Sure enough they came back again looking for where I had left but it looked to me that they were confused and I felt good as I continued on my way. Even if they found my tracts their machine would have a hard time getting between the trees and most likely they did not have snow shoes with them.

There is a lot of fun to be had in the woods when you know where to look and puzzling my neighbors was part of that. Soon I came to the end of the ridge and headed back to the logging road to cross it. I had been listening closely and knew that they were still back a ways so I quickly cut another branch to use as a broom and swept behind myself as I crossed. I was safely behind the trees when I heard them roar pass. At their speed it was plain that they had given up and were trying to find the source of my tracts.

I had taken care of that too. When I first found the snowmobile tracts I carefully wiped my back trail there too and walked backward for a ways on their tracts before going forward. This way it would look like I had come upon the road about 100 feet before I actually did. They would stop where my tracts stopped and hunt in vain for any sign of where I had come onto the road. I smiled to myself as I thought of their frustration as my trail disappeared and there was nothing to indicate how I had gotten to the road.

As I got farther away I could still hear them zooming back and forth and also heard some hollering that was becoming fainter as I continued farther in the forest and headed for home. Today I had a great walk!

Susan Dietel
Web Programmer
Email: susansdesign@yahoo.com