Picture strapping on a pair of Wildhorn snowshoes feeling the crunch of fresh snow beneath your feet as you set off along the scenic Homestake Trail in Leeds, South Dakota. That's exactly what I did, embarking on a snowy journey filled with the thrill of a first-time snowshoer and the history of the gold-laden Homestake Mine. As my snowshoes paired with my trusty Columbia Bugaboo 3 boots trench through the pristine powder, I share my thoughts on selecting the right gear for the adventure and how my Outdoor Vitals hoodie and insulated pants played a vital role in keeping the chill at bay.
Now, let's talk about the real workout snowshoeing provides. Traversing a 1.3-mile trail within the city limits of Lead was no walk in the park—it was an hour and a half of exhilaration and burn that any fitness enthusiast would relish. As I navigated the terrain, the cleats on my snowshoes gripped the snow, proving indispensable for steady strides and energy-saving steps. Join me as I recount the experience, shedding light on the nuances of snowshoe design, and welcome you to contribute your wintery tales of outdoor escapades. Let's keep the winter spirit thriving, one snowy step at a time!
My name is Craig thenaturalmedic. On this podcast, I help you build skills, understand gear choices, and review trip destinations in a budget-friendly manner to help you enjoy the outdoors safely. I primarily focus on hiking and backpacking, but I am certainly not limited to those topics. Instead, I try to give you the best possible information based on my experiences and opinions from my decades of outdoor adventure travel. Thanks for being here!
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Products Mentioned in Episode
Wildhorn Delano Snowshoe https://amzn.to/3vrCX9I
Columbia Men’s Bugaboo III https://amzn.to/41MqucR
Hey folks, it is Craig Nitro-Mannick coming at you this week with an intro video to snowshoeing. If you ever wanted to try snowshoeing, this is the video for you. I am out in Leeds, south Dakota, in the beautiful Black Hills in January of 2024 enjoying a nice snowshoes hike out here on the Homestake Trail, located just inside the city limits of Leeds. So if you'd like to learn more about snowshoeing, come along and I'll teach you all that I know. Hey folks, welcome to the NaturalMannick Adventures.
Speaker 1:
Today I'm going to do something I've never done before, and that is go snowshoeing. Let's take a look at the equipment. Okay, here's the equipment I'm going to use. I do have a pair of snowshoes that I got off of Amazon on a special Christmas deal. The company is called Wildhorn. They are from Utah. I got them on sale as a Christmas deal. Always wanted to go snowshoeing. I'll put a link to these down in the description below so you can see those for yourself if you want to pick a pair up or just learn more about them. That's an affiliate link. It doesn't cost you anything extra but helps support the channel. I just got these Columbia Booga Boo 3, I believe, and they are insulated tall winter boots and they'll fit right into these snowshoes. Now I'm going to post a nice article in the description that shows you some more ins and outs of snowshoe selection from REI that you'll be able to read along in the description if you want more information about how I selected these.
Speaker 1:
These are the Delano XZ 28s, so it means they're 28 inches long. This particular company sells these in two different lengths 22 inches and 28 inches. Because I'm 6'2" and I currently weigh over 200 pounds plus pack weight, that was the no-transcript. Just looking at this is a deal that they have. Here's a deal that they have that kind of shows you the different parts of the snowshoes. It says on here available 22 and 28 inch models for optimal snow floatation performance. They have hard packed grip teeth underneath. They have some teeth so they can dig into that harder snow Powder not a problem, but when you have the harder snow that could be an issue. The next thing to look at is these quick release, so it's hard to operate.
Speaker 1:
I'm filming with one hand, but basically you slip your boot in here Pretty much. Take almost any size of boot. It goes in there. You can cinch it down with that and then it has a little cinch strap on the back Pretty cool, that's the whole thing lifts up so you can dig in. If you need to go up a slope, it does have a lifter on the back so you can keep your foot up a little higher. That way you can go up hills. Yeah, steep incline heel lift riser. I think these are more than adequate. For my first time snowshoeing, these appear to be pretty good. Why don't we go out to the field? Alright, folks, here we are outside.
Speaker 1:
I'm at the Homestake Trail here in Leed which kind of goes around the outskirts of the old Homestake Mine here, which originated in 1876, closed down in 2001, and now is the Sanford Underground Research Facility. Anyway, according to the trail here, it is a 1.3 mile trail to the Leed City Limits, that's 4.4 if you go all the way to Deadwood. I don't know that. I'm prepared to do that today. We'll try to go to the city limits and see what happens. Elevation currently 5160. You can see my feet are in the snowshoes. It was a little harder getting in them than I thought. Now, one thing you might notice the snow I was first walking on was pretty, pretty fluffy. It's a dog park so it has some snow, much down by little furry dogs and up there it's not even any snow. That's weird, but I'm gonna continue on. But you can see what advantage these offer you, keeping you out of the deep snow as much. Are you still going to sink? Yeah, but you don't sink as much and you're not expanding so much energy in order to get to where you need to go.
Speaker 1:
I'm a little ways into the trail, but you can really see the open cut really well, the home state gold mine, which operated here in lead from 1876 to 2001. Dug this and it's one and a half mile wide, one or one half mile wide, one mile long, 1,000 feet deep, rim to bottom, and the bottom of it exists near the eight hundred foot level of the home stake mine. They removed 1.2 million ounces of gold. That is just crazy to me, supposedly the most, the richest gold mine, for sure in the United States. I'm not sure about the world, but United States for sure. Hey, if you're liking this video, make sure to give me the old Thumbs up to show that you approve. It's the best way you can contribute to me reaching more people in YouTube land. Thanks, let's talk about gear again. We'll work our way up from the bottom.
Speaker 1:
You definitely want to dress appropriately for the conditions. I Don't know the exact temperature right now. I can find out in just a second from my go V thermometer. I have my snowshoes, of course. Those are the Wild Horned Delanos XZ, I believe, 28 inch, got bugaboo 3 Columbia boots on top, winter boots. These pants I have on our insulated pants and In case I had to sit down the snow or fell or something like that, I wanted to wear these because they are insulated. I usually use these for ski pants but they're pretty good outdoor winter pants as well. From Arctic. I'll definitely call this stuff below so you can check it out.
Speaker 1:
My top here outdoor vitals Ventus hoodie, tested at the other day Works great for outdoor Conditions down to about 30 degrees or so. I just have a little layer underneath it like a. It's just a starter Wicking layer. I am sweating a little bit but it's things venting pretty well. But I'll appeal pretty much the entire time. I've left the parking lot down there on the trail.
Speaker 1:
The hat I have on just an outdoor research beanie. We've got some gloves on, gloves on heat factory. It's a wool Fingerless mitten but it has a part that it comes over so you can. If you get cold you can put your hands in there. That way I have the dexterity and it also has stenciled in there for extra warmth. They have a shema gone right here. Keep my neck warm.
Speaker 1:
The poles you don't really have to have poles, use these for hiking. These are just regular Ozark trail. So they're Walmart aluminum poles. They do come with a snow basket, which I have not ever put on them until recently when I hiked my last hike in the snow. They're not very expensive and they have served me well. I've put hundreds of miles on this particular set of poles.
Speaker 1:
Anyway, let's go on down the trail here and see what else we can find. All right, the go VI. Current temperature 27.8. Humidity 90.6. It's cold.
Speaker 1:
From here you can pretty much see the entirety of lead, at least the northern half. There's a head frame up there. I believe that is the Yates Head frame over there. I'm through the trees. Let me go forward a little bit so you can see better. The open cut is over here to the right Main Street. You can hear traffic on is going. That way you can see where Main Street goes right through here. According to this, I'm point 2 in, but according to my watch, I'm point 4 in, so I'm not sure which one's right.
Speaker 1:
Anyway, I'm gonna keep going down the trail. Okay, looks like some kind of bird or something. Something very lightweight walked right here in these tracks and right off of the snow here. Somebody's walked here before, relatively recently, and there's some little tracks right there. Maybe not a bird, maybe it's some kind of a chipmunk.
Speaker 1:
Hey, so I made it to the end of the trail for the city of lead, 1.3 miles in. I came from that way, so I'm gonna head back Not too hard to walk downhill. There are some Cleats that I showed you in the beginning of the video. I'm gonna grip the Snow and help you from not sliding down. But we're reaching the end of this Adventure for today. I sure hope you've enjoyed it.
Speaker 1:
Let me give you my final thought before you go Snow shooing. I'm not gonna lie to you and say it wasn't a lot of work. I Went the entire length of the trail that's within the city limits of lead, which is 1.3 miles. One way I was out there about An hour and a half went a total of 2.6 miles. It was a workout, but I can't imagine what it would have been like without snow shoes, because without them you would have sink in the snow. You have any questions, comments, leave them below and Love to see those and answer those for you, and let me know if you've been snow shooing and and what's your thoughts are on it. Okay, take care, I will see you Out on the trail until next time.