The Sweatiest I've Ever Been in March, aka My First Snowshoeing Trip

After several weekends of hibernating with Netflix on my couch, I decided to be a real Coloradan and embrace winter. I have been cleared to walk as much as I want to, so I taped up my ankle and hit the trail!

I was actually really pleased by how well the basics I learned from REI served me, except for one giant thing I forgot. POLES. Please don't try to snowshoe without them - your legs will thank you.

Thanks to Google, I found Bent Gate Rental in Golden, where my boyfriend and I rented out snowshoes and got powder tails put on them all for $24, which coincidentally is the price of one rental at REI. REI killed it with the basics of snowshoeing class, but their rentals are super pricey, so if you're headed in the direction of Golden, Bent Gate is your best bet. Jax is near Fort Collins, and there's an even cheaper place up in Estes Park if you want to hit RMNP.

Anyways, Bent Gate is right on the way to Golden Gate State Park, where we were headed, and also next door to the one of the best pizza places EVER. If you don't stop at Woody's after a long day on the trail, you are a fool.

Golden Gate is another wonderful state park within an hour from Denver. It took us a little longer since we went to the main entrance of the park for some trail recommendations, and then had to drive all the way around to the trailhead at Rifleman Phillips Campground. Apparently, you can just drive to the campground straight from Denver:

What we did instead was stop at the Visitor's center and then went west, north, and back east to get to the trailhead (yellow circle). Our drive is outlined in blue. Obviously much longer, but the drive was really pretty and stopping at the Visitor's Center was great for us first-timers.

The full version of this map can be found here on CPW's website.