Snowshoe Saturday
This special snowshoe trek is being offered by La Crescent-Hokah Community Education and Houston Community Education. For registration and snowshoe rental information please visit their web site. Weather and snow cover permitting, this event will be at the farm of Gary and Anita Wilson. It is located 3 miles west of Houston, MN just off highway 16, between Houston and Rushford. Turn onto Red Oak Lane and drive about a half mile through the farm site and back into the valley. Our house is at the end of the road. Drive time is about 20 minutes from La Crescent. Participants can choose from 3 different treks shown in the Fitbit maps below. Trek times are estimated at 45, 80 and 110 minutes. The valley trek is the easiest and will avoid the big hills, following logging roads through hardwood forests and across open fields. On the single and double climb we will immediately take a steep bluff road up to Oak Ridge, follow the ridge for a ways and then descend back into the valley. Once in the valley, participants can follow the valley back to our starting point or go back up to Oak Ridge via a different route. On this climb everyone will be given the option of making their own trail to the top. This is Bluff Country snowshoeing at it’s best! No roads, no trails, just following whatever trail presents itself. Once to the top we will continue across Oak Ridge and follow another trail back into the valley and our starting point. After the first group returns we will have a warm place available, along with hot chocolate, and a restroom. Let's hope January provides some good snow cover!
If you have any questions about the planned routes, dates or difficulty, please email us at gmw@acegroup.cc.
Valley Trek
This trek takes about 45 minutes. (Updated 1/23/16).
Single CLIMB OAK RIDGE TREK
This trek takes about 80 minutes. (Updated 1/23/16).
Double Climb Oak Ridge Trek
The starting point is the same as the Single Climb Oak Ridge Trek. After descending back into the valley at the one mile marker this trek goes straight up the hill and back to Oak Ridge. During this climb everyone will have a chance to create their own trail to the top. It then follows the ridge past mile marker 2 before descending back into the valley. This trek will take about 110 minutes. (Updated 1/23/16).