February 17 2008
More Articles Related to BlogThis morning was several degrees below zero Fahrenheit (-20° C) with a foot (.3 meters) of fresh snow; perfect for another day of snowshoeing, observation, and practicing survival skills in the winter forest.
Snowshoeing in Deep Snow
When the depth of snow is more than a few feet, both man and animal has a difficult time traveling on foot, paw, or hoof. This is because in general snow will not hold the weight of heavy objects. As a result we sink in with every step, often up to our waist. In deep snow travel for any distance without some sort of aid is nearly impossible.
The snowshoe hare has the right idea; distribute your weight over a large enough area and you can walk on top of the snow while the other animals sink; including predators such as the fox, coyote, wolf and man.
And so snowshoes have been invented. Strap what are in effect big paws onto your own feet and you too can walk on top of the snow instead of sinking in deeply.
Originally snowshoes were made from strips of hide and supple woods. Knowing how to make snowshoes was a fine art and many examples of this fine wilderness survival gear remain today. Although modern technology has changed the materials snowshoes are made from, the basic physics remain the same. Reading the Survival Topic on how to make snowshoes could save your life should you find yourself stranded in snow country and have to walk out.
Walking in deep snow even on snowshoes is still a challenging task. If the snow is fresh you will still sink in a foot or more, each laborious step requiring five times the effort of a normal step unencumbered by snowshoe and snow. Often walking through deep snow on snowshoes will leave your body gasping for breath as oxygen and energy requirements soar. Several hours of that and it can feel as though you have just run a marathon and indeed you have in terms of total energy expenditure even though you may have traveled only a couple of miles.
However soon after snowshoeing over fresh snow the compacted snow will harden and become able to bear more weight. The next person who passes over the same trail will have a much easier time of it. After a number of snowshoers have passed over the same trail it can become hard enough to hold a man walking upon it without snowshoes.
Conservation of Energy is Key to Survival
Winter wilderness survival experts of the first order, the local wildlife knows how to survive in the harshest conditions of food scarcity and cold temperatures. When the snow becomes deep in the winter forest the animals have a very difficult time in moving about as they sink with every step. With sparse food and deep cold tapping into their precious energy reserves, the animals find packed snowshoe trails excellent highways in which to travel through the forest.
Often when you come upon snowshoe tracks through the forest you will find they have become animal highways. You can see where the animals have come upon the trail as they plunged through deep snow; finding the packed trail easy going, they often continue along it for long distances. This saves them precious energy and time in their continual search for food through the long cold winter.
The Snowshoe Trail Highway
In the first picture you can see me snowshoeing up a trail I made yesterday. Even though there is another layer of fresh snow on top of the old trail, the going is much easier since it is at least partially packed. Like the animals I find this preferable to breaking out a new trail through the deep snow.
The animals always leave behind clues they have been there. Today I came upon moose tracks on top of my old snowshoe tracks, moose droppings, where a coyote marked his territory with an odiferous squirt (don’t eat the yellow snow), and further along coyote scat consisting mainly of deer fur.
The information the animals leave behind is very useful to the wilderness survivor. This tells me the moose are moving but the deer are not; otherwise I would have seen deer tracks on the snowshoe trail. It’s likely that the snow has become too deep for the deer to efficiently move through and so they have yarded up in protected areas of these mountains.
The coyote scat full of deer fur means there is a deer carcass somewhere in the area. The harsh winter has claimed a victim that in turn feeds the other animals.
By observing the predators and the scavengers the wilderness survivor can gain valuable information and perhaps even a meal. If I were hunting for survival food I might decide to set up an ambush along the snowshoe trail where the animals are likely to follow it.
Wilderness Survival Observation
A larrge part of wilderness survival saavy is the ability to observe your surroundings and make use of the information you obtain. Knowing that wildlife will utilize snowshoe trails rather than flounder through deep snow can be used to your advantage.
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