Comments on: Please hope us find some snow!

Question: Please hope us find some snow!

M.C. Lo-Carb! — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:17:59 -0800

My wife and I would like to go snowshoeing in Colorado. Next week. Where, if at all, could we find enough snow?

Leaving from Albuquerque, NM, we'd like to take a quickie 3-day trip to Colorado and go snowshoeing somewhere next weekend. Proximity to a town with a hotel would be nice, but not a necessity -- camping in snow is fine. The more off-the-beaten-path, the better -- we have a 4WD and snow-chains, and would gladly drive to avoid crowds of people.

Added difficulty: we're taking our 3 dogs, so national parks are out.

I see plenty of ski reports showing snow accumulation, but it's hard to tell whether that is referring to man-made snow. I can't find any Internet resources that describe natural, real-time snow depth at altitude in, say, Arapaho Natl. Forest or similar. I'm hoping some MeFite living there can provide an on-the-spot report, and maybe even recommend an awesome trail. Or inform me that finding any appreciable snow cover in November is hopeless.

Any ideas?

By: Confess, Fletch

Confess, Fletch — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 19:49:24 -0800

In general it's been a very dry winter, so there isn't much accumulation so far.

I usually go here to get a good idea about general snowpack conditions. But they don't have any data up yet.

I think the short answer is that your not going to have much luck finding a place this early in a dry year.

This is a good place to go in general, but probably not much there yet.

Good luck and maybe somebody has better information than me...

hmmm...Grand Lake might have something this early...dunno though.

By: hortense

hortense — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:43:27 -0800

Saint Mary's Glacier always has some snow.

By: hortense

hortense — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:14:30 -0800

There is snow at Monarch! Garfield is a wide spot in the road with a hotel just below Monarch, plenty of trails to hike from there, the old monarch pass road is a fabulous hike because of the astounding view from top of the divide.

By: M.C. Lo-Carb!

M.C. Lo-Carb! — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:18:22 -0800

A followup - Monarch Pass was awesome!