If you are an outdoors person you may be interested in finding ways to travel over snow in the winter. This is of interest to people who want to extend their camping, fishing, or hunting season. Traveling to the best camping, hunting, or fishing areas may take you far away from any plowed roads.
You may not only want to access these more hard to reach snow covered areas. You may also need to bring your camping, fishing, and hunting gear along which makes traveling over snow more difficult. Towing sleds can be practical as long as the terrain is more flat than hilly since towing weight uphill can be quite a challenge in deep snow.
Here are some ways to travel over snow:
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#1 Cross Country Ski’s
Cross country skiing was used by the Fins in “the winter war” against the much larger invading Soviet army. Their skill of using skis put them at a tactical advantage due to their ease of maneuverability over snow. While our country may not be at war, cross country skiing is still an effective way to move over snow.
Skis shine where you are traveling back and forth over an established route, such as from your campsite to your ice fishing location on a lake or back and forth to your wood supply area. Once a ski breaks trail there is really no un-motorized way to travel more quickly and easily over snow.
Skis are also effective in alpine locations since you can tack up steep mountains comfortably due to the narrowness of the ski.
There are various styles of skis available. Some are used specifically for backcountry use and these tend to be shorter and wider in order to be maneuverable in the bush and are effective over unbroken trails.
#2 Snowshoes
A snowshoe is a traditional method for crossing deep snow. A snowshoe is very effective if you are trudging through deep brush or are working around camp in deep snow. A snowshoe is not as fast on the straightaway as a ski would be on a broken trail.
There are various styles of snowshoe. For really deep powdered snow it is better to go with a traditional style snowshoe such as a beavertail or a bear paw. These snowshoes have a large surface area to keep you from sinking down.
#3 Snowmobile
A snowmobile can be a great machine for reaching extremely remote areas in the bush. A snowmobile combined with a sled can tow your camping and fishing equipment around including areas that are uphill saving you more time and energy for the activities you like.
#4 Snow Dog
A Snow Dog is basically a crawler style vehicle that is produced in North America. The advantage of a snow dog over a snowmobile is it can travel over both snowy and summer terrain. Since it is towing you the snow dog can travel into areas that a snowmobile may struggle in. You also do not need an operators license in many areas like you do a snowmobile.
This is a very powerful machine that is also portable. If you get the compact model you can easily fit it into the trunk of your SUV, large hatchback car or pick up truck bed. Its max speed is around 30km per hour so it isn’t a speed machine, think of it more as a work horse that can tow thousands of pounds of gear and people behind it.
There are other versions of crawlers other than the Snow Dog which is a particular brand. Some people make their own machines from spare snowmobile parts and lawnmower parts or other common machines.
#5 Dog Sled
Dog sledding is a traditional way to travel long distances over snow. Unlike a machine which can break down, dogs are extremely reliable. Of course there is much training and work involved with dog sledding, however those who use dogs to get around not only see the fun reasons for doing so but as a practical way to travel in the north.