i want to go hike up at harriman with snow shoes. can you give me a newbies guide to buying and stuff?
I bought a pair of msr brand snow shoes last year. I love it. Like mtb'ing it gets me outside and exercising. And I do it in the same parks (and more!!). Not nearly as good of a workout but f' it....it's exercise nonetheless.
Here's a link to the models sold by msr. I did a decent amount of research before I bought last year and it seems msr was the most highly rated (or at least best for the $)....
http://www.backcountry.com/Store/catalog/search.jsp?q=Snow shoes&p=brand:MSR&nf=1&sort=+price
If I recall correctly, the evo 22 is their entry level shoe. It got VERY good reviews! I decided to get the lighting (since it had an additional feature or two and was on sale)
A tip or two:
(1) make sure to buy one that fits your weight (don't buy a shoe rated for people under 125 if you weigh 200 or you'll sink). With that said, I purposely bought a shoe that was slightly on the small side for me since I figured the weight ratings were based on places in the country where people are walking through 3 feet of powder and that you just don't need the same amount of "float" in central nj. That hunch was right. Also, they sell attachments you can attach to the back of the shoe to give you extra "float". I believe this was one of the features that people really liked about msr. I haven't found the need as we haven't had really deep snow yet but at least the option is there.
(2) use poles. More of a full body workout as they make you use your arms. I find my triceps are sore afterwards . Plus, they help in uneven terrain. I use a pair of hand-me-down ski poles. But they sell ridiculously overpriced retractable, snowshoeing-specific poles
(3) when there is snow onthe ground Monmouth county parks rents them out in Thompson park in lincroft so you can give it a try before buying. I think they have the evos there as well.
I made the trip up to campmor to buy mine as they had a HUGE selection and a salesperson who seemed to know what he was talking about.