When you live at N50 latitude, winters stretch from early December to the first part of March. Higher elevations become blanketed in snow. It takes a while for the snow to build up to allow good backcountry cross country skiing and snowshoeing and the short days also restrict our week day outdoors activity. Late Shoulder Season is a challenge for outdoors enthusiasts because even though the snow builds up at elevation, getting to that elevation may be a challenge. To enjoy snowshoeing and off-trail cross country skiing, we need a foot of snow and more is even better. So what can we do in Late Shoulder Season (late November until the end of December)?

Winter hiking can be very enjoyable if we are properly dressed and choose the right areas. Keeping our feet warm and dry is the first priority. Use a good hiking boot. If the boots are not weather-proof, then treat the leather with waterproofing. We usually apply Dubbin or a wax-silicone leather treatment to our boots.

Even good hiking boots that are rated as waterproof lose some of the resistance over time, so an annual leather treatment is a good thing to extend the life of the boot. At the same time, we also use a boot repair compound that can be applied to cracks and tears. It fills the gap and hardens, but remains flexible. A must-have for winter hiking are gaiters. No matter how good your boots are, you will step in snow that will come over the top of your boot and if your socks get wet, you will be miserable, Gaiters keep the snow out of your boots. They are light, inexpensive and worth their weight in gold. A toque and gloves are needed and layers is the way to go for everything else. Light layers can be added or taken off once you get warmed up.

Where can you winter hike? You can try anywhere, but two types of hikes work better than others.

• Any well-hiked trail gets stomped down enough to provide good footing to those who follow. The exception to this rule is that some of these routes get stomped down, but can also ice over. Hike these trails until a melt comes. Mount Dufferin Trails are all well-used and make good winter trails.

• Any side or back road that is not driven on becomes a winter hiking corridor. Any of the side roads on the way to Lac le Jeune can be winter hiked. Side tracks off the Lac du Bois Road are another good choice. These same roads will be snowmobiled in winter, but until that time will make a nice winter hike. The Inks Lakes area is a very large network of roads and trails with a good parking area just off the Coquihalla.

So, if the weather is reasonable, winter trails invite hiking right up to snowshoe season. Watch for our tracks in the snow.