Happy New Year Hikers,

If your year has started out anything like ours, you've invested in a good set of icers and hiking poles -- maybe even snowshoes. Winter's not going anywhere soon -- and winter hiking has been a bit of a challenge. We headed west to Vancouver Island to seek a little warmth, and instead watched as the biggest snowflakes we've ever seen fell relentlessly from the sky. Undeterred, we did manage to get a hike or two in. Here's the latest article from the Hiking & Backpacking site at BellaOnline.com.

Goldstream Provincial Park
A coastal hiking retreat mere minutes from B.C.'s capital city of Victoria.

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art8836.asp

If you've had a winter hiking experience you'd like to share, I'd love to read about it in the forum!

Cheers,
Megan

Megan Kopp, Hiking & Backpacking Editor
http://hiking.bellaonline.com