LINO LAKES, Minn. – (Jan. 22, 2015) – The great outdoors in winter in Minnesota. While some people avoid it as much as possible, the team at Wargo Nature Center hopes to introduce more people to some of the outdoor activities you can do all season long at their 15th annual Snow Day.
“The idea behind snow day was simply to get people outside. Give them a sampling of winter recreational activities that we do here at Wargo Nature Center: snowshoeing, cross country skiing, kicksledding. We do ice fishing around the lake. We have some indoor crafty things in case it’s cold. We do a bonfire, let people do some smores,” said Anoka County Parks recreation specialist Todd Murawski. One popular activity every year is snowshoeing.
“So the idea of snowshoes is when you have a lot of snow instead of stepping in the snow and sinking all the way down the idea of the snowshoe is to spread out your weight. So you have this whole surface area now that your weight is being spread out. So instead of sinking all the way through the snow you still sink in but you don’t sink as far so you’re saving that energy of lifting your foot out of the snow. So the surface area spreads your weight out and your able to walk not on top of the snow but more on top of the snow than you would if you didn’t have snowshoes on,” said Murawksi.
Todd says that they can fit all sizes of people into all sizes of snowshoes. “We have a variety of snowshoes depending on the size of the participant. Not a ton of snow, but when we have enough snow we’ll take them out on the lake to get the feel of it and it’s a great workout because it works those leg muscles and stuff. Muscles you’ve never used before,” said Murawski. While snowshoeing, along with ice fishing and cross country skiing are relatively common activities, Wargo Nature Center has something planned that most people have never heard of.
“We call it Norwegian kicksledding because it originated in Norway and they still do it in Norway. Back in the day, it’s been around for hundreds of years, it was a practical thing. They used it as a way to literally transport groceries and travel,” said Murawski. Think of it kind of like snow skateboarding. “You’re literally kicking. We have rails on the bottom of the sled so it’s kind of like a skateboard. You get pushing and kicking and then you hop on the kicksled and it glides for you. The advantage is if you’re moving a long ways our icy ground or a lake or something you can transport someone or groceries or whatever and get yourself moving and sliding so you’re now walking across that ice the whole time,” said Murawski.
On Snow Day, they tend to take a more fun option, and bring the kicksled down a hill. While the event highlights many fun outdoor opportunities, it is also, of course, at the mercy of mother nature. “Some years we’ve had snow. Some years we have not had any snow. Even those years we have had no snow, literally bare ground, we still get a couple hundred people to come out because we still have our activities inside like our animal presentation, bonfire, we can still ice fish, we come up with a few other games on the lake. Some years it’s just been incredibly cold out and even those years or a couple years ago it was 22 degrees below zero wind chill and we had folks that literally snow shoed out onto the lake cause they were prepared and they ice fished,” said Murawski.
So, whatever the whether brings, Wargo Nature Center will be ready for fun on Snow Day. The events will take place on Jan. 31 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. More information on Wargo Nature Center Snow Day can be found here.
