Simply Living in the Northwoods: Windigo Snowshoe Stomp

Pete and I had a great time checking out a new trail system just 5 minutes from the house during a special event they held the other week. Their facebook page says it all, "The WinMan Trails are a new network of silent sport trails located in Winchester, WI. Spanning 1300 acres of private land and public Northern Highlands American Legion State Forest recreation land, the WinMan Trails offer opportunities for mountain biking, hiking, classic skiing, skate skiing, and snowshoeing."

They hosted a snowshoe race with a Windigo theme.

Sounds a little scary.

It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon and the thermometer was finally reading above zero. I think it was 18 degrees; practically t-shirt weather.

Here's Pete

According to Ojibwa folklore a Windigo is " . . .a large creature, as tall as a tree, with a lipless mouth and jagged teeth. Its breath was a strange hiss, its footprints full of blood, and it ate any man, woman or child who ventured into its territory. And those were the lucky ones. Sometimes, the Windigo chose to possess a person instead, and then the luckless individual became a Windigo himself, hunting down those he had once loved and feasting upon their flesh." (http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/07/windigo.html)

Here's 1 of 3 Windigos along the trail.

The snowshoe race was a timed event, but you could also register for the Fur Chaser event that was a little less competitive. The objective was to collect pieces of fur from all three Windigos along the trail.