4 Splurges and 4 Steals for Your Family’s Winter Fun

If you can walk, you can snowshoe. Once you master a few awkward maneuvers (pro tip: you can’t walk backward), you’re rewarded with the winter wonderland of Northwest mountain trails. Gear is affordable, too. 

• Splurge: Don’t bother packing a thermos of hot cocoa for this trip. It’s already there in the luxury travel van provided by Evergreen Escapes. The tour also includes an experienced nat-uralist guide, all the gear you’ll need, a family-style picnic lunch with a bottle of local wine, expert in-struction on snowshoeing and a natural history lesson perfect for any age. Small group tours are 10 and over; private tours are all ages. Cost: $229 per person 
• Steal: On Saturday and Sundays from January to March, join a wildness ranger for a 90-minute snow-shoe hike in the Mount Baker–Snoqualmie National Forest. Tours start at 10 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. from the Snoqualmie Pass Visitor Center. Perfect for beginners, the hike goes for a mile through old-growth forest; snowshoes and poles provided. Be sure to call for a reservation. Cost: Free, with a suggested donation of $15 per adult, $10 per child