Exploring Cedar Breaks: A Snowshoeing Adventure Through Utah's Hidden Winter Gem

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Snowshoeing through Cedar Breaks National Monument reveals a transformed winter landscape with deep snow and beautiful vistas of the amphitheater from the North overlook. Though faced with a canceled ranger-led hike, this solo adventure showcases the accessibility and beauty of winter exploration in this southern Utah gem.

• Snowshoeing requires minimal investment compared to other winter sports (approximately $50 for quality snowshoes)
• Proper winter gear includes ski bibs, soft-shell jackets, thermal layers, and windproof headwear
• Even with snowshoes, expect to sink slightly in fresh powder that's at least a foot deep
• The boundary between Dixie National Forest and Cedar Breaks offers diverse terrain for exploration
• Modern snowshoes feature claws for traction and special kicks for uphill climbing
• Winter adventurers should bring water and snacks to maintain energy while snowshoeing

If you enjoyed this video, please give it a thumbs up so we can reach more people on YouTube. Do you have questions about snowshoeing or Cedar Breaks? Send us an email, and I'll see you on the trail!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello there.
This is Craig the Natural Medic, and I am in Cedar Breaks
National Monument in the middleof winter, february 15, 2025.
There's supposed to be aranger-led hike today.
Unfortunately, it was cancelled.
We're going to go explore theCedar Breaks National Monument

(00:24):
by snowshoe.
The amphitheater at the Northoverlook is behind me.
Beautiful day, even though it'scold and snowy and windy.
I'm gonna make the best of itand enjoy how people with me all
right, you can see how deep thesnow is here, just walking
along the roadside towards theentrance sign.

(00:46):
There's another parking area,or overlook over here on top of
the hill.
Look how snowy it is, thoughit's crazy.
Hey, are you enjoying thisvideo?
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Thanks, give it a thumbs up sowe can get out to more people on
youtube.
Thanks, almost to the entrancesign.

(01:06):
I feel like it's a good pointto turn around and come back.
I'm pretty warm, except for myface, this convertible hat thing
that I have.
It's not very windproof.
The wind is pretty biting today.
It's not very windproof.
The wind is pretty biting today.

(01:26):
Other than that, I feel great.
Made it up here to the boundarysign, the Dixie National Forest
, and on the other side thatsays Cedar Breaks.
Let's take a look.
So there's Dixie NationalForest sign From the north
overlook, I'm not really surehow far that is, but on the

(01:47):
other side it says Cedar Bricks.
Isn't that cool.
I'm going to walk over here tothe little information panel and
see what it says.
This is the boundary of theNational Forest and the park
National Monument.

(02:08):
This side is the NationalForest and down this way, down
Gorge over this is the NationalForest.
You don't need a whole lot to gosnowshoeing and it's pretty low
cost.
You don't have to pay a liftticket or anything like that,

(02:32):
and it's just.
I don't have them either.
I bought mine off of amazon thelast year.
At the time of last year theywere around 50 for the large
size for me, because I'm sixfoot and about 200 something
pounds and 28 inch laying thoseprints for me.
A 28-inch length was printedfor me.
The way I wear here is similarto what I wear skiing, proskutty
or downhill.
I've got a ski bib Underneaththat.

(02:56):
I've got a soft-shell jacket,jeans, lightweights, underwear,
fleece socks, city gloves.
I have fleece socks, citygloves.
I have a fleece hat on, whichis not very wind-resistant but
it's still pretty warm.
A lot of places in thewintertime if you're used to
hiking, sometimes if they'resnowy, like Cedar Bricks is

(03:18):
snowing like half of the yearI'm going to love our agenda.
For you to see Other places,eric, wintertime yeah.
For you to see other placeshere in Kwaratan yeah, you can
definitely see these tracks here.
Somebody was koshkunchy skiingin here.
You can see their pole marksand the ski marks.
It's like they skied in hereand turned around and went back.
But the forest is reallybeautiful.

(03:38):
Look at all the spruce and fir.
I'm assuming that's justcovered in snow and the snow is
pretty deep.
It's probably where I put mypole down.
It's probably at least a footdeep.
I don't know what the baselayer is All right.
So even though cross-countryskis will go over some of this

(04:01):
stuff, it's difficult forsnowshoes because we have fresh
powder.
I've got about a foot of powder.
You're just sinking, even insnowshoes.
At one point my snowshoe cameoff I didn't have it quite tight
enough and my left one came off.
I couldn't really film thatpart, but I was struggling to
get that on.

(04:22):
Here we are going out.
See you on the other side,coming back over the ridge out
of Ashdown Wilderness and backtowards the entrance sign for
the Forest Service.
You can see over here is thepark, national Park, cedar

(04:43):
Bricks.
There's a row of posts, thisboundary marking sign, and way
down there Just hike backtowards the parking area.
Make sure you stay tuned forsome tips and tricks about
selecting and using yoursnowshoes.
You can almost see the vehiclewhere it's parked.

(05:03):
It's actually straight ahead,so almost back and off of the
trail.
You're definitely going to sweatwhen you're doing this.
You're going to want to havesome snacks and water available,
just like you would on anyother outdoor expedition.

(05:25):
Keep yourself hydrated andplenty of energy.
Even though you do have theselarge things on your feet that
help you, it does require alittle more effort, in my
opinion, to get through the snow.
You can definitely see, eventhough I have these on, I'm

(05:48):
still sinking into the snow alittle bit, but I'm not sinking
as much as I would if I didn'thave them on.
It's possible to go out hereand hike.
However, you'd be doing a lotof post-hulling and going deep

(06:15):
in that snow, so snowshoes cangive you that edge.
You can have some congestion inthe back, but you may need to
put it on.
He has to make merry in theback here for the next.
This is such a good cannon Tosupport myself.
I want to have a sense ofactivism.
You have claws underneath.
You want to be careful aboutwalking on hard surfaces like

(06:37):
asphalt or like we are on thisgravel surface, because they can
bend.
You can see the ice.
There's ice in the tread ofwhere you're walking.
Mine have the same thing, alsohas a kick right here, but
they're used in Pills.
You're tough when you're inthem.
You can't go up the hills.
Okay, back in the vehicle and Icall it a successful trip.

(07:02):
What did you think about this?
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Any questions about this areaor snowshoeing?
Make sure to leave thosecomments below.
I hope you enjoyed thisadventure and until next time
I'll see you on the trail.