Liberty Mountain Resort: Winter Trails and Lots of Smiles! {Liberty Mountain Resort, Carroll Valley, PA}

WOW! What a great day it was yesterday at Liberty! We enjoyed beautiful bue skies, lots of sunshine, powdery fresh snow and plenty of smiling faces. It certainly was a fabulous day to be on the mountain, and I am pretty sure most everyone can agree.

Not only was yesterday filled with all the goodies mentioned above, but also Winter Trails activities and fun. At no charge, guests had the opportunity to learn about winter fitness and demo snowshoes. People of all ages enjoyed the various activities and learned a lot about having healthy and safe outdoor fun during the winter months.

First up: Nutrition and Hydration. It's important to get a nice balance of carbs, protein and fat before participating in winter fitness activities, like skiing and snowboarding. Good food choices include pastas, potatoes, oatmeal, rice, bread, corn, and fibrous veggies and fruits. Water is also a good choice. Just like other indoor and outdoor sports, winter activities offer great workouts which means the body needs a lot of fluids. Drink water, before, during and after. Read more here.

Now that your body is fueled with good food and water, it's time to stretch and prepare the muscles. How many of you are guilty of not stretching correctly or at all before a physical activity? Winter Trails suggests a good ten-minute stretch before activity and a nice trip to the hot tub or hot shower afterwards to soothe muscles. Hot tub or hot shower - that's an easy one to follow! Read more here.

Dressing warm for winter - probably one of the most common mistakes among people when particpating in outdoor activities during the winter months. Wearing multiple layers gives you the ability to add and remove as your body temperature changes. Winter sports participants typically wear three different layers - wicking, insulating and protection. Don't forget about headwear, sunglasses or goggles and socks - all very important. Read more here.

Special guests, our friends from the local Strawberry Hill Nature Preserve, talked about winter hiking and camping. Why let the cold temps and winter weather keep you from enjoying such activities. Visit Strawberry Hill's website to learn more.

Strawberry Hill also brought their furry friend Norm for Winter Trails.

Now for the crowd pleaser - snowshoeing! Snowshoeing is another great way to enjoy the snow and participate in winter fitness. People use snowshoeing for hiking, aerobic conditioning and recreation. Don't coop yourself up in a gym during the winter months. Try snowshoeing!

The snowshoe reps had lots of snowshoes on-site for our guests to demo.

This group had such a great time snowshoeing, they deserve two pictures!

Smiles for snowshoeing!

Aaahhh...a relaxing winter scene.

After participating in all the Winter Trails activities, guests were awarded a special certificate from the President's Council for completing the President's Challenge.