Not everybody is jumping on the bandwagon. Snowshoes are transport. Skis, cross-country skis, are magic. Two snowshoers reach the summit of Round Mountain near St. Huberts. Perhaps, but you'd have to be quite a magician to get your skis to the places I have been on snowshoes, such as Ice Cave Mountain, a small peak south of Old Forge without a marked trail.
Places are more accessible because the undergrowth is gone.
And there are no bugs and few people. There is nothing like a walk in the woods buried in winter silence, where you hear only the whistle of the wind, the hollow sound of your shoe compacting the snow and perhaps the call of a chickadee or tapping of a woodpecker. When you're skiing, you just whip by. Cross-country skiing often is touted as one of the best outdoor pursuits for burning off calories, but even here, snowshoeing refuses to take a powder. Of course, the actual amount of calories expended will vary, depending on terrain, snow conditions and rate of travel.