If ever there was a winter to channel your inner Bigfoot, this is it.

With Sunday's new snowfall adding a fresh layer to the thick blanket that's accumulated from the past few storms, the wintry white landscape won't be changing any time soon. For practical as well as recreation reasons, people around the region are rediscovering the ancient device known as snowshoes, leaving trails of giant footprints across fields and forest trails.

"I've been snowshoeing a lot this winter, just to get from my back door to the garage," Maggie Jones, executive director of the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center, said Sunday, as she prepared for a short trek through the center's Coogan Farm property in Mystic.

At Eastern Mountain Sports in Waterford, snowshoe rentals have been brisk for several weeks, and inventory for sale has been sold out since Christmas, said James Smith, floor supervisor. The store rents pairs of snowshoes for $25 per day.

"We've had to go to taking reservations a few days in advance," he said. "We've had school groups rent out our entire selection a few days."

Some of the places snowshoers have been making tracks this winter include Bluff Point State Park in Groton, Devil's Hopyard in East Haddam, and the section of the Airline Trail that goes from Colchester to Willimantic, Smith said.

While this has also been a good winter for cross-country skiing, snowshoeing is the better option for steep, icy terrain, when the metal teeth on the bottoms of modern models provide traction. Plus it's easier, Jones said.

"Snowshoeing is just putting one foot in front of the other," she said. "There's very little technique involved. You can do it with or without poles. There's no better way to warm up outside than to just get moving."

Just about any place where there are trails or walking paths is good for snowshoeing, she said, including Rocky Neck State Park in East Lyme, Harkness Memorial State Park in Waterford, and Avalonia Land Conservancy properties throughout the region.

Last week, Jones ventured over the trails at Oswegatchie Hills in Niantic on snowshoes, a trek that would not have been doable on skis, she said.

Snowshoes and skiers both have been coming to the Coogan Farm and other nature center properties often this winter both on their own and for organized events, including a Valentine's Day snowshoe walk on the farm on Saturday.

"We saw bobcat and fox and fishercat prints on the walk yesterday," she said.

j.benson@theday.com

Twitter: @BensonJudy