Hey Pack Mule,
I don't see the need for snowshoes. It is possible by the weekend that the North Fork will be in rough shape causing you to travel on rotten snow, bush whack, partial summer trail, etc. Your best option to avoid as much of this as possible is to stay as far south as possible on the snow, the middle part of the canyon is melting out fast and getting difficult to travel on. These were the conditions I found last weekend and it is only going to get worse before it gets better.
Just my two cents
