Trip to Big Bear Lake Area


That trip was a "quickie" - let my wife and kids skiing in Snow Valley, and took off with my friend Vlad (a formerly proud owner of a '96 Grand Cherokee, now jealous "me-too" companion) and my airedale puppy Teddy. I did a little research to figure out where all the 4x4 folks hang around, so no time was wasted looking for fun. Turned north off Highway 38 at forgot-the-name road. It seemed to be quite a bit of traffic - "off-road" mostly means flat graded dirt road there. Soon, we got bored seeing kids being taught to drive by respectable dads in $30+k rigs (gotta be more tolerant, fella, your only difference is that your rig don't cost nuthin but pain). There seemed to be a trail going skywards from the road, looking very steep (20 degrees maybe?), sprinkled with mud and melting snow. Vlad wasn't exactly sure we'd make it, so hubs went locked, 4WD engaged, and low range lever yanked. The jeep made it barely above the idle, never even spinning the wheel! The trail - apparently abandoned fire road - went consistently up the slope, sometimes almost disappearing in the bushes or snow. Fallen trees caused us to look for by-passes, sometimes narrow to a point of flipping the mirror flat.
We didn't bother taking many photos; these two were made at the top of the DelMar Peak. The road continued farther, but gradually became harder to pass - fallen trees every few hundred feet, over a foot of snow, and by-passes more difficult to come by. We found it the right occasion to take a hike - Pacific Crest Trail snakes just about 300 yards from the mountain top.
From the trail you can see Big Bear Lake; the scenery is - hate this word - breathtaking. It sounds like you can camp pretty much anywhere in this area (still have to check it out). Two concerns about camping - no running water or creek here, and it is pretty windy.

Here our progress ceased. One fellow had 
definite fun in snow - look at the right photo. 
What a nice break after a couple of hours of 
bouncy ride!		 Not much happening afterwards. Made it back to the dirt road. We spotted a brand new Grand Cherokee all splattered with mud; since we knew where it came from - there wasn't much muck for such a decoration, except for a couple of puddles.Rushed along, dove in one quite fast - very spectacular waves and splash. Apparently, the widetrack Cherokee fender flares do also a great job of keeping the dirt away - there were almost nothing but a few speckles on the rocker panels (though I had to dig the dirt from the oil filter cover!).

   Stopped at a town of Fawnskin for lunch at forgot-the-name restaurant - very nice and relaxing, family-looking place. Sandwiches were good, too. That was the end of our short escape; more will follow. It would be great to come over to Big Bear to camp for a few days.
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Big Bear - July 4, 99