Topic: Big Bear, 6/10/16 - 6/12/16

[JFanaselle]

Celebrated my birthday a little late by heading up to Big Bear for a weekend of camping, wheeling and exploring with my wife and son, as well as my cousin and his wife. We stayed at Hanna Flat campground, and the weather was perfect all weekend. Some of the trails were a little crowded (compared to, say, the Mojave Road where you almost never see anyone else), but it wasn't bad at all and I was really expecting it to be much worse. There was a huge club of fixed up old broncos up there (I think they were So Cal Broncos), and we couldn't go 200 feet in town or on the trails without seeing a handful of them. Every one of them we talked with was super cool, and it was a great group of guys to be sharing the trails and town with. One guy told us there were "well over 50" of them up there, but I'd say there were more like 200 based on the numbers we were seeing everywhere we went. One morning alone, I saw three different groups of 20-ish (each group) Broncos pass the campground, and then we saw about 30 more when we were in town less than hour later (clearly not the same ones). It was pretty awesome!

This was my son's first "successful" camping trip, and he is hooked for sure! He got the hang of it pretty quickly, and enjoyed playing in the dirt and hanging around the campfire. He also insisted on bringing home his favorite pine cones that he found - all 14 of them. 

Because he was with us, we stuck to the easy/green trails. My favorite run of the weekend was 2N13, which is also known as Snow Slide Road. It ran from the area of the campground all the way into Green Valley Lake, and was a BEAUTIFUL drive. We stopped at one overlook that was about 7500' up, and took in the views. We could see all of the overcast and June gloom below us, and could see it trying to spill over the Cajon Pass into the high desert (and burning off immediately upon cresting the range).

Photos:

Our beautiful campsite:
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Gavin quickly getting the hang of camping:
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The eating was good. But seriously... who needs THAT MUCH... potatoes?!? 
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Exploring the trails:
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[JFanaselle]

After the final run of 2N13, we had some ice cream at the Green Valley Lake Malt Shop, and headed down the mountain. Arrived home early enough on Sunday evening to clean up the rig, even.

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Before:
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After. All clean! (Except somehow I missed one tiny spot on the front driver tire. LOL)
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[beedee]

Man that sounds like a killer birthday weekend! I'm keeping this I mind for a potential weekend getaway for my wife and little one (11months old tomorrow).

Thanks for the write up and pictures!

[Ghost65]

Great pics Joe!

Nice to see that the fire restrictions for BB have been lifted! 

[JFanaselle]

Nice to see that the fire restrictions for BB have been lifted! 

Still in place for yellowpost, unfortunately. They have signs that look pretty permanent posted around the forest saying no fires, so I'm guessing they don't plan to lift those until we get a solid year of good rainfall/snow.

But yeah, at least you can have fires at developed campgrounds at the moment. Last year, it was right around the end of June that the full restrictions went into effect, and I think that was the first time they'd declared that strict of a restriction in many, many years (or maybe ever). With the anti-climactic "El Nino" that happened (or didn't happen) over the winter, we figured they'll put the full restrictions in place again this year as soon as they start to see wildfire activity across the state. So we planned this trip for last weekend knowing it might be our last weekend to get up there and still have a fire. Although I haven't seen any announcements yet about restrictions for this year, and they typically announce them at least a week or two before they take place, so we might have a few more good weeks up there before they shut it down.

Based on the way the weather is shaping up next weekend, it looks like we made the right call getting up there last weekend anyway! 

[knightrider]

From the SBNF website:
November 13, 2015
Wood and charcoal campfires are allowed only in developed campgrounds, picnic areas and Yellow Post campsites within agency-provided fire rings or designated stoves.

You also need a California Campfire Permit but that's free and available online.

I believe(hope) the signs that are posted refer to campfires outside agency provided fire rings.

[JFanaselle]

Interesting. Maybe the yellowpost sites I passed didn't have agency-provided rings? I specifically remember passing one that was labeled "Yellowpost #4" near the intersection of 2N80 and 2N13 that had a big "fire restrictions in effect" sign right outside the yellowpost site. Could just be a coincidence, I guess, since it was an area with an intersection and they try to put those signs in high-traffic areas.

[knightrider]

all yellow posts have agency approved fire rings and a picnic table.  I still believe the signs were referring to fires not being allowed outside the provided fire rings. 

[Sage Bromax]

According to info from the AAT meeting, Big Bear fire restrictions will start July 1.  Already in effect in other forests.