Journeys›Photograph

Weekend Escape to Big Bear Lake

·Big Bear Lake, California·#road-trip#hiking#summer#dog#mountains
A child stands on a submerged rock in a narrow lake surrounded by tall evergreen trees and a bright sky.

A weekend escape to Big Bear, and we put most of it into the Pine Knot Trail — it starts at the Aspen Glen Picnic Area off Mill Creek Road, about three miles each way on plain dirt, climbing from just under 6,900 feet to almost 7,800.

My daughter treated the whole trail as an obstacle course. Early on she picked her way out to a rock sitting just off the shore, next to an old stump that erosion has left standing on its bare roots like legs. Later a big downed pine, half its branches snapped off, and she scrambled up the trunk and perched there grinning until I made her come down.

The dog handled the granite better than expected — up on top of a boulder with her, leash trailing all the way down the face, standing there like she'd done the climbing herself. Wildflowers along parts of the trail, lake showing through the pines here and there. Six miles round trip is a lot for short legs, but nobody complained until the last stretch.

A child stands on a rock in a calm lake surrounded by tall pine trees under a partly cloudy sky.A child squats on a large fallen tree trunk in a forest, holding a stick and smiling.A smiling child squats on a large fallen tree trunk in a lush forest with a blue sky.A person sits next to a light brown dog on a large, mossy rock with pine trees and a blue sky in the background.A child squats next to a dog on a large rock covered in lichen, with pine trees and a cloudy blue sky.A child squats next to a dog on a large rock covered in lichen, with pine trees and a blue sky.

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