Louie Welcome's us to Big Bear: BP, Lucky and Mojo at Boulder Bay
Our family looked forward with great anticipation to spending our summer vacation at Mountainaire. We had two specific requests from the kids; they wanted to hike, and they wanted to fish. Hiking and fishing might not be the first thing you think to do with an 8, 4 and 1.5 year old, but we had our minds set on making it a memorable trip for all.
We drove up the back way to avoid any potential car sickness issues. Despite the extra mileage we find this to be the most convenient way up, and it definitely reduces the chances of having someone ‘gromit’, as it’s come to be known in our family. We took it easy for the remainder of day one to let everyone get acclimated. The girls broke out the girly Lincoln Log set and set me to work putting it together. Meanwhile, Lucky explored the cabin and made a new friend (a giant stuffed moose), though it took about an hour before he would go anywhere near it.
Day two found us heading out to hike Pine Knot trail. Well, initially we set out to hike it. After a drive around the entire lake we were hoping to just find it. A stop back at the cabin to re-check the internet and we had found our mistake. Our mistake was reading the directions off of someone’s hiking blog. When they said turn right what they meant was turn left. In any case, if you are looking for the Pine Knot trail you can find it by heading toward the dam from the cabin and making a left on Mill Creek Rd (just past the Alpine Slide area). It takes about 5 minutes to get there, unless you feel like a drive around the lake first. Then it’s about 45 minutes. Another helpful piece of information is that the Big Bear Discovery Center and the Ranger Stations are closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. That’s probably a good thing if you are a California tax payer, unless you are a California tax payer in Big Bear looking for directions or trail information. Still, it was an adventure and in relatively short order (about an hour and a half) we found ourselves at the trail head.
Stopped for lunch on the Pine Knot Trail
The Pine Knot Trail is a pretty 3 mile hike up that takes you up an additional 1400ft to get an even more majestic view of the lake. As it turns out, our 8, 4 and 1.5 year olds could only manage about 1.5 miles of the hike up before we ate lunch and headed back down the mountain. Even though we only made it half way the kids still had a plenty of opportunity to discover all kinds of rocks, walking sticks and pine cones. At our lunch spot Krista and the girls climbed some large rocks at the top of the hill and were afforded quite a view of the lake below. The view and the rock climbing were apparently so impressive that I could not head back without seeing it myself, and soon the girls and I were on our way to ascend the rocks together as well. Our lunch spot also gave us the only photo of the family photographer who, with the clever use of a rock and the automatic timer, was able to manage a family photo op.
Lucky fading fast
Lucky faded fast after lunch and with the warm sun and a full tummy didn’t remain awake much longer after this photo was taken. Thankfully he was awake long enough to see some guys come through on off-road motorcycles, which I’m pretty sure was the highlight of the day for him. Well, that and the Doritos.
If you’d like to know more about the Pine Knot Trail you can find more info here (just don’t follow their directions): http://www.localhikesbeta.com/Hikes/Pine-Knot-Trail-San-Bernardino-National-Forest-39
Our second mandate was to find an opportunity to fish. We really had no idea how this was going to go. How long will they sit? How long will they enjoy not catching fish? We hated to be skeptical, but when you set out with a Barbie and Tinkerbell fishing pole, some four year old Power Bait and one kid whose patience is measured in Pepperidge Farm goldfish crackers, we didn’t exactly have high expectations. Thankfully before we set out we stepped into Big Bear Sporting Goods (located at the corner of 18 and Village Dr). I don’t get a commission from them, but by the end of this post I probably should. They gave us a map, circled the the best ‘on shore’ fishing spots, and included what bait to use depending on each destination. We chose to fish at Boulder Bay. Partially because you can catch every kind of fish there, and in part because it sounded easy and clean (fishing from a dock instead of the dirt). Not only that, it gave us a chance to purchase night crawlers and experience fishing with worms. It wasn’t long before the kids were pleading with us to let them take some home as pets. We even learned from our oldest that “worms are good for your garden”, which we believe was her way of bringing some practicality to the ‘worms for pets’ platform. Four hours later, we had discovered that our kids are patient fishermen (despite catching nothing but a baby catfish who was quickly released back to his catfish ‘family’, who was no doubt missing him already).
In fact, the kids did so well with the fishing outing that we decided to amp it up a bit the next day. We splurged and rented a pontoon boat for the family at the Pleasure Point Marina. For about $120 we had two hours of fun on the lake. The kids were thrilled to be out on the water and Lucky could not stop smiling since we let him ‘drive’.
Mel and Lucky boating
An early morning stop back at Big Bear Sporting Goods and we had all the info we needed. They told us exactly where to go, exactly what bait to use, everything we needed to catch some fish. Everyone we interacted with there was really friendly, really helpful, and super knowledgeable. And boy did we catch some fish. Using their expert advice, our Barbie and Tinkerbell poles hauled in 5 fish in just under an hour.
We refer to this pose as 'old man Brooke'
Of course, without a net we only landed one. We had planned to release them anyway, and when we finally did get one on the boat Lucky and Brooke just about had a heart attack. Mel was proud, but even she kept a healthy distance until we could release the 15″ rainbow trout back into the lake.
This picture is priceless
It was the most memorable event of the week and an answer to prayer for the kids to experience real fishing (including the catching fish part, not just the sitting around part). It might sound silly to pray for fish, but we’re not above praying for memorable experiences for the kids, and apparently God is not above answering them. He’s cool like that.
If you want great service and expert help for your fishing excursion, check out http://bigbearlakesportinggoods.com – you can even follow them on Facebook if you are handy with the interweb.
Overall we had a fantastic trip. The kids enjoyed multiple viewings of Despicable Me and treated us to endless quotes for the remainder of the trip. We snuck in a little time on the Wii, did lots of coloring, and basked in our luxurious accommodations. The cabin is a spectacular place to call home for a week. It’s a trip we will remember for a long time. Huge thanks to our gracious hosts for allowing us to create a lasting family memory there.
