Loading…
We use cookies. We use cookies, including analytics, to improve your experience.
JOURNAL
LOCAL INTELLIGENCE
There is no drive to the trailhead up here in the way there is in most of Southern California. The San Bernardino National Forest wraps every one of these communities, so the pavement ends, a gate or a post appears, and you are on public land. Half the good starts are at the end of an ordinary residential street in Twin Peaks, Blue Jay or Cedar Glen.
Two pieces of ground are worth knowing by name. Routes along the north shore trace public land above Lake Arrowhead, which is how you get the water in view for an afternoon without needing lake access, since the lake itself is private and the shoreline belongs to the property owners around it. And to the north, the Pacific Crest Trail drops through Deep Creek, which is a different world entirely: lower, hotter, more exposed, and a serious outing rather than a stroll.
The mistake visitors make is reading a map and assuming a trail near the lake means a trail on the lake. It does not. Walk the north shore ground for the forest and the views, and go to Lake Gregory in Crestline if the point is getting in the water.
Many trailheads across this forest require an Adventure Pass displayed in the parked car, and the requirement is not uniform from site to site. Look up the specific trailhead you are using rather than assuming, and buy the pass in town before you drive out. A ticket on the windshield is a bad souvenir.
Season matters more than distance here. Late summer and fall bring fire restrictions and sometimes outright closures, and those can be posted with very little notice. In spring, snow and mud linger on north-facing stretches long after the roads and the sunny slopes have dried out, so a trail that looks fine at the trailhead can turn slushy a mile in. Check the forest's current conditions the morning you go.
Two more things. You are around a mile up. If you drove from the coast that morning, take the first climb slower than you think you need to and drink more than feels necessary. And cell service is unreliable once you drop off the ridge into a canyon, so download the map before you park and tell someone at the house which trailhead you used. Your local manager can point you at the starts closest to where you are staying, which is usually a shorter list than the internet suggests.