USA - Day 11 - Big Bear Lake - East Flats campsite
This is the route we biked today:
During our first rest day we discovered that Veterans day was coming up. A lot of tourists would be visiting Joshua Tree state park and we were going to be there as well. We decided to try and avoid the busiest time and made an extra route near Big Bear Lake, combined with an extra restday. This way we can visit Joshua Tree after the weekend.
Today we started on this 2 day route south of Big Bear Lake. We weren’t really looking forward to the cold (nighttime temperatures in Big Bear Lake were around 0C) but it was the best route we were able to come up with.
We started with a climb up to 2 400m. It was a nice road and not too steep. It felt weird though because I was out of breath really quickly. I think the combination of cold air with the height we were on was the reason.
Our climb up
Cycled 4.0km, climbed 195m, currently at 2267m high.
When we were at the top we got a nice look on the next valley. It was really nice and green and we were happy to be on our bikes again.
View on the valley
Cycled 11.1km, climbed 426m, currently at 2376m high.
We had to descend down to 1 600m to the valley and the weather became really nice on the way down. Nice sun and good warmth. As we were making good progress we took multiple breaks.
Taking a break
Cycled 24.4km, climbed 565m, currently at 1644m high.
Down in the valley it became apparent that a big storm came through here. Roads were broken up (and temporarily fixed) so we managed to continue. We did see these pines with a lot of holes in them, not sure why or how this happens.
Pine with holes, anybody know why?
Cycled 30.9km, climbed 754m, currently at 1667m high.
We were almost at our campsite when we noticed quite some RVs parked at another campsite. We found it a bit weird because the sign said closed. We found a women to talk to and she said the campsite was closed and there would be no way we could camp there. No idea what the other campers were doing there then…
Closed but not for everybody
Cycled 36.2km, climbed 1048m, currently at 1948m high.
She did tell us about another spot where we could camp so we biked to that site. There were other people there as well so we found a spot and put our tents up.
Our spot for the night
Cycled 41.9km, climbed 1218m, currently at 2071m high.
On our way here we did notice the highway was closed off so we’re unsure if we can continue tomorrow or that we need to turnaround and do our route backwards 😒
Even though it was pretty good temperature wise today it is getting pretty cold and dark here (it’s 17:06 local time) so I’m going to get in my tent pretty soon 😅
See you all tomorrow!