The southern California your mother never told you about

I have to be honest, I don’t really know what your mother ever told you about southern California. But I am assuming that in most minds, California is associated with beaches and ocean. Today we went the other direction, into the mountains.

Actually, my mother and I were riding around and came to a road, and just off to the left two mountains came together. I said, “This looks really neat.” We went back to her house, got Lew and Mary, and set off exploring. It was beautiful! You can see pictures of our trip on my facebook.

On our first venture into the mountains, the four of us went as far as a place called Angelus something. Then we turned around to go pick up a rental car for us.

After we got the car Mary and I went back. First we went to Forest Falls. Absolutely beautiful! The road actually dead-ended at a national park. Since we did not have a proper pass we could not park and explore. How I wanted to walk further into the valley. It is different than the mountains back east, but just so beautiful. I was having a blast! Having reached the end of that road we turned around and went back to highway 38.

This was amazing. We just kept climbing and climbing. And what was really neat was the scenery kept changing. We went through a forested area. Then we went through an area loaded with camps. We reached the summit, Onyx Summit, 8443 ft and started going down again. But on this side of the mountain the terrain was much drier, scrubbier and very windy. And no clouds at all. It seemed like it took forever but we finally made it to Big Bear City. Still rather high as it sits at 7000+ ft!

The whole trip felt like fall. And the air looked like fall – so clear. Which was ok with me because I think fall must be my favorite time of year. The sky around Big Bear was so blue and clear. We were just amazed. Awestruck. At one point I told Mary, “This is the west I have always dreamed of!”

The area is so beautiful. You could hike and explore for years. But we can’t as tomorrow we are off to visit the Pacific Ocean. This is a great week so far!