The Arctic Circle
It isn’t what you think. This Arctic Circle isn’t up north, its down south.
If you drive this Arctic Circle (CA 330) through the San Bernardino Mountains, you won’t see any polar bears, though there is lots of orange color to be enjoyed among peak black oak on the mountainsides. The drive up to Big Bear Lake passes through stands of peaking oak.
- Arctic Circle, CA 330, Big Bear Lake (6,752′) – PEAK (75-100%) GO NOW!
Big Bear Goes Big
Following a report that the aspen had peaked at Big Bear Lake, two reports arrived today showing big color among the black oak.
Jim Van Matre writes, “The west end of the valley had a lot of color. Forrest Road 2N10 from Mill Creek Rd up to where the pavement ends is especially beautiful.” Though he predicts that this week’s storm is likely to strip trees at full peak.
Trent Vierra adds, “Fall foliage is GO NOW peak color, especially with snow in the forecast next week.
“The native black oaks are in great peak color throughout the mountains,” Trent continued. “Around the 6000-8000 ft range they’re at peak gold and orange color; the ambered hue shining like a gem amongst the green pine on hills and peaks around the valley.”
He describes the overall color on the oaks as, “one of the most impressive I’ve seen in years. A really healthy showing that has benefited from the cold nights and warm days. The native cottonwood and willow are also shining nice and yellow around the creeks, meadows, and other riparian areas.
Trent adds, “Decorative trees are also at peak color, with the village being especially impressive with a wide variety of colored trees throughout.”
- Big Bear Lake (6,752′) – PEAK (75-100%) GO NOW! – Black oak at peak.
Bear Hunting
It’s illegal to go bear hunting with a dog in California, but don’t tell that to Paco who led Soyoung Kim on a hunt for fall color at Big Bear Lake.
After a stop at Ben and Jerry’s for Coffee, Coffee Buzz Buzz Buzz! ice cream (Funny, my dogs prefer vanilla), Soyoung was powered for another hike up the Castle Rock Trail, leaving Paco to rest his weary 14-year-old bones and wonder why he didn’t get a taste of the ice cream.
- Big Bear Lake (6,752′) – PEAK to Past Peak, GO NOW, you almost missed it.
Forest Falls
Forest Falls is a key gateway to the Sand to Snows National Monument in the San Bernardino Mountains and home to the original trail into the San Gorgonio Wilderness.
Lined with bigleaf maple, black oak and aspen, the trail is a favorite in autumn. SoCal color spotter Jim Van Matre describes the trail as “showing off its color, right now.”
He states, “The drive up Valley of the Falls Drive from Highway 38 is beautiful, but the payoff is at the top around the Falls Picnic Area.
- Forest Falls, San Bernardino Mountains (5,700′) – Patchy (10 – 50%)
Big Bear Brightens
The autumn show has begun in the San Bernardino Mountains around Big Bear.
SoCal color spotter Jim Van Matre was there on Saturday to find “a lot of color along dirt road N210 for the first mile or two. After that there is no color.”
He estimates the show to be just beginning with native trees (aspen, bigleaf maple, black oak) tending to change quickly, “before falling off.”
Exotic trees in and around town are spectacular with shades of red and orange. Because of the quick peak and some species peaking, we’re categorizing Big Bear Lake as Near Peak.
- Big Bear Lake (6,752′) – Near Peak (50 – 75%), Go Now!
Fall Color is Catching
It appears fall color is catching in the San Jacinto Mountains where peak Fremont cottonwood and black oak are ringing the lake.
- Lake Hemet Campground (4,340′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!
24 Little Hours
Well, if what Dinah Washington once sang was true …
“What a difference a day makes
Stanley Adams / Maria Grever
Twenty-four little hours
Brought the sun and the flowers
Where there used to be rain …
Then, what a difference a week makes, at least in Big Bear Lake. James Wei reports he was there a week ago when it was Patchy to Near Peak and now golden hues are everywhere.
He wonders whether the dry year had something to do with the fact that the color isn’t as vibrant as he remembers and though his bike ride through the mountains was fantastic, there’s a sense the color won’t last.
- Big Bear Lake – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!
Big Bear Peaks Through
It almost seems like the clock tower in Big Bear Lake is peeking through the cottonwood. It’s the other way around. The cottonwood are the ones peaking.
Southern California color spotter Steve Shinn rates Big Bear as at Peak and estimates that the exotics have a week to go, while those cottonwood will last a while.
Now that San Bernardino National Forest is open and skies have cleared, the color at Big Bear is vibrant. Steve notes that a mix of native and exotic trees in Big Bear Lake provide for a colorful palette.
- Big Bear Lake (6,752′) – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!
Ashen Aspen
When San Bernardino National Forest reopened last week, I had hopes that the scene Alena Nicholas captured two years ago in an award-winning report, Aspen Grove Trail Recovers, would look even better.
Instead, the moribund scenes captured by Lisa Wilkerson-Willis with her camera phone tell of aspen not bursting with new life, but struggling beneath a coating of ash.
Lisa visited the grove soon after it reopened, but found little to no color. It was so disappointing, she didn’t think it “worth it to use my camera.”
The grove has so little color or promise that it will develop, that I’m classifying it as Past Peak, even though many of the few leaves there have yet turned color.
Despite the dismal setting, Lisa found optimism in the “baby aspen” pushing up “all around the grove, some as tall as 11 feet, measuring two to three inches in diameter.”
Now if we could just get a break … a year with rain, an autumn without smoke … perhaps we could see it at its best.
Elsewhere in the San Bernardino Mountains, James Wei says Big Bear is dragging its roots, as well. He rates most of the foliage to be short of 50%, which makes it barely Near Peak.
- Aspen Grove Trail, Sand to Snow National Monument, San Gorgonio Wilderness, San Bernardino National Forest (7,370′) – Past Peak – You Missed It.
- Big Bear Lake (6,752′) – Patchy to Near Peak (10 – 75%) Go Now!