Big Bear: Beautiful Along The Arctic Circle

Fall Color Report, Inland Empire

Arctic Circle, SB Mountains (11/24/15) Alena Nicholas
Arctic Circle, SB Mountains (11/24/15) Alena Nicholas

You’d think that a place called “The Arctic Circle” would be austere and foreboding.  Not so along the drive called “The Arctic Circle” near Big Bear where black oak speckle the forest with bright splotches of orange.

Seen in San Bernardino Mountains color correspondent Alena Nicholas’ photograph, Big Bear Lake peeks between the layered, sensuous curves of the San Bernardino Mountains, its blue waters beckoning travelers to the pleasures beyond.

Big Bear Lake (11/24/15) Alena Nicholas
Big Bear Lake (11/24/15) Alena Nicholas
Big Bear (11/24/15) Alena Nicholas
Big Bear (11/24/15) Alena Nicholas

This week’s storm shook about a third of the leaves remaining on black oaks at Big Bear Lake and clinging to the ridges, though those nestled in the canyons seen from The Arctic Circle are still dressed in fall finery. With sunny to partly cloudy days predicted, the fall color should hang for a while, though it will drizzle away, slowly but surely.

Nevertheless, with skis and snowboards now cutting groomed corduroy on the slopes of Bear Mountain and Snow Summit, what titian tones remain in the forest, is almost a distraction to why motorists are now traveling The Arctic Circle to Big Bear.  And, with fall color ebbing in the mountains, we’ve assigned Alena to search the southland for where else it might be found.

Peak (75-100%) GO NOW! – The Arctic Circle and Big Bear Lake.

Arctic Circle, SB Mountains (11/24/15) Alena Nicholas
Arctic Circle, SB Mountains (11/24/15) Alena Nicholas
Black oak, Big Bear Lake (11/24/15) Alena Nicholas
Black oak, Big Bear Lake (11/24/15) Alena Nicholas
Black oak, Big Bear Lake (11/24/15) Alena Nicholas
Black oak, Big Bear Lake (11/24/15) Alena Nicholas

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California Fall Color

CaliforniaFallColor.com is a seasonal news site that reports on autumn’s show throughout California. The site is written, edited and published by Lara Kaylor, a travel and outdoor journalist based in Mammoth Lakes, Calif.

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