Adventure In The Big Bear Mountains

This last-minute adventure took us from the desert near Landers up into the mountains of Big Bear, ending 10 hours later in Pioneer Town not far from where we started.

We started on Rattlesnake Canyon Road, off of highway 247 in Landers.  We made our way up the dusty road, past the big ranch and into Rattlesnake canyon.  This section is mostly flat dirt road but there were a few rocky and tight sections.  It wasn’t long before we were driving past natural spring-wells and free-range cattle.

After a few miles we found ourselves in the eastern Big Bear mountains at an altitude of a few thousand feet.  We  stopped by one of the dozen or so abandoned cabins and did a little exploring.  These cabins are still in good condition considering they’ve been abandoned for years.

We stopped for lunch at Vaughn Spring – a beautiful oasis complete with a open spring/pond, and gathered the whole gang for a quick selfie before heading out.

The next stop on the trip was a little-known mine – but before we could get there we had to get the Jeeps up this bumpy spot in the road near Heartbreak Ridge.

Video of Peggy going up the Black Diamond section of the Jeep trail, near Heartbreak Ridge

We finally made our way to what turned out to be the largest mine we’ve ever seen in the Big Bear area.  The mine has a safety-gate on the entrance, but after we found our way in we were surprised at how expansive this multi-level mine was – and how much old-style timbers were there.  We didn’t bring the “big” camera and only got a few pictures from the iPhone:Next stop was Tip Top Mountain.  After making our way up the narrow winding road we were rewarded with a beautiful view from the city of Big Bear all the way to the desert in Landers.

We closed out the day by airing-back up in Rimrock near Pioneer Town.  A long day, full of fun and adventure!