Big Bear Re-Do

The entire dog gang on the nice deck.

So, finally trying (key word) to get caught up.  After ffluffy and I left Big Bear, I found out my parents were heading up in a few weeks, and I (and the dogs!) were invited!  Yay!  I took 3 days off of work and headed up after drill on Sunday.  So I was able to be there 3 nights and 3 days since I didn't leave until later on Wednesday.

Unfortunately I started taking some medication on Sunday that was not agreeing with me.  However, I was determined to still enjoy Big Bear.  We were going to start off our week with the long trip to the infamous Butler Peak Fire Tower.  But as the preparations were underway, I had to admit I wasn't feeling good.  I didn't want to get half way up the trail then turn back.  I took some additional medication to help me feel better, and Dad had the good idea to go into town first (walking, with the dog- 3 mile round trip) and then decide what we would do after that.  I tagged along and felt better pretty quickly.  We bought a Forest Pass (several stores were sold out) and window shopped in a few other stores.

When we got back to the cabin it was too late to do Butler Peak, but the Pine Knot trail is really close to the cabin so we set off for that one.

Since ffluffy and I had already checked it out, we knew were the trail head was.  It was very popular and we kept the dogs on leash to make sure we didn't bother anyone.

Mom and Kerby looking fresh before the hike.

Just getting started!

After the rocks we had nice green and shady sections.

Nice rest stop with the lake in the background.

Pie poses also.

Kerby and Mom in the tree.

Such a pretty dog and mountain fern meadow.

Mom and Dad and Kerby semi-hiding.

On the way back we decided to be daring and take a different trail/ road.

My dogs were pulling on the down hill section and bothering my knees, so Mom took over for a little bit.

Beautiful grassy meadow!

We spotted the Fire Tower from far away!

Back at the parking lot, we made it!

3 dogs posing on 3 rocks and impressing a random guy.

The parents.

Fancy was happy to be back in the car.

My feet get dirty in my running shoes and my legs got dirty too!

The way we came back ended up being longer than the way we went.  We looked at a map later and scoped it out.  It turned out to the the road you take to get to the champion lodgepole pine.  That is a fairly long road and I think where we picked up the road was almost at the top by the tree! The map also showed us that where we turned around on the Pine Knot trail and picked up the dirt road was almost at the top of the trail.  Just a few more minuets and we probably would have been at the end of the trail, which is only significant because we have never made it to the end of this trail before.  I used my Camelbak and drank lots of water and stayed hydrated.