Bearing Through Bear Creek

As the title would suggest, this hike is very difficult.  You basically start somewhere near the Big Bear Lake Dam and hike straight down into the valley that houses Bear Creek.  As you can see in the photo on the right, the valley is extremely deep.  I would rate this hike as strenous because of the steep entry into the canyon, but more so because of the terrain around the creek bed.  There are only faint trails as you move downstream.  There is tons of boulders, thick brush (including stinging nettles), and lots of fallen trees to navigate past. 

Looking back, I think we should have explored upstream because the going was so tough downstream that it was tirelessly demoralizing.  This was probably mile for mile, the toughest hike I've ever been on, and I consider myself to be in great shape (minus the beer). 

As far as the fishing, we did see a lot of trout in the stream and as I expected, they were easily spooked because they are native brown trout.  This is a rare area in SoCal, because you are able to access a remote area that still has native trout.  I know this is a popular area with flyfishermen, but there was very limited access to throw a fly.  Many overhanging trees lined the creek, as well as tall brush.  I was hard to sneak up on the fish because of all obstacles.  Again this was downstream of the where the trail hits the creek, so upstream could have been different, but it appeared to be more of the same.  There were some excellent pools and trout holding in less that 1 foot of water.  The largest trout I saw was in the 12 inch range, with many in the 8-10 inch range.  REMEMBER TO CATCH AND RELEASE!

It is obvious why nobody fishes here: difficult terrain, crazy hike in, overgrown brush, quasi sketchy dirt road on the way in, and quad busting hike out.  The overall distance of the trail is only 1 mile, but you gain/lose a whopping 1100 feet in that mile.

The bugs were the worst I have ever experienced in the So Cal Mtns.  I swear that the same 6 flies were following me the entire way up the trail.  I must have squashed 35 bugs on my body, and that is a conservative estimate.  I did not notice too many mosquitoes, but the constant buzzing near my ears was enough to drive a man insane.

There were many flowers in bloom near the creek, with the yellow one above (of which I don't know the name) as well as some sort of iris (I believe it's called mountain Iris).

Before returning, there are lots of negatives to consider about this hike, but I think with a little more knowledge about the place, the reward could easily outweigh the risk.

McGrath SB and Santa Clara River Preserve

Okay, so first of all, I wouldn't really call this a hiking post. The trails near McGrath State Beach were, in my opinion, quite meager. There all went into a dead end and when they did dead end, it was either into a road, or the stagnant Santa Clara River. Being that it hadn't rained in more than a month, I was not surprised to see the river stagnant. This river is a typical SoCal river in that it only flows to the ocean during the rainy season. Otherwise, the natural sand berm builds up and blocks the river's access to the ocean.

On our particular trip, the low clouds and fog hung around for the entire weekend, which at the beach, makes my level of motivation seriously lack. Anyway, we did check out all of the trails and even went on the main trail that is behind the sand dunes. (side note on the sand dunes: It was refreshing to see how a "real" SoCal beach should look, with iceplant and dunes and not houses right up to the water). The only bummer about the dunes is that they are protected habitat for nesting birds from March 15 to November 15 and you have to walk around that area. Not a big deal, merely an inconvienence.

As far as the campground goes, I thought our site was really nice. It had good privacy because there were plenty of trees to block the neighbors. The ground was nice and soft (I only know this because my air matress failed; never trust someone's elses gear) due to the campground being on the flood plain of the Santa Clara. Also, behind most of the sites in the park, there is a large grassy area for bocce, football, horshoes, redneck golf, etc. Some people had set up their tents, but I would not want to do that because the area is really exposed, and I hate having my tent in the sun. Dogs are allowed in the campgound, but not on the beach (got to love the state of California). I find it funny that federal land allows dogs, and state land doesn't.

My biggest complaint was the cost of the campground. Because every campground on the southern/central coast was booked, we had to reserve online and it cost $35 plus an $8 reservation fee. You could almost get a motel in Vegas for that price. And on top of that, they charge $10 for a 2nd vechicle. You can bring a car and a trailer, but you can't bring 2 cars. That doesn't make any sense and is just another gross mismanagement of OUR state land by the horribly mismanaged state of california (not capitalized on purpose).