Two girls, a Truck and a Trailer

Two girls, a truck and a trailer headed up the mountain for some training runs. A simple spontaneous suggestion to get a site turned into one of the best overnights on Big Bear Lake. A few days before, a friend of mine said let’s go up the mountain for a training run. We can take the trailer and do some hiking and running. As much as I have been on the mountain, I have only actually camped a few times. Once with my neighbors in San Gorgonio where bears lurked outside of our tent and scavenged through the red vines and hamburger buns left out from dinner, and the other time at Green Valley Lake to try out our new tent.

So, this time I set out to book Green Valley again, no bears for this girl. But when I searched the mountain and saw that Serrano was on the North side of the lake near trails, I booked it.  I always get a little nervous when I book campsites because you never know what you will get. But this was exactly what these two girls needed to get away for a night.

We arrived around noon with the horse trailer in tow. As you can imagine, two girls in a truck backing in a trailer, we had a lot of observers. But Jeanne killed it! First time, no adjusting, just pull in, back it up, set it up. I was impressed. A few minutes later, we were out, unpacked and eating some lunch. Heading out the campground by foot, we trekked over to the Cougar Crest trail, a five-mile hike round trip to the Pacific Coast Trail and back. The afternoon was perfect with the sun shining over the lake and the view from the top reminded me how small I was in this big world. This is God’s country and I am only one piece in the big picture.

As the sun was setting, a quick trip to Starbucks on the South side of the lake had us sitting with some locals for some coffee and tea, chatting about dogs, tents and what is important in life.

The next morning we headed out to the Alpine Pedal Trail for a run. Don’t be fooled by the name, yes, there are some bike riders, but we saw more running and dog walking. From the campground, we hit the trail and headed out to the Stanfield bridge. Only a few miles out, we decided to run towards town and found ourselves on the Wildlife Reserve running across bridges and into trails. As the sun came out, it was pretty warm but the view can’t be beat.

For an overnight trip, this was perfect! From Serrano, we never had to get back in the car to hike the hills or run the lake on road and trail. Starbucks was a treat, but definitely not necessary.

God is good to me. After a pretty sucky year, I am so thankful for the gifts of friendship, nature and love he continually provides me every day. He surprises me every morning and throughout my day with small wonders.

Keep an eye out and you will see his miracles and mercy, too. 

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. 

A view from the trail. There's a bench to take a break if you want to breathe in the big picture.