Big Snow in Big Bear

This weekend was my first trip to Corey’s cabin in Big Bear. Left Friday night and drove straight up there. It took about 3 hours to get there and it was pretty easy to find the place. Of course, having been to Big bear before, I was comfortable driving up there. I chose not to buy snow chains, thinking that I wouldn’t need them. Boy, was I wrong.

Got there and spent the night getting comfortable and picking out a sleeping arrangement. Everyone was happy to be there and wood chopping was under way. Fire was definately life up there, as it was pretty cold.

Next day, we spent some time tooling around the city, getting food, checking out the tattoo shops and searching for a place to go sledding. There wasn’t much snow on the ground, aside from the disgusting brown chunks around on the streets. The places that did have snow on a mountainside were charging way too much money. So, we headed back to the cabin, defeated and cold.

That night, some of us went out to the city for a few drinks. We found a bar that looked interesting and went in. We had a drink and got tired of the place, so we went out back for a smoke. As we walked out, it began to snow! We weren’t thinking that we needed to go and we saw a great dive bar behind the place we were at, so we headed over. We got some free drinks at the dive bar due to a very drunk and very nice older man.

Then, after drinking and chatting for a while, we went outside to head home. The snow was really coming down at this point. We started to get a little worried, so we started the drive back to the cabin. We stopped at a store for smokes and gas, then began to head up the hill to the cabin. That’s when everything got a little more interesting. Corey was driving and as soon as we hit the first major hill in her neighborhood, the tires started to spin. We stopped and tried to push the car, but it wouldn’t budge.

We finally got the car in a driveway and accepted our fate… we were going to have to walk to the cabin. Of course, we were still about a mile away and that mile was mostly uphill. So, unprepared for the cold and snow, we started our hike. We finally made it there a little less than an hour later. We warmed up and began discussing our situation, knowing that the snow meant a delay in our leaving for home.

Some of us decided to go sledding, as we now had free snow to play in. We grabbed a few sleds and started walking down the street. At each hill that we came to that looked sled-able, we each took turns. Some of the hills worked really well, some didn’t. See, the snow was still less than an inch thick at this point, so bushes and rocks really got in the way. We did have a few good runs down some driveways, though. One of which I ended up crashing through the trash cans at the bottom of the driveway and we all scattered away from the scene of the crime.

The next day, we awoke to at least 3 feet of snow on the ground. This, of course, convinced us that our only choice was to walk into town and buy chains for all 4 cars that were at the cabin. I, mistakenly, decided to go on that walk. So, a few of us headed down the hill to the market. The walk was somewhere close to 5 miles, I’m guessing. Long story short, we got most of the chains and started back. On the way, dreading the climb up the hill, we hung our thumbs out at a few cars. Finally, a nice couple from North Dakota stopped and took us up to the cabin in their 4-Runner.

Once there, the task of digging out all the cars began. After much digging and a trip into town for some pizza (this time in my car, which now had chains securely attached), we finished and discovered that the CHP had closed all highways leading out of Big Bear. Our fears were confirmed, we were stuck in the cabin for another night.

So, we toughed it out and had a great time staying up late. Next day (Monday), we packed up and headed home.

With the cold, snow, sledding, walking, driving, burning, chatting, leaning, drinking, smoking and eating… I can say that I had a fantastic time. I really liked the cabin and the neighborhood was very cool. Everything that seemed bad about the weekend (like walking to town) was actually really fun. I’m glad I went and I hope to go again. Of course, now I have chains, so I’d even go back in the winter when it is snowing.

I put my pictures from the weekend up, too.

Thanks Corey!