Big Bear California Fire Access Road Fun run. Sat June 23, 2012

My Dad (DaExplorer) Made the post in the Meet/Greet/ Car Show Section, but I figured some people don't see that area too, so i figured I would post it also in the off road run planning section.

The Run is Scheduled for Saturday June 23rd, 2012.
Here is what my dad wrote in the other post:

I would like to meet between 8am and 8:30 am in the parking lot between the Starbucks 42170 Big Bear Blvd. and the new DIY Home center.
This is a large parking lot which also has the Von's.

We would then like to hit several of the dirt fire roads around the valley.
One may be the Butler peek fire look out, if the weather that day is clear.
Parking in these off road areas require the US Forest Service Adventure pass. The pass is $5 for the day or $30 for the year.
If there is intrest in doing this run we can make the stop at the Big Bear Discovery Center (opens at 8:30am) and pick them up ( also a GREAT restroom stop before the trails)

Let either me or my father (DaExplorer) know and we will begin making a list.

List of Attendees:

In:
CJExplorer
DAExplorer
Tbars4

Maybe:
Keeper0311

No-Go's:
Stico
Ritsui
Froader
Boomer12
Essex4x4

..Sadly, this is the only weekend I'm scheduled to work..

...This sounds like an excellent run for so many reasons and if I can make it by any chance you know I will..

Tbars4 said:

..Sadly, this is the only weekend I'm scheduled to work..

...This sounds like an excellent run for so many reasons and if I can make it by any chance you know I will..

Click to expand...

Bummer, Hopefully you can get out of work. Just Kidding
Keep us in the loop if things change.

...I will definitely keep you up to date..

..Seeing I'll be working in the desert most of the summer, Big Bear will definitely be on mind..

Guess I need to repost so I can get updates to who posts to this.

This is our first attempt to set up something. So we thought to have a meet and greet with some off road trails adventure.
Big Bear is a great place to explore. There are fire access roads throught the mountains. Ten years ago I started teaching Chris to drive on these roads. In the last couple of years we have had some great father son adventures at the east end of the valley. The last one, Dec 2011, we attempted to make the run from Cactus Flats to Pioneer town however there was still too much snow and had to turn around. So we played on the mud on the way back.

The snow is gone now, Believe it or not had a dusting last Sat morning, and the weather and roads should be great. Hope that some of you can make it up.

Put me in the maybe list. Are we planning any of the "tough" trails or all fire roads? I haven't had my F-150 in the dirt for a long time and it needs it.

FROADER said:

Put me in the maybe list. Are we planning any of the "tough" trails or all fire roads? I haven't had my F-150 in the dirt for a long time and it needs it.

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You're added
I think we will be doing mainly the fire access road as both me and my father don't have rock crawling built explorers.
Great trip to bring the family and get together for a fun day with friendly faces.

I'll just have to check the schedule with the boss and then I'll have a for sure answer. If I can make it, I'll tell my dad too. He loves to cruise the hills.

Well if I can swing the day off and the gas money I'll be there. I'm a maybe, haven't been up to big bear since I was 14. Should be fun.

Keeper0311 said:

Well if I can swing the day off and the gas money I'll be there. I'm a maybe, haven't been up to big bear since I was 14. Should be fun.

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You've Been Added
Hopefully you'll be able to make it. Especially since you weren't able to make the main divide run.

2N13 may still be closed from the Butler/Butler2/Slide fires from 2007. A quick call to the disco center would confirm it, but I'll try to remember to ask tomorrow when I'm at work.

The other main roads (3N12, 3N14, 3N16, etc.) are open though.

Map link

You can also add me as a maybe, but I'll most likely be working.

Boomer12 said:

2N13 may still be closed from the Butler/Butler2/Slide fires from 2007. A quick call to the disco center would confirm it, but I'll try to remember to ask tomorrow when I'm at work.

The other main roads (3N12, 3N14, 3N16, etc.) are open though.

Map link

You can also add me as a maybe, but I'll most likely be working.

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Wow...Havent seen you post in awhile
You've been added
Hopefully you can make it

If I can get finances in order before then I want to go! Just as long as we don't do anything crazy since I do have fully stock suspension. No crossing through 8ft deep water or over boulders the size of a house please. Put me down for a Maybe!

Big Bear Test Run

Made a test run this thursday and weather was great!

We had a blast and hope more of you guys can join us on the 23rd.
We went to the east end of the valley and found some great trails and even passed through a river.
Map

The second half of the day we went to the north side of big bear lake and saw some awesome views. Some of the trails we went down were too extreme for our vehicles and had to turn around (you can see in the map)
Map

Any day you can get off the payment on onto the dirt is always a great!

Hopefully these pictures can persuade more of you to come join us for some fun. You can even bring the family if you'd like

..Oh yea...Boomer is back...:biggthump

Essex4x4 said:

If I can get finances in order before then I want to go! Just as long as we don't do anything crazy since I do have fully stock suspension. No crossing through 8ft deep water or over boulders the size of a house please. Put me down for a Maybe!

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Hope you can make it. We are not planning anything crazy, both CJ and I have daily drivers and only have the shackles and TT, however stock should make everything. Had to laugh about your commet about the water crossing. We tested it and it was only about a foot deep, Cj posted the photo.

It was just nice to get out and away from the paved roads and into some clean air, Ok after the dust settles.

Hope some others can also make it.


Boomer12, Thanks for the posting and the map, it is great. I had forgot about both of the Butler fires when we started the postings. We didn't make it all the way out there as is was not clear, but could see some of the burnt area and then rembered them. It was sad to see however it looked like it was coming back with some new green growth. We did find some closed trails and ones that there was no way we could make it with our vehicles.
Chris and I would still like to meet up with you sometime when we are up there.

I've got the date marked on my calendar, but I'm still kind of in limbo with my injury. I've been released back to full duty for a week now, but they won't let me fully return until I've passed our physical agility test which should hopefully happen at some point this week. Then add in that fire season's already starting to take off, and it gets to the point that I can't even guess what my schedule for tomorrow is going to look like, let alone 2 weeks from now.

If my truck is out of the shop by then, and I'm available, it's on. If not, then maybe we can meet up for lunch or something on a later date.

It's been way too long since I've gotten out with anyone from here...

..Just take it slow and easy..

..and remember to save some up for the winter SNUD runs...

Have any of you guys done a trip like this during the winter? I have driven my exp through some serious snow and thought it would be fun to mix our version of off road with the frozen stuff.