Big Bear Camping

On Friday September 14th, we left home for a 4 hour drive to the Pineknot campground at Big Bear Lake. Shortly after we left home (About 45 minutes into the trip), the kids started asking, "are we there yet?". As we drove up the Mountain, we could see a wild fire burning in the distance. We arrived at our campsite as the sun was setting and we scrambled to set up camp before it got pitch black. We didn't bring enough flashlights (we had 2 flashlights, with dying batteries), and I had only brought t-shirts, nothing with long sleeves. Fortunately, Kaarin had brought lots of warm clothes for her and the kids, so I was the only one freezing. The night probably got down to the low 40's. Our campground was on the south east side of Big Bear Lake, right next to snow summit ski resort. It was on the side of a hill with not very many flat spots.

our campsite at Pineknot campground, Big Bear CA.

Sara doing her mermaid pose

On Saturday, we went for a drive around the lake. When we reached the North West side of the lake (Near the town of Fawnskin) we noticed there were a lot of fire fighters who were going to, and coming from the near by fire. We also noticed that the road that we had used to come into Big Bear was now closed due to the fire. Later in the day, we learned that this area was evacuated because of the fire. We pulled off to the side of the road and watched the Helicopters fill up with water from the lake.

Helicopter filling up with water to fight the Big Bear fire


A look at the fire from the lake shore about 1 mile from our campground.


After we drove around the Lake, we found a little playground at the shore about 1 mile from our campground. We let the kids play here for about an hour before we headed back to camp.

The Kids at a playground next to the lake near Pineknot landing.

Once we got back to camp we decided that we had had enough fun, and we picked up camp and left Big Bear. We had to leave Big Bear the long way because the main road had been closed due to the fire.

Below is a video of a Helicopter filling up with lake water