Big Bear is bustling all year long
The Big Bear Gran Fondo almost destroyed Ed Korb. The 47-year-old machinery salesman from Tustin suffered cramped muscles and dehydration and became delusional during the beautiful but grueling 45-mile mountain-bike race in Big Bear Lake last September.
After getting so beat up by the ride, which included more than 6,000 feet of climbs and descents through the deep forests and rivers of the San Bernardino Mountains, Korb warned his girlfriend off coming along when he tries it again this year. “You’ll be sitting around all day waiting for me,” he told her.
“No I won’t,” replied Laura Leong, a chemist, 47, who’s made her own Big Bear to-do list. “In the morning, I’ll be doing … yoga with goats! Then I’ll go ziplining. After that, stand-up paddleboarding on the lake with a group called Babes on Boards. You might even see me up on Skyline.”
Skyline refers to the stunning new hiker-biker trail framing the length of the lake from the towering ridge south of town. Part of the Gran Fondo course, the trail connects with Snow Summit's mountain bike park and has helped spur new features that are turning Big Bear Lake into a yearround recreational hub.
Big Bear Lake used to hibernate when the snow melted, but not anymore. With free daily training runs and rides, loads of paddling and powerboating opportunities, a full schedule of world-class running and cycling races and trendy goat yoga, the little ski town east of L.A. is becoming a go-to summer destination for outdoors lovers. It attracts everyone from weekend warriors seeking killer challenges to bird-watchers tracking bald eagles (the birth of chicks caused an internet stir earlier this year).
For runners, Big Bear Lake’s marquee events such as the Kodiak 100and 50-mile ultramarathons and Conquer the Wall, a crazy 1-mile sprint up the ski resort’s steepest run, serve as a prequel to the Big Bear Half and Full Marathon in early November.
For water sports lovers, the 7-mile-long lake allows waterskiing, wakeboarding and other powerboating activities, with many shops renting kayaks and stand-up paddleboards.
Cyclists get the best ride of all, with nationally known events such as the off-road Gran Fondo, the on-road Tour de Big Bear and a radically upgraded network of biker-hiker paved and dirt trails.
“We’ve had a wild spate of cycling infrastructure development in the last five years, and it’s just the beginning,” Mayor Randall Putz said. “Our new paved Happy Hills Trail will link to north shore trails and eventually circumnavigate the lake. And a half-dozen new dirt trails link to Big Bear’s crown jewel, the Skyline Trail.”
Skyline is Big Bear’s first new trail in 25 years, and it’s a wonder: 15.5 miles of groomed single-track that gently dips and rises on the 8,000-foot ridgeline far above the lake. It allows bikers and hikers a fun, challenging adventure that weaves though forest, flower-filled meadows and rock formations and offers gorgeous views of Mt. San Gorgonio.
Accessed by feeder trails from the valley or from the top of the ski lift at the Snow Summit Mountain Bike Park, Skyline was designed to be beginnerand family-friendly but satisfying for hard-core bikers such as Korb. And there’s more to come. “Big Bear was always a great place to get away from L.A. and run and ride and paddle,” says Derek Hermon, owner of Bear Valley Bikes and founder of the Gran Fondo. “But with Skyline and all these other new trails coming in, it’s at a whole new level.”