After a week of suffering through a heat wave, we decided to escape the brutal Southern California heat by heading up the mountains to Big Bear lake. I love how close Bear is to me – I spend a lot of my time skiing here in the winter, and hiking here in the spring/summer. Joining us for this hike are great friends Indhu and Vishwanathan (Chitti).

This was another sweet spot elevation-wise for the Spring – the snow had just melted for most of this trail, and it was significantly cooler, shadier, and windier. The majority of this hike was spent on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), which coincidentally was the part of the trail that provided the best views.

Highlight of the hike for me were these amazing delicate wildflowers on parts of the trail. Apart from feeling guilty stomping along next to them with my clunky feet, it was such a treat to see them in bloom.

After we finished this hike and drove down the mountain, I unfortunately got a flat tire. As Chitti and I were undoing the wheel bolts on the spare, a friendly bystander named Clarence (our guardian angel?) pulled over to offer his help. As we tried to turn him down and continue to struggle loosening lug nuts with the manufacturer-provided wrench, he laughed and lent us his much nicer lug wrench and jack. What would have been a 30 minute strugglefest turned into a 10 minute job, and we were on our way. Sending all the good vibes in the world your way Clarence – and know that I’ll be buying a legit wrench and jack at the next opportunity!

I’ll leave you with something fun from the hike. There was 1 patch of snow we crossed by on our long, streneous hike. Nali took this opportunity to cool off by rolling around adorably in the snow :).

Till next hike!