We’re taking a mountain weekend trip and bringing you the best things to do in Big Bear Lake, CA.

Big Bear is a cute small Southern California mountain town known for its winter recreational sports, water activities on the lake, and hiking trails. The town is a three-hour drive from San Diego and the Travel Squad went for a one-nighter trip. Even though the trip lasted less than 48 hours, you know we packed in so many things to do in Big Bear.

In this episode we talk about:

• How to get to Big Bear Lake, California
• Things to do in Big Bear in Winter or Summer
• Hiking trails we recommend in Big Bear Lake
• Kayaking on Big Bear Lake during the drought
• Where to stay in Big Bear – Timberline Lodge is truly a hidden gem
• Big Bear during the snowy winter months

Things to Do in Big Bear – Episode Transcript

3 (58s):
Welcome to this weeks episode of the Travel Squad podcast. Today. We’re going to the Southern California mountain town of Big Bear.

4 (1m 9s):
Big Bear is known for its winter, recreational sports summers by the lake and being an easy escape from the city for many Southern Californians,

1 (1m 18s):
We went to Big Bear for an October. We can get away the squad plus Emma Kim’s dog. And we hiked in the mountains, kayaked on the lake, and we cozied up in our cabin.

2 (1m 29s):
So snap on your snow boots and Tim

4 (1m 38s):
I was a little too long. So you think, I think so.

2 (1m 41s):
Okay. Because it’s about to go down inbound

1 (1m 44s):
To town Before we get started today. I want to point out that today, January 28th, 2020 is national plan a trip day.

2 (1m 57s):
Yeah. So hit us up on Instagram at Travel Squad Podcast and let us know what you’re doing to celebrate and

1 (2m 3s):
What trip you’re planning.

3 (2m 5s):
But if you need any trip planning advice just hit us up and we will be happy to help you.

4 (2m 10s):
Yeah, absolutely. So Big Bear, as we mentioned is a mountain town that a lot of Southern Californians go to, to escape the daily city grind. It is up in the San Bernardino mountains, but Big Bear is not a natural lake. It is a reservoir. However, it is solely filled by the snow melt in the surrounding San Bernardino mountains. So there is no rivers or any other tributaries feeding into the lake. It is strictly made simply by the snow melt in the surrounding area. So some years, if there’s no snow or little snow, the lake can recede and shrink. And when we were there, we were in the middle of a drought and there wasn’t very much of the lake at that point.

1 (2m 51s):
Thank you for that tidbit, Mr. Geographer,

2 (2m 54s):
I just want to throw out a little tidbit that you mentioned that Southern Californians go to Big Bear to escape the everyday life, but really I think it’s so that life does not escape them.

3 (3m 4s):
So philosophical view,

2 (3m 6s):
I’m just kidding. You’ll see them on Instagram.

3 (3m 8s):
It’s only a couple of hours from LA, so it’s an easy getaway to the forest and to the mountains and to snowboarding and all of the other snow activities.

1 (3m 17s):
Yes. So we actually left San Diego on a Saturday morning and it’s about a three-hour drive from San Diego to Big Bear. And we headed straight to the trail head. What did we hike guys?

2 (3m 28s):
Pine, not trail

3 (3m 30s):
To the grand view. Lookout.

4 (3m 32s):
This was a really interesting trail. I liked it a lot. One of the main reasons why Emma had come with us on this trip, one other than the fact that it’s Kim’s dog and all of us in the squad love Emma. I’ve told Kim if anything should happen to her, God forbid I’m taking Emma. Just want to throw that out there. Okay, good, good, good. I just want to make sure on that, but we were able to take Emma because all the trails that we hiked on in Big Bear were dog friendly trails. So because of that, we ended up bringing Emma with us and I find that to be great that Emma came, but a lot of the places that we go are not dog-friendly yet. A lot of the trails in Big Bear are dog friendly trails.

1 (4m 13s):
It was a 6.6 mile out in, back on the trail. And like we said, Emma was allowed on a leash. Of course. And we pretty much had the entire trail to ourselves. We didn’t see many other people. And the grand view outlook, wasn’t a lookout to Big Bear Lake. It was a lookout to the surrounding valley. Yeah.

3 (4m 32s):
Yeah. And the cool thing about going, because we got there so early and I always like to go hiking early when I bring my dog, because there are so few people on the trail that usually by the time you’re leaving the trail, that’s when you start to see a lot of people with their dogs. So if you are planning to travel with your dog, there’s a nice little tip for you for Hiking.

4 (4m 51s):
Yeah. And like we said, we didn’t drive up Friday night before we drove Saturday morning, went straight to the trail head. I don’t remember what time we got there, but we left before sunrise here in San Diego. So when we got there, it was still early in the morning, beautiful, crisp mountain air smelling of Pines. Nice and cool breeze. It was just really, really enjoyable. And I really loved it a lot because this was the first time I felt that I had really been to the mountains in a long time, growing up and living in Northern California for the majority of my life lake Tahoe was always so close to us. And we went a lot. So this really reminded me being in Southern California’s version of lake Tahoe.

2 (5m 32s):
I love it because you step outside, you feel the crisp air and just hitting your skin and you just, you feel it and you take a deep breath and all you smell are Christmas trees. And that just smells like

4 (5m 42s):
Home. Beautiful pine trees. Yeah.

1 (5m 44s):
So after our hike, we had worked up quite an appetite. So we went to Big Bear Lake brewing company to get some food and booze.

2 (5m 52s):
It was pretty crowded too.

4 (5m 54s):
You know, we’re always going to squeeze in some booze on the trip. And just for our listeners who don’t know this was well before Zayna took her vows of sobriety for 2019. So she parked, took in the drinking on this expedition that we had. Now, there is the Big Bear Lake brewing company, and then they have another restaurant what’s it called? Big

3 (6m 14s):
Bear

4 (6m 15s):
Brewing. So two completely different names with Big Bear and brewing and them. But we went to Big Bear Lake brewing company and the food was delicious. The beer was delicious and it was definitely very satisfying after our hike. And I really enjoyed it because even though it was a brewery, it definitely gave you a local vibe of the city itself. And that’s what I felt translated the most in the ambiance of Big Bear Lake brewing company

3 (6m 41s):
Translated the most for me were those cheesy potatoes. So good. I got a red ale and a Caesar salad wrap, and it came with a side of cheesy potatoes that were so good. I’ve been thinking about them ever since and have since gone back and gotten those cheesy potatoes again. And they were still, so

4 (7m 0s):
They were on point then too. I remember getting the fish and chips because I love fish and chips. I’m not even going to deny it. I love fish and chips. If I can’t find anything else I want to eat on the menu and fish and chips is there. I’m ordering it. And that day I just had a hankering for it beyond anything else. And it was so, so good, especially after the hike paired well with the beer that I had. So definitely a good fun restaurant to go to when you’re in Big Bear and definitely a nice place to go and quench your thirst

2 (7m 28s):
And shout out because it is dog friendly. So of course, Emma is with us and their patio allowed for dog friendliness. So Emma was with us as well. Yes, yes. I know that I had two beers and I wish that I had slowed myself down or at least paced myself on that. Because from there we went out to kayak on the lake. And again, I should have paced myself a little bit better knowing that we were going to partake in some water activities

4 (7m 55s):
On the lake center.

2 (7m 57s):
Not necessarily. I just think that it, You know,

4 (8m 3s):
Well too much for the lake. She doesn’t want to say it. She had a little too much for the lake that’s okay though, because we ended up going, as Anna said to Big Bear Lake itself, to do some Kayaking, we did a little bit of research and we found captain John’s font, Harbor, and marina to be the best place to rent a kayak for the lake. And on top of that, we found a really good group on for it too. And it was two hours of a canoe or kayak. And it was for $17 for the two hour rental, regardless if it was one or two people per kayak or canoe versus the 35 that they normally charge without the Groupon. So if you could find it really good deal, otherwise $35 for the two hour rental, which is still a pretty good deal.

1 (8m 45s):
And like Jamal said, we did go when we were in a drought here in California and the lake had really receded. We went in October. So we had just come off the summer months. So there was no fresh snow to fill the lake and we get to the dock and the dock does not get us to the water.

4 (9m 1s):
There was no water anywhere near the dock. We

1 (9m 3s):
Had to walk several hundred feet to get to where the water started to get onto the lake.

3 (9m 9s):
But we just put on our boots, like Xena said, and we went into the mud and through the dirt to get to where the water actually started.

2 (9m 18s):
So it felt like the water was a little bit rough.

4 (9m 21s):
Well, it was windy on the lake. It was, it was really windy on the lake. So when we hiked it was sunny, but as the day went on, it started to get a little bit overcast and then it became windy. And what happened when it got windy for you ladies?

2 (9m 36s):
The windbreaker wasn’t breaking no wind,

4 (9m 38s):
The windbreaker wasn’t breaking nowhere.

3 (9m 40s):
The guy even told us, just remember, however far you kayak, you’re going to have to kayak back against the wind.

4 (9m 46s):
Yeah. You would think that’s common knowledge, but when they say it, it really hits home. Like, yes, he’s so right.

1 (9m 52s):
And I just want to add a fun fact to that. Emma got to kayak to Dana and Kim.

2 (9m 58s):
I just want to say Jamal and Brittany are in their own kayak and obviously killing it. Yeah. You were because

4 (10m 4s):
Act and canoed before we’re professionals.

2 (10m 6s):
Oh, my Emma

3 (10m 7s):
Was slowing us down. Is that what

2 (10m 9s):
It was Kim and I are looking over and Jamal and Brittany are like With their strokes in sync. Like they were just like fucking Olympians out there. You just see them like flying in stride with one another. And then there’s me and Kim try and like to get a hold of everything with all the wind. And like I said, I didn’t

1 (10m 31s):
See myself.

2 (10m 32s):
I don’t know

3 (10m 32s):
You must’ve hit like a rip current in the air.

4 (10m 36s):
It’s currently a year. And I put up my makeshift sale for my Zaina had too much to drink

3 (10m 44s):
And the dogs are slowing us down.

2 (10m 46s):
And a wind dude, there was a lot of wind and Jamal and Brittany were pretty much smoking Kim and I,

1 (10m 52s):
We kayaked by a beachy area and Kim and Dana’s kayak actually gets stuck on the beachy area

3 (10m 58s):
When blew us onto this island.

2 (11m 1s):
It was too strong for us. Like it was so fucking crazy. And like, we just couldn’t control the boat. Next thing you know, we’re on the

3 (11m 8s):
Beach.

2 (11m 9s):
We exactly. And then Kim said, whatever you do, don’t tell Brittany and Jamal that we couldn’t control the boat. Let’s just tell him

3 (11m 16s):
When we got out on purpose,

2 (11m 18s):
We came here on purpose to just take them, but we’re not going to tell them that we,

4 (11m 24s):
I remember looking, I remember looking over at when Brittany and I were on the water and we saw that you guys were on the beach and I’m like, what are they doing over there? Are they stopping to go pee? Or like,

3 (11m 36s):
I remember you guys like looking back or waving or something. And I just waved at you guys. Hey, we’re just over here.

2 (11m 42s):
We got soaked too, because now that we’re beached, we have to get our boat back out on the water. And so like we, our feet, like we’re in the water and Emma is just like in the bow at the front, waving her tail, like overlooking the boats, you know?

3 (11m 57s):
And at one point she jumped out of the kayak onto the beach. And so we had to get her back on and she just kept wanting to jump out of the boat.

2 (12m 5s):
And then meanwhile, there’s Jamal and Brittany on their way back to the dock going,

4 (12m 11s):
It’s not my first time in a kayak. I don’t know what else to

9 (12m 13s):
Say. Well, let’s

4 (12m 15s):
Talk with these anus first time.

2 (12m 17s):
No, I think I’ve been in a kayak before, but I didn’t pace myself with the drinks that we had at lunch.

1 (12m 23s):
Hence her sobriety for 2019.

9 (12m 28s):
So

4 (12m 29s):
We’re past 2020.

2 (12m 31s):
Yes we are.

4 (12m 32s):
Yes.

1 (12m 33s):
So after we finished with our kayaks, we were able to check in for our hotel, which actually turned out to be a cabin. And we stayed at the Timberline Lodge

3 (12m 44s):
Who were so excited when we found out

4 (12m 46s):
Super excited. I mean, you hear the name, Timberline Lodge, you really think hotel. Then we get there and that we see that these are little individual cabins. I was so fucking stoked

1 (12m 56s):
And individual bedroom.

3 (12m 58s):
We had our own pit, two bedrooms, a living room, a full kitchen with a dining room table and then outdoors. They were like park benches, picnic, benches, and tons of like nature space.

4 (13m 9s):
There was even a fireplace in there, which I was really excited about. Had I known that it was going to, cause I thought it was just a general hotel. I had no clue. We were even going to have a kitchen, a living room, individual bedrooms knew none of that. And we get there. I see the fireplace. I get really excited because we went in October. So we’re straddling, you know, summer, fall, fall, winter, wherever you want to put it in between there, we were straddling that line of season change. And in the evening up in the mountains, it definitely got cooled and they had firewood, but they were selling it at the hotel at a complete markup for like 12 bucks a bundle. And the bundle was only three pieces of wood, which is going to burn instantaneously.

4 (13m 51s):
So I do want to go back and stay there and bring our own firewood because we had a little party on the living room floor that night.

1 (13m 58s):
Yeah. So when we realized that there was a full kitchen, we headed to the nearest grocery store and we each picked up some soup and garlic bread. And of course some beers,

3 (14m 7s):
You know, now that I’m thinking about it, why didn’t we just buy wood at the grocery store?

4 (14m 11s):
That’s very true. I don’t know why we didn’t do that, but I do know we went to Vons and even grocery stores still have a complete ridiculous markup for it. I feel like I would have to ask somebody that I know lives here in San Diego. Yeah. I know somebody who I could get wood from when the maintenance guy at my building at work, I know I could get what from him. I’m not going to pay

3 (14m 31s):
Like, just go through the alleys, pick up random shit. I

4 (14m 34s):
Guess that’s true. I could go into the forest and find some branches and logs hopefully. And just bring it back.

2 (14m 40s):
There’s a few men. I could probably get some wood from two. Yeah. And that Italian beef.

1 (14m 46s):
Cause you have Italian beef soup for dinner that night

9 (14m 49s):
Passed.

2 (14m 50s):
I went vegetarian that night. I’m just kidding.

4 (14m 53s):
But so anyway, we went to the grocery store, we picked up some soup, some garlic bread. So we each got our own soups, cooked that up, split the garlic bread. And when we found out we had a kitchen and we knew we’re going to be hiking. We said, why are we going to eat fast food or pay money for restaurants? So we picked up some eggs, bacon English, muffin, cheese. And we had some ingredients for breakfast in the morning. But what did we do that night? After we had dinner on the living room floor,

2 (15m 19s):
We drank

4 (15m 20s):
And

1 (15m 21s):
We played cards against humanity. Ooh,

4 (15m 23s):
What a fun night that was. And it would have been funner. If we had firewood would have completed the whole ambiance of the situation, the fireplace was there, it was teasing us. And now I’m ready to go back.

3 (15m 33s):
This place was actually pretty cheap too. Like we don’t necessarily usually splurge on expensive places to stay, but so this place was very affordable and it really had that cabin vibe, like the decor in there was all wooded. Some may call it outdated, but it really was just quaint and went along with the mountain vibes and yeah, you’re right. Firewood would have just been the little cherry on top of that Sunday.

4 (15m 57s):
I told Brittany I really want to go back to Big Bear and I really want to stay at the Timberline Lodge again because I think I remember when we checked in, they were telling us, each cabin is different from one another. There’s 12 cabins, they’re all separated. And each of them are different

3 (16m 11s):
And they had enough, I think, for an eight person.

1 (16m 13s):
Yeah. They had ones that held more than four people. They had up to eight people that could hold. So that pretty much summed up our Saturday. We were real busy on Sunday. We woke up to Jamal making us breakfast. He was making us breakfast sandwiches stuffed with bacon and eggs

3 (16m 31s):
And I think that’s when Jamal became the squad chef.

4 (16m 35s):
Well, I’ve always been Brittany’s personal chef. So

3 (16m 38s):
Now I

4 (16m 39s):
Become the squad.

2 (16m 40s):
You know, when you guys first moved to San Diego and I lived with you, Brittany’s the one that did all the cooking

4 (16m 45s):
Because she wasn’t working at that point. So when we would come home, she would, but as soon as she got a job, a few months later, I was the one cooking.

1 (16m 53s):
So on Sunday after we had breakfast, we wanted to squeeze in another hike because this was another weekend. Get away for us. We hiked a birth, the peak via the Cougar crest and Pacific crest trail. Did we see any clues on the trail and Zena?

2 (17m 10s):
No mountain

3 (17m 11s):
Lions.

4 (17m 11s):
I just want to say something. No bears that we saw, but it gets the name Big Bear because in the area there used to be tons of Grizzlies when Grizzlies were still in California, but they’ve since all, either left or been killed. So there are still bears in the area, but it’s called Big Bear because of all the Grizzlies that used to be in there.

3 (17m 29s):
You have any idea around what year it was that there were a lot of Grizzlies. Oh,

4 (17m 33s):
I know up until the early 19 hundreds is when there were still a good, substantial amount of Grizzlies in the area early, early 19 hundreds, because Big Bear didn’t originally get formed until the late 18 hundreds where they did a little makeshift dam with rocks since they’ve obviously modified it. But the people who went up there were the ones who noticed that there’s a lot of grizzly bears there. So Big Bear.

2 (17m 58s):
It’s just so interesting because I remember when we would go to lake Tahoe when we were younger and it would be during winter during the summer. And you know, I just didn’t really think about bears back then. Cause it wasn’t on my forefront.

3 (18m 8s):
And there were a lot of bears. There are a lot of bears in Tahoe. Yeah.

2 (18m 11s):
I mean, we would be out sledding or plain, you know, if it wasn’t winter, you know, we’d be out there because the cabin was on this huge hill and we would have to lock down our trash. So the bears couldn’t get it. So there was a lot of bears in our surrounding without me really realizing it.

4 (18m 28s):
Yes. I didn’t see any bears in Big Bear nor cougars on the Cougar crest trail.

2 (18m 34s):
No,

1 (18m 35s):
No. So in the parking lot, you do have to have an adventure pass and you either need to pick this up in advance because it’s a $5 day pass. Or we used our national park pass, which was valid for it. At the time we had a national park pass for the entire year. So that covered us for that. But just be mindful that some of the Hiking trails in the parking lot, you are required to have a day pass and you do need to purchase that in advance.

4 (18m 57s):
And so on our way up this trail, actually at the very peak gives you a view of Big Bear Lake. But as we were going up the 6.8 miles round trip, it started to rain on us.

1 (19m 10s):
Yes it did.

2 (19m 11s):
So we said, screw this. And we went back down.

3 (19m 15s):
We actually have a picture of the four of us at the top of this peak that someone took of us. Oh and Emma, the five of us and our hair’s like blowing around. We have our hoods on it looks cold. Yeah.

2 (19m 27s):
I’m just kidding guys. We didn’t turn around. Like we would never turn around for weather.

4 (19m 31s):
Brittany could have it be thunderstorm and be like, well, you’re afraid of getting lightening.

2 (19m 37s):
I know, but you know, it’s so funny you say that because wasn’t there some kind of cell tower up the top, there,

4 (19m 41s):
There was, there was like a cell or communication tower, radio tower, something at the very top of

2 (19m 46s):
It doesn’t matter. We’re not afraid.

1 (19m 48s):
And again, dogs are allowed on this trail. So as long as you have them leash and along the trail are a whole bunch of benches on your way up. So you can sit on the bench, take a look at the lake and rest.

4 (19m 59s):
One thing that I really liked about this trail, unlike the trail before the trail, before that we did on Saturday was really, really nice. We were in the trees in the forest itself and it led to a view kind of, of the valley canyon. Whereas this one finally gave us a view of the lake from an elevated position. So it was really nice to see it was more open. So there wasn’t a lot of tree cover, even though you were in the mountains, but it did give you that rewarding view of the lake at the end, which Big Bear Lake, how could you not go see the full thing from the top

1 (20m 31s):
Beautiful

3 (20m 31s):
View, got to see it.

1 (20m 32s):
So like we said, this was just a real quick weekend getaway. And so after we did our hike, we did head home to San Diego. But Kim has been to Big Bear without the squad.

3 (20m 45s):
Yeah. I’ve been a couple of times to other times in the winter and Big Bear is pretty fun to do the hiking. And it was nice that there wasn’t snow when we went, but I love it when there’s snow. I went once though, when there was a really bad snow storm and it was like one of the worst snow storms they’ve seen in a long time and what was supposed to be a three hour ish drive, there ended up being 11 hours. Oh my God. We had to put on chains and there was like a whiteout. You couldn’t even see the lines on the road going around cliffs on the mountain roads. Yeah, it was insane. And then another time I went, it was snowing. So one time we went, we got a big cabin. I think there was like 11 of us. We had a hot tub and we’re in the hot tub when it’s snowing.

3 (21m 25s):
And it was so cool. And then another time me Stacy and James, two other people from our hometown that live in San Diego. Now we took a day trip up there when we were going to go find somewhere to go sledding. But what did we do? We ended up like,

2 (21m 39s):
Didn’t you go tubing?

3 (21m 39s):
Yeah. We, I think we, we went to the Big Bear Lake brewing company and then we didn’t end up going tubing until it got dark. So I don’t know if we were just drinking all day or what happened, but we did go tubing. The place was called Big Bear, snow play. And it’s a manmade place where they set up the tubing trails for you. And they have like a moving sidewalk that they put on. So you don’t have to walk up the mountain. It moves you up the mountain. And it was really fun. They have lights going and they have like this thing that shoots out snow.

4 (22m 6s):
Well, I was going to ask, you said you did it at night, so they have lights lit up.

3 (22m 10s):
So yes they do. So I think what happened was get ended up three and then night tubing started at five. So there was an hour wait. So we got there, I think around two 30 or something. So we waited for the night to be

4 (22m 20s):
Very nice. I definitely want to go back to Big Bear, whether it be as the squad, which is always, always a good time or the squad plus more because I do want to go yes, during the summer would be nice to do some more Hiking, maybe do stuff out on the lake. But I do want to go for the winter activities. I haven’t snowboarded in a long time, but beyond snowboarding. I really want to do what you’re talking about. Whether it be tubing, sledding. I think that would be so, so fun. And I’m hoping we can go back sometime soon. And then I remember seeing the photos that you posted of all of you in the jacuzzi, outside on the deck, in the snow. That just seems super, super fun.

3 (23m 1s):
Yeah. And then on that trip, we had rented a big cabin and we were going to go sledding and we just walked to a mountain in the neighborhood and everyone was sledding there. And, and that was really, really fun. We’d all gotten to this big raft inflatable raft that we brought. There was like four of us, like a bobsled team going down the mountains. It was amazing. Did you

2 (23m 18s):
Guys kiss an egg?

3 (23m 20s):
No

8 (23m 21s):
Egg is no kind of stuff.

4 (23m 23s):
He actually knows this one from cool runnings Jamaican bobsled team.

2 (23m 27s):
They went down the hill.

4 (23m 29s):
They would kiss the neck,

3 (23m 30s):
But I brought my blood Flamingo and didn’t make

4 (23m 33s):
A good luck. And some white claws

3 (23m 36s):
I wasn’t around then I was going

2 (23m 38s):
To say white claws still only knew. And did you know? I

4 (23m 40s):
Know it’s new, but I just said white claw, whatever they were sipping on that day,

2 (23m 44s):
The inventor of claws, like in his seventies. Wow. I know crazy. And he finally hit like millions of dollars. So you never know when your big break is going to cause these

3 (23m 53s):
Single,

1 (23m 56s):
If you are and you’re listening, please hit up Kim at lush. DS.

4 (24m 1s):
Is that for the money or the lifetime supply of white cloth?

9 (24m 4s):
Both.

1 (24m 6s):
Well, it is Kim’s favorite part of the episode,

3 (24m 10s):
Question of the week

4 (24m 12s):
To give me another one cam question John’s at the week. Let me hear it. What’s a passion.

3 (24m 28s):
I smelled the passions in that one. Cause

2 (24m 32s):
Brittany, your turn.

1 (24m 33s):
Oh, I’m good. I’m it’s a hard

9 (24m 35s):
Path

1 (24m 36s):
Today.

3 (24m 37s):
Well, read us our first question.

1 (24m 38s):
So Derek from LA, thank you, Derek for engaging with us, asked us how long do you need an Big Bear?

4 (24m 46s):
What a tough question.

3 (24m 47s):
Yeah, I guess it depends on what you want to do. Cause if you want to spend a day or multiple days on the mountain, snowboarding or skiing, you could absolutely do that.

4 (24m 55s):
Yeah. To drive around the lake. If you were to do a scenic thing like that, you can do relatively quickly. So that doesn’t necessarily take too long, but

3 (25m 3s):
It’s a couple hours.

4 (25m 4s):
Yeah. So, I mean, you could do that in the day, your first part of the day in the afternoon, whatever you wanted to do, if that was your thing. But if you’re going to be doing Hiking, depends on how many trails. All I know and can say is that we went for the weekend, did a few hikes, had some good food, but again, we didn’t get to partake. At least me, Brittany, and Zayna any other times on like Kim in winter activities. And if you live close enough, you can do multiple weekend getaways a year for it, some in the summer, some in the winter. But I would say maybe four days would be a good amount of time. Yeah.

3 (25m 38s):
You would have a really good trip. If you went in four days, you would get to do a lot. You would feel very satisfied with that trip. Like I said, I went up for a day trip and just went tubing and had a little bit of like lunch and drinking. And I mean, that was a great little trip too. But I live in San Diego, which has only a three hour drive. So if you are there

2 (25m 57s):
From LA, so if you do go, dude, tell us all about it.

3 (25m 60s):
We’ll meet you.

4 (26m 1s):
Yeah. And you could do it as a little day trip. We can trip. But if you were going to be spending a good amount of time, four days, I think

3 (26m 7s):
Probably,

2 (26m 8s):
Hey question for you guys. Have you guys ever been skiing?

1 (26m 11s):
I have not only

2 (26m 12s):
Snowboarding snowboarding myself. Yeah.

3 (26m 14s):
And I don’t like snowboarding. I do want to try skiing.

2 (26m 16s):
Interesting.

3 (26m 17s):
If any of our listeners are skin instructors and

1 (26m 20s):
Want to know Kim out of ski

2 (26m 24s):
At Travel Squad Podcast on Instagram

4 (26m 26s):
Message us. So Kim could get free ski lessons.

1 (26m 30s):
Our second question is from Louis S from Sacramento. Thank you for engaging with us

4 (26m 34s):
Close to our hometown.

3 (26m 36s):
Wonder if we know him

4 (26m 37s):
9 1 6.

1 (26m 38s):
He asked us knowing that we are from nor Cal do we like Big Bear or lake Tahoe more? Ooh, such a tough question, but not really.

2 (26m 48s):
Lake Tahoe is on my heart. You guys. Yeah. I grew up in like top

4 (26m 51s):
And it’s not even that we’re local. I will say this lake Tahoe is just better. The lake is bigger. The lake is bigger and it’s a natural lake. It’s the largest Alpine lake in the contiguous United States

2 (27m 4s):
Has Emerald bay fallen leaf lake. Lots of times.

4 (27m 9s):
Yeah. And then it’s on the Nevada, California border. So there is casinos in there with regular skiing, snowboarding, mountain lodge activities. There’s

3 (27m 19s):
More to do in lake

4 (27m 20s):
Tahoe. There is. And they have

2 (27m 23s):
Golf tournaments out there. Yes they

4 (27m 25s):
Do. And this isn’t putting down Big Bear. I love Big Bear. I loved it. Loved it, loved it. But at one point lake Tahoe was going to be designated as a national park in the early 19 hundreds. They never did it because there was already too much development by the lake. So they, I don’t want to say they figured, ah, forget it. But AE figured it would be too hard at that point to really enforce. But it was on the list of potential national parks. Right.

1 (27m 52s):
Oh, so fun fact. I don’t know if you guys all know this story as in-depth, as I’m going to tell it. But my dad used to take me hiking around lake Tahoe. And this was when I first started to hike. So I didn’t have a hiking backpack. I really didn’t know how to dress for hiking. I was not prepared at all. I think I took like two water bottles

4 (28m 10s):
And

1 (28m 13s):
Came like Zena to my first hike. So we

2 (28m 15s):
Start somewhere. Right? How old were you?

1 (28m 17s):
Ah, I was, I was just out of college or in maybe even in college at the time

4 (28m 22s):
And was still in because I re I know where the story’s going and we were together.

1 (28m 26s):
Yes, yes. Actually I was in college. I remember this vividly now. So my dad takes us. He hadn’t done a lot of hiking either. So we were both pretty new at it and we decide to hike up one of the tallest summits. And we hiked to the top of a waterfall

4 (28m 42s):
In lake Tahoe,

1 (28m 43s):
In lake Tahoe area. And on our way back down, I wasn’t wearing the proper footwear and my front big toe was just hitting up against my shoe the entire way down. So a few days later, my big toe nail fell

3 (28m 58s):
Off. Oh yeah.

1 (28m 60s):
And I remember wearing flip-flops to school day. You see David And I didn’t have a toenail. So yeah, I was in school.

2 (29m 12s):
You paint

1 (29m 13s):
Your

3 (29m 13s):
Nails, your skin.

1 (29m 14s):
I don’t know what I did. Probably not.

4 (29m 16s):
This is another perfect example of how Brittany has no shame.

2 (29m 20s):
I mean, what are you going to do? Life goes on. You still got to go to school. Yeah.

4 (29m 24s):
And it would probably hurt too much to put on a sock and wear a regular shoe. So let me put on a flip flop and show the whole world mine, no toenail on my victim

1 (29m 32s):
Also to add to that, my dad also lost his toenail, but on the opposite.

4 (29m 38s):
So watch out when you’re hiking lake Tahoe, apparently that’s you lose toenails.

1 (29m 43s):
Thanks dad. I’m glad we got to share that memory together.

4 (29m 45s):
No, but to circle back around to Louis’s question, I would have to say lake Tahoe, but that throws no shade on Big Bear. I love Big Bear. I am upset at myself for not going to Big Bear as often as I should for living as close as I do.

2 (29m 60s):
Oh, well, you know what? Maybe when you and Brittany start having kids, you guys can take them to Big Bear. The way that mom and dad took us to lake Tahoe, this is true. And then they’re going to grow up the impartial to Big Bear over lake Tahoe

4 (30m 9s):
Until we take them to lake Tahoe.

2 (30m 11s):
But yeah, Jamal and I, we used to every 4th of July, our family would go to lake Tahoe and we would sit out on the beach and watch the fireworks that were being shot off from the hotels.

3 (30m 20s):
Yes. Yeah. I have spent 4th of July in Tahoe. I’ve spent new year’s in Tahoe and gone several other times and I would have to agree. Tahoe is just a little bit more preferred in my book, but we have Big Bear and that’s what we got when we like it.

2 (30m 35s):
Yeah. Good question. Louis.

4 (30m 37s):
Any final thoughts on Big Bear ladies before we wrap up this episode,

2 (30m 41s):
It’s a great weekend trip. Go get away.

1 (30m 43s):
I can’t wait to go as a squad in winter.

3 (30m 46s):
All right, guys. Thank you so much for tuning in this week and laughing with us. Hope you enjoy hearing about our trip to Big Bear Lake.

4 (30m 54s):
Please subscribe to our podcast, leaver view and tune in every travel Tuesday for new episodes.

2 (30m 59s):
And if you aren’t already be sure to follow us on Instagram at Travel Squad Podcast,

1 (31m 3s):
Next week, stay tuned. We are doing a different type of episode. We’re giving you guys tips on what we wish we knew before we traveled.

3 (31m 10s):
Ooh, that’ll be a good one. Have a good week guys.

2 (31m 13s):
Bye