Hiking Loch Leven

Just off the 38 highway that connects Redlands to Big Bear is a conference center called Loch Leven. It sits on the old Big Bear road that was abandoned many years ago. The road leads up to Angelus Oaks about 7 miles away and 2000' higher. Over time it has degraded to the point where it is a great hiking and mountain biking trail. The condition varies between very poor pavement and sweet single track. It would be a great way to introduce a road cyclist to mountain biking.

My wife, daughter and I hiked it today even though the weather forecasters promised a 40% chance of rain.
The hike starts at the Loch Leven Conference Center at about 4000'. The sky was overcast and the weather was cool and humid. The route is seven miles of up to Angelus Oaks at almost 6000' followed by seven miles of down. The scenery was amazing with the mountains enshrouded by clouds.

The trail quickly deteriorates into a mix of narrow fire road and single track with occasional outbreaks of broken up pavement. Great for hiking and mountain biking.

As we climbed the sun started playing hide-and-seek about half way up which heated us up quickly and had the jackets coming off. There is a creek which is tricky to cross and a gorgeous waterfall that were both in full flow thanks to the rain.

We finally got to Angeles Oaks Restaurant hot and sweaty and ate a grilled cheese sandwich and a teryaki chicken burger. Yummy.

It was much colder when we set off back down the trail and the jackets went back on. Obviously heading downhill is much easier. About halfway down we started feeling some sprinkles and pretty soon it was raining heavily. The weather forecasters were vindicated. We were pretty wet by the time we got back to the truck.

Total distance was 14.4 miles with about 2000' of climbing.