Dirt Road Diary: Butterfly Trail aka 1N12

We finally found some time to pack up the Cruisers and head out for the day. We kept it pretty local and headed to the San Bernardino Mountains taking trail 1N12 to Seven Oaks Dam. The trail was about 6 miles. Here is a google earth view of the trail.

The trail starts here...

It moves up really quickly and then the fun starts. We traveled through some really gorgeous landscapes. The girls and I decided to name the trail "Butterfly Trail" because we saw so many different types of butterflies.

We liked this plant because it reminded us of Phi's crazy shaggy hair-do.

This is a super easy trail. Really narrow roads so we were lucky to only run into a couple of other people because passing is really tight.

We were headed to the reservoir to let the kids play in the water. Except the drought is real people. There was almost no water left.

Of course the mud was still slippery and combine that with my slick flip flop bottoms and you get my ass in the mud.

Twice.

The girls are still talking about it.

I gotta say though, it was so awesome to just be dirty, and not care if you got even more dirty. 

See this pic of Louie with a walking stick exploring nature with her Poppa. Yea this is the best part of off-roading. Even Phi gets into the adventure... eventually. 

After we found a shady spot and busted out lunch.  This was a great lunch spot. Lots of shade and lots of sand and rocks for the kids. Oh and our phones were 4G'ing so that's always a plus. Most trips are way out of phone range.

You may wonder how well the Cruiser does with all the bumps. It usually does really well, except when your steering column plastic cover is already cracked and you hit a big bump and the whole thing falls off.

Of course the boys had to get their picture taken. They wanted it to be epic. I think the only thing they demonstrated is that they practice the skinny girl pose in the mirror at home.

Okay so this picture is kinda epic.

While heading back down the trail we made one more stop to take in the views.

It was so nice to finally be back outdoors. This was a perfect day trip. I am hoping we can get another desert trip in this month because once the weather gets hot the desert is out of the question. 

Dirt Road Diary: Banning - Poppet Flats- Idyllwild

Once the summer hit we had to cut back on off-roading since the heat out in the desert is unbearable. The weather is finally starting to cool off and the itch to get out on some dirt roads was too overwhelming. I swear I don't even know who I am anymore! So on sunday afternoon we got the "crew" together for a short off-road drive in the hills.

A very mellow drive with nothing too crazy. Us, the kids, and the Cruisers are just getting back into the swing of things.

We ended up in Poppet Flats. A very strange, small and secluded area. There was some kind of members-only club and a private area of houses. We drove in and drove right back out.

We headed up the mountain and stopped at Lake Fulmor. We were all amazed that it actually looked like Fall!

The water level had really declined since we were there a few months back.

Lake Fulmor is small and really still and dark. This makes for really great reflection pictures.

While at the lake we noticed that the sun was setting and there was an amazing sunset happening. So we jumped back in the Cruisers and went up a little more to a Vista Point to take it all in. 

After the sun went down we made our way into Idyllwild and ended the day with pizza. An off-road adventure that ends with pizza is pretty perfect.

We are very excited that it's time to start planning some new adventures! 

Dirt Road Diary: Silverwood Lake to Lake Arrowhead

We managed to fit in an off roading day on Sunday. The Landcruiser Crew (8 of us this time!) headed up and started, kinda by accident at Silverwood Lake. A wrong turn had us at a vista point.

The views were gorgeous and as the guys consulted maps we got to enjoy the view of the lake.

2 ex-punk rock guys. In their peak they were surrounded by girls at rock shows. Time sure have changed, still surrounded by girls, now they are their daughters and wives. How times change.  

This was a new trail for all of us. With Joey taking the lead and a map with very little details, a lot of time was spent looking over maps and keeping our fingers crossed that we found the right trail.

As we traveled up the mountain the lake view was getting smaller and smaller.

We had to laugh when we saw a speed limit sign.

Traveling higher and higher.

Seems like dead carcasses are common place on our trips. This time it was a poor fox.

The roads were took had names like 2Y27G and there were different routes that had different levels of off roading difficulties. This would be a really great trail for the guys to take without the kids. When we have the little ones we always tale the most easy trail.

After an hour or so on the dirt roads we stopped for lunch. We found some shade, pulled over, opened up the tailgates and had some food! Matt has a refrigerator in his Landcruiser and this was the first time we used it. It was perfect for storing the sandwiches I made, as well as water bottles and chocolate! No more coolers or packing ice!

Mateo always looks at Joey that way.  A mix of awe and fear. 

Back on the road and the more we traveled the more forest-y the area got. The weather is starting to get to the hot side, but as we climbed the weather cooled down. We spent most of the drive with the windows closed and the a/c on!

The original plan was to take trails all the way from Silverwood Lake to Big Bear Lake. We stopped in Cedar Glen. Karla, the kids and I hit up a thrift shop while the guys figured out the game plan for the rest of the day. We were all happy when the plan involved a Mexican restaurant, dinner and yummy strawberry margaritas! A perfect ending to another amazing adventure!

Here is a short video from the road.....
(please excuse the corny country song. It was all that I had on my computer that fit the scene!)

Dirt Road Diary: Silverwood Lake to Lake Arrowhead from Elissa Lerma on Vimeo.

 (click on the HD to watch this video on HD on Vimeo. Totally worth it!)