Went Wheelin June 12 thru 14, Big Bear

[Hawk]

Spent a great 3 days in the Holcomb Valley campground this past weekend. Arrived Thurs night at 7:00 and their was one site left. The camp ground remained full all the way through Sun morning. People driving in and out looking for a spot all night long starting Fri night. I would guess probably 40 people camped outside of the campground. Some just drove to the entrance and set up camp, others drove about 200 feet past the campground, walked over the wire fence and set up camp, crazy, never seen so many people camping. More people on the trails than I have seen in a very long time.

Fri morning took Highway 18 to Lake Arrowhead to run Dishpan Springs Trail, the road was closed about 1 mile before the trail head. The community closed it just before Memorial Day. Drove back to 3N16 near Green Valley Lake and entered the trail through Crab Flats Campground. Went all the way down to the Waterfall and than back up. Not a single soul, but very good wheelin and the trail has changed dramatically. Lots of rocks and boulders and very little dirt at the main obstacle. Called it a day and drove back to camp.

Sat morning ran The Squeeze and John Bull Jr., which was heavily overrun by So Cal Broncos and My Jeep Rocks and Big Bear Experience Jeep Tours, than headed over to Lower Larga. Followed 2 TRD Pro 4Runners in. Very nice rigs. One must of had every Rigid light ever made installed virtually everywhere, probably close to $4,000 in lights alone, not to mention the Maggiolina RTT, Baja Rack and a ladder. I knew something was up as they approached the Gatekeeper. They stopped and gazed for 5 mins and than each required a spotter to pass over and I faced palmed myself. We approached the Rock Garden and I waited for their response. The drivers get out and just gazed and than the expressions went on and on. My two favorites......"Ohhhhhh, WOW. I can't do this, my rims and sliders will get scratched" and ..."This will scratch my front skid plate". After backing up to where these 2 rigs could get out and "attack" 3N16, while sitting there out of nowhere it seemed, So Cal Broncos and My Jeep Rocks just appeared. Must have been 200 rigs running down from Upper Holcomb. The rest of Lower Larga was like literally drive 50 feet and stop again for another 10 rigs. The first Rock Garden is now devoid of dirt and essentially a bolder field for 300 feet. Stopped by the spur Yellow Post campsite 2N06X. Went as far as possible as their were two trees down and blocking the trail. Walked the last 1000 feet up the trail to the campsite and it was completely overgrown. Could not tell where the trail ended and the campground began. Bushes in the middle of the trail 2 to 3 feet tall. I would say no vehicle have traversed that trail in a very very long time. No tread marks anywhere on the trail. Continued on and finished Lower Larga and than moved onto Upper Holcomb trail. Got to the Upper Holcomb gatekeeper and a Rubicon Jeep was caught up on both diffs.....Jeep recovery mode. Winched him off his perched position and 3 rigs continued on their day. A very unique vehicle was waiting at the gate keeper....a Unimog with tires that must have been 4 feet tall. Walked over the gatekeeper as if it wasn't even there and headed for Lower Holcomb.

Sun morning ran 3N08 off 3N16 to Upper Holcomb and down to Lower Holcomb and finished the day. Great wheelin.

Lower Larga requires a lot of work, the winter rains have given the brush and trees new life and the foliage abounds. Culverts appear to be in good shape, but the trees and bushes are seriously encroaching on Lower Larga, many spots offering free pin striping. The Lower Larga gatekeeper off 3N16 needs to be bolstered with more bolder type reinforcements. The many "shortcuts" that have been blocked are all still in good shape and I didn't see any new shortcuts.

Hawk

[Wheelinyotas]

June 6th I ran Holcomb (West to East). Got caught up in several groups at the waterfall, then I took a left onto 2N06X to get off Holcomb. Camped at Horse Springs which is usually empty because it’s too far out of the way for most people, but I was surprised to find two other groups of campers were there. The campground had obviously been seeing some use during COVID while the “other” more popular campgrounds were closed to the public. Disappointed to see the trash accumulation at Horse Springs... (people suck who don’t clean their crap up).
Anyway, the AAT team definitely needs to get a run put together soon for some long overdue trail maintenance. I hope we will see you there & perhaps join some of us for camping the night.

[Irving Zisman]

The 2N06X is in very poor condition. We need to schedule an AAT day here soon for sure.

[JD-Rockz]

Thanks for the heads up guys! I took care of it today. Photos that I actually remembered to take are posted on the trail maintenance thread.