Friday Hike Day: Big Pines Nature Trail, Wrightwood

We were headed back to Big Horn Mine. Weather report expected snow at 8am. We arrived around 10:30-11am, thinking we were in the clear. Nope! It started snowing just as we were headed up the last stretch of the mountain. It was very exciting but since I have never driven in snow before...I felt we should stop and not go any further. 

We pulled over near a nature center. It was closed but signs indicated a nature trail. It was SO unexpectedly cold when the snow was coming down. My entire body felt fine except my fingers were hurting so bad.

The trail was an easy and informative walk. Plaques gave information about the plants at each stop and the edibility of the various acorn producing trees. I loved it. 

The kids loved playing in the snow, of course. I was blessed that my friend and partner in hiking crime, brought snow gear, especially gloves! Once we were moving, we warmed up a bit. The sun also came out and warmed us as we hiked the trail. 

The pic above is not the nature trail but a hill by the small lot we parked at. The lot had picnic tables and nice, well maintained and clean public restrooms.

Besides the kids enjoying throwing snowballs at each other...Kurtis and I really enjoyed looking for, finding and trying to identify animal tracks in the snow.

Sorry, my pictures are all out of order...Editing challenges.

I thought swimming and cliff jumping into waterfalls this summer and 10 mile hikes were our greatest adventures but...being in the snow has seriously upped the anty! haha.

The nature trail is easy to follow, even with the snow.

Visibility dropped while it was snowing...it looks foggy.

Not so easy to find an actual hiking trail by the parking/rest area while it was snowing!

This is a mild hike. Of course, expect it to be different during other seasons. It's a bit of a drive for a short walk. Nice change of scenery though. Low on the adventure scale over all but high on fun with the snow!

See you next week...hopefully we'll finally make it back to the mine and get inside to explore.