Rave Run: Big Bear Lake

Rave Run | Big Bear Lake, California

Last night, my mom and I came up to Big Bear for a one-day retreat with her local Soroptimist organization. I'm jumping in on the fundraising committee, and (in the near future), may be a 5K race director (woo!). All that aside, my aunt now owns a fabulous little cabin up here that overlooks the side of one of the ski resorts up here and is nothing but forest from her deck. It's glorious.

For all the times I've never been up here in the summer, I'm going to have to make this a regular thing. 

From my aunt's deck, yesterday evening.

 This morning, mom and I got up early this morning (really, like everyone was awake already) and headed down to the North Shore of the lake where there's a fantastic bike/hike path that runs along the shore and gives you views that make you just want to stop and take it all in (I did a few times, needless to say). From start to finish, the path is 2.5 miles out and if you opt to come all the way back, you've got a nice 5-mile out-and-back with views you'll never forget.

From our starting point. 

 After the week I and my family have had, despite getting in some solid miles, it was nice for a (literal) change of scenery and get out of my typical zone for a change. Mom walked behind me and I ran ahead, running along the lake, watching fishermen out early in the morning, and through a campground, smelling everyone's morning campfires. Heavenly. Seriously.

Elevation got to me a little bit, considering we're up at 7400' feet and our house is down near 700'. But I managed to maintain a pretty solid pace, despite walking some and enjoying the scenery for some photos. In all, I did about 4.8 miles today (we didn't park at the exact start of the trail), which also included some laps around the parking lot while I waited for mom to catch up at the end.

For more on Big Bear Trails (as there's a ton!), check here! The path we were on this morning was the first one listed, Alpine Pedal Path. I'm excited to come back up, visit my aunt's place, and get in some good runs up here. There's a 5/10K run here in a few weeks before Oktoberfest, so I might have to make that a thing too!

Happy Saturday! Where did you run today?