`08 Biking to Big Bear the back way

That's where we're headed . . . the mountains	Fully loaded	. . . the view from under our mid-day shade tree	. . . first real climb . . . on pavement still
mentally re-evaluating whether we really need all this STUFF . . .	after pushing our rides through 6" deep sand . . . we can now start the dirt road climbs	pausing to look for a possible spring	color . . . in the monochrome of a burn zone
Life & Beauty in a burn zone	the short, but steep, "climb from hell" . . . that we just pushed our rigs up. We came from DOWN THERE!	our view the next morning . . .	. . . and where we had slept
VERY healthy J-Trees up here . . .	the look of a desert rain . . .	. . .	staying on a friend's land, . . . it's all ours except the camper
our quest for another spring pays off . . .	. . . wild flowers . . .	. . . huge J-Trees . . .	. . . two ponds . . .
. . . a tank, that the locals use to fill drums & tanks for their `omesteads . . .	. . . where we sourced our water from, . . . above it all.	the last of the high desert's exposed rocks	. . . on the climb again, . . .
. . . over a 1,000' of gain . . .	. . . on a rubble stroon road . . .	12 hours of riding/pushing/and hiding under what shade we could find . . .	. . . got us about 4 miles . . . and to the pass into the next valley
we sleep under shelter of a juniper . . .	. . . and wake to beautiful views . . .	. . .	. . . mmmmmmm . . .
that day's spring . . .	. . . it's set up for man or animals	the valley beyond ours . . . we're not going that way, our track goes to the left	last nights shelter, . . . about a mile, or so, above arastra creek
our first (and only) water crossing	old trees . . .	. . . north of Big Bear . . .	. . .on a 16 mile day ride . . .
. . . just because we were bored . . .	. . . w/o gear, that's stashed at a friend's place in town	the "false" hangman's tree	dropping into our first valley on the way down from over 8,000'
where we were this morning . . . west of that dry lake	leaving Broom Flats and looking toward J-Tree	collecting thoughts	Gardian of the spring
it's all down hill . . .	rough, . . . rubble stroon . . .	loaded w/ quad and 4x4 damage . . .	but down hill.
where the desert meets the mountains	the freedom of a long dirt road . . .	having only what you can carry . . .	hard work without the "Job" . . .
YES!!!