Children's Forest- a great place to ride bikes with the kids

Living in the mountains with no sidewalks makes for an interesting situation for teaching kids to ride their bikes. Many of the neighborhoods like our own are not great for children riding their bikes. I worry that without sidewalks my children may be hit by a careless driver who forgets that kids are residents of the mountains too. Children's Forest is a great place to go and let the kids ride without worrying about cars. I am not sure what the rules are... I have never really checked. I do not remember seeing a sign saying you can't ride but I don't think this is the place for adult bike riders. Children's Forest at the top of Keller Peak is a great place to take kids to ride their bikes. Mountain Man rode there as a child and our kids ride there often. The trail is a loop that is about a 1/2 mile of paved trail wide enough for two people to walk comfortably next to each other. I often have run around while the kids are bike riding or the kids ride the loop as we walk.

The trail is not flat but has some gentle ups and downs. It teaches Mountain children how to ride on the hills that they will have to learn to ride on. The trail is not crowded unless you go on the right Saturday or Sunday during the day. We like to go in the evening. Usually twice along the loop is good.

To get there take highway 18 towards Big Bear and drive through Running Springs. After the elementary school there is a road on your right that has a sign saying Keller Peak. Children's Forest is about 4 1/2 miles up the road. There is a sign. You can park in the parking lot and then take the trail. You need a Forest Adventure Pass to park up there. There are picnic tables for eating and there is a outhouse type bathroom. I would not expect running water because at least half the time when I go there I do not see any water.

(One thing to watch out for is rattle snakes. We were walking there one day and saw a fairly large rattle snake. Remind kids that they are not to get close to snakes and they should be fine.)

Heaps Peak Arboretum

I took a walk with the kids to the Arboretum this morning. It was nice and cool about 60 degrees. There wasn't much of a breeze but there often is when you are walking there so it is good to be prepared. The Arboretum is the perfect place to take preschool age children hiking. It is located on highway 18 between Running Springs and Lake Arrowhead. You need to have a forest adventure pass to park which costs $5.00 and can be obtained at the forest service station and at Deer Lick Lumber in Running Springs. The trail is partially paved and mostly hard packed dirt. It is very easy for every kind of hiker. The paved section of the trail goes to the bathrooms and is wheel-chair accessible. (Thanks to an eagle scout project by my mountain man.)

We started the hike by walking around a small loop of concrete at the right of the enterance. In the concrete are the footprints of many different kinds of animals. The kids love to look at all of them. You could bring along paper and crayons and take rubbings of each kind of foot print. There are also picnic tables at the front for bringing lunches.

After walking the small loop we started down the concrete path towards the bathrooms. After the bathrooms the trail is packed dirt. Along the trail there are tons of different kinds of plants including a grove of Sequoia trees that are quite tall and are scarred from the recent fire ('03) and a grove of dogwoods. The dogwoods were starting to change already. There are bridges to cross and a couple of streams that were dry this time of the year but would be wet in the spring. The trail ends where you start and the full loop is 7/10 of a mile.