Columbine Springs Backpack

My boys and I went backpacking with our Boy Scout Troop 1201 this weekend. We went to Columbine Springs camp. The trail head is in Angelus Oaks, just below Big Bear. We had a grueling ascent of about 2300 ft. On the way up we had an incredible view as we climbed about the clouds. The peaks across the valley showed like islands in the clouds. Very picturesque!

At the top of our climb we traversed a saddle between peaks. The relatively flat bridge was covered in manzanita. There was lots of other shrubbery, but the manzanita has smooth bright red bark, making it very unique. I understand that it is protected. The saddle looked like a meadow.

We then made a sharp descent of about 500 feet to our camp area. We had seen plenty of day hikers, but this trail was not used very often and we were completely isolated down in our camping area. Other than a few planes it was very quiet.

The temperature dropped to quickly and went down to 39 degrees over night. We all turned in early to get out of the cold. It is probably just as well, since the boys made up a game involving tying each other up, which the adults nixed in the end.

The next morning we ate breakfast, packed up and made our ascent up 500 feet back to the saddle. Thank goodness the rest was all down hill from there!


Every trip we hand out a camp gadget; something small but very useful on backpacks. This trip we handed out bandanna's with the US flag on them, in honor of Flag Day. Our Scout Master even brought a flag to post in camp - a first for me on a backpack trip!

I am sure I have left out many interesting details and I may come back and edit some in. More pictures are available at the Troop 1201's picasa web album