Serrano Campgrounds
Site #86
Family, friends, sun, american outdoors, barbeques, picnics, fireworks... what more can you ask for when celebrating the 4th of July?
The long trek up the back way into Big Bear, up the 38, never let us down. Campsite #86 was a long, yet narrow site that we squeezed our 35 foot trailer into. Rules at Serrano is you have to be on the pavement at all times. Also, you must be faced outward for quick fire evacuation.
There were a mix of tents, motorcoaches and trailers. The small looped roads made for excellent bike riding for little ones. Larger and much longer bike trails for more adventurous kids and adults. The trails can take you to the Big Bear Discovery Center where you can visit dead bears that kids will love. Trails can also take you to many locations on the lake to swim, launch boats and seadoos and have picnics. Trails can also take you to a store across the main street outside of the campground entrance. It can get busy on this street, so don't let young kids cross and do the store trips alone.
It was a unusually HOT July 4th in Big Bear, but we cooled off by running our awesome A/C and playing games in the trailer, going into town, ice creams from the store and jumping in the lake.
There are hook-up loops in the campgrounds and some with no hookups. We got the no hookups because we didn't do our research and didn't have awesome sites like this to communicate with to get the REAL details. If you desire hook-ups, they are there!
While we were there, there was a bear warning that one had been spotted down by the lake. Keep all food in the dumpsters and not outside in your site. They said it's very rare for a bear to come through this campsite, but they do happen once in awhile. Other warnings were scorpians that like to hide in things like shoes left outside at night. And of course the obvious of fire danger and only having fires in the pits provided with wood, no pine needles.
The bathrooms in our loop were clean. 6 showers if my memory is correct. 2 were locked. 1 didn't lock. 1 had a pond. 1 was missing the screen on the shower head. And I just can't remember what was wrong with the other. Maybe there were only 5. I wasn't impressed with the showers. We tried to conserve water and shower at our trailer. We also tried to be careful filling up the grey tanks and showering more at our outdoor shower.
Visits into town included candy/chocolate stores, coffee shops, Ark Christian Bookstore, Bear and Bean bookstore, Kmart, CVS, Stater Bros., Rite Aid, Starbucks, and a firewood stop. I always like to include where we went and what's there for the shoppers and ones that like to experience the REAL town they are visiting. I love it because it gives me a break from the campgrounds and back to civilization. :)
Whenever possible, another recreation I enjoy is taking my kids horseback riding. We took a 1 hour ride at Baldwin Lake Stables in Baldwin Lake. It is East of Big Bear City. Only about 10-15 minutes from Serrano. Our horses were perfectly matched and our guide "Z" was caring, informative and filled the kids with positive reinforcement. California State Law is that you have to be 7 years old to ride and the stables require you also to be 4 feet tall. They have pony rides and a petting zoo for under 7 and of course all ages.
Reservations through ReserveAmerica.
It's a beautiful place to go with or without kids and we give it 4 out of 5 flashlights.
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