Our Pineknot Campground Experience

Here are some more details about our two-night stay at Pineknot Campground near Big Bear Lake. This campground is actually located at the base of Snow Summit ski resort. We made reservations online ahead of time. There is no one to check you in at the entrance, so we drove directly to our reserved site. At around 8:30 at night, we were all in the tent talking, and we heard a voice call out asking “Are you in there?” We thought the question was directed towards someone else, but n yelled back to be funny. Then a flashlight beamed on and off in our tent, so I sent D out to see what was going on. It turns out the camp host had been looking for us to officially check us in. He claimed we were not there, even when he saw our car at the site. Hmm…

As you can see, the sites are pretty large. This was site 31, which was nice because we only had neighbors on one side. The bathroom was just the right distance, too. Not too close, and not too far. (There are no shower facilities).

I had read multiple reviews that commented how well this campground was maintained. Unfortunately, that did not seem to be the case when we were there. The trash dumpster that was near us was at-capacity during our entire stay. I would say that the bathrooms were in the bottom third in terms of cleanliness/pleasantness of all the campgrounds we have stayed at. You know it is bad when you are seeking bathrooms in the grocery store just so you can avoid one trip to the one at your campground.

Breakfast at Dank Donuts

Our current car is a small sedan, so we did not have any room for camp cooking equipment. This meant eating out, which was fine with us! We stopped for breakfast at Dank Donuts. We ordered coffee for D, split two breakfast burritos, and three donuts.

You know how we love our breakfast burritos! It was premade, and kept in a warmer, but it was still very tasty. The accompanying salsa made it even better (not shown). Also, not sure why I did not take a picture of the donuts, but they were good as well. Someone needs to try the croissants and tell me how they are. They were HUGE! We ate our breakfast on the side of the road before our morning hike.

Castle Rock Trail

I wanted to hike Castle Rock Trail early in the morning, both to beat the crowds and to avoid the heat of the day. It is also best to go early because parking can be precarious. There is no lot, so you are parking on a busy curvy mountain road with no sidewalks. The trail itself is 2.4 miles round trip and is classified as intermediate/difficult. As we were returning to our car, someone asked D if the trail was suitable for strollers, and I would say definitely not! It is quite steep and rocky in places, and quite a workout.

This crazy guy had already woken up early and gone running before our strenuous hike.

Our arrival to Castle Rock was anti-climatic, as we did not even know we had reached it! We saw some rocks, but was not sure it was our final destination, so we kept on hiking. It was only after some time of not seeing many other hikers that we realized we had already passed it.

By this time, our energy and enthusiasm was running low, and the sun was warming up.

Woodland Interpretive Trail

Here’s a story for you: We recuperated with a picnic lunch at a local park, and then I convinced everyone to go on one last hike on the Woodland Interpretive Trail. We were trying to find parking, so I directed D to park on the side of the road where we saw a bunch of other cars parked. Unfortunately, we ended up getting stuck in sand! Our tires were spinning, but our car would not move-doh! I got out of the car to inspect the situation, and it felt like everyone was looking at our predicament, shaking their heads. Fortunately, two kind strangers (who were friends with each other) ended up helping D push our car while I put the car in reverse. I was so relieved that the situation did not end up being worse!! We ended up finding out that there was a whole parking lot dedicated to the trail, and parking was plentiful. (A national forest parking permit was required, but we had purchased one ahead of time for $5 at the nearby 7-11).

I would like to say that the 1.5 mi Woodland Trail was worth all of that, but in the end it was just too warm to be enjoyable. This was the only picture I took! I think it would be a good trail for younger kids in cooler weather, however. There are sixteen markers with an accompanying map that explains interesting natural features of the trail.

Dinner at Tropicali

For dinner, we treated ourselves to Tropicali. I heard about this place on Yelp, where they have a crazy amount of five star reviews.

We placed our order inside and ate on the back patio. I think the customer service is what sets this place apart. It is so over-the-top friendly, with a surfer dude vibe. Even though we had to stifle our laughter a bit at the corniness of it all, I can see why people appreciate the atmosphere.

The food was excellent, as well. We ordered three ahi tuna poke bowls and a chicken bowl for variety.

Post-Dinner Activities

We tend to eat dinner really early, and vacation is no exception. We had some time to kill back at our campsite, so we took a little walk around the neighborhood. D had seen some impressive homes on his morning run, so he showed some of them to us.

Pretty crazy, right?

n was bored, so he came up with a his own outdoor version of the game Mancala. I thought it was quite ingenious.

We tried to see Comet Neowise at night, but there were too many trees blocking our view, and I think it was too late in the month. Although the temperature dipped down to the 40’s, we stayed warm in our tent. We returned home the next morning in need of a shower. However, it’s these kinds of trips that I know will stay with our family forever.

The second stop of our winter break road trip was the Cachuma Lake campground near Santa Barbara. According to Google Maps, the driving time from Ronald Reagan Library should have been about an hour and half. However, it took us a grueling 5.5 hours! I blame it on the fact that I-5 was shut down due to snow and everyone and their mother decided to take the 101 instead.

How to Reserve A Yurt

Cachuma Lake has seven lake-side yurts available. Reservations can be made online here and range from $75-$100 per night, depending on the size. If you are not going to arrive at the campsite before 4 or 5 p.m., be sure to call ahead and let the ranger know. I called since we we were stuck in traffic, and the ranger kindly left the light on for our yurt and left the key inside for us. Since we arrived in pitch black darkness, our yurt was a bit difficult to find on our own, but thankfully we made it! Such a relief!

I reserved the Sage yurt for two nights right after Christmas. We could not even see the lake until the next morning, but what a view!

The Amenities

Each yurt has a door with a lock. The window coverings can be rolled up or down.

The Sage yurt is one of the smaller yurts available, sleeping 4-5 people. There were two bunks, with one of the bunks having a bigger mattress on the bottom. This worked our perfectly for our family of four. The kids slept on the top bunks (they still think this is fun!) while D and I slept on the bigger bottom mattress. We used the other empty mattress as a storage area for all of our stuff. We brought sheets to cover the mattresses and then used our sleeping bags and extra blankets on top. It was actually quite comfortable compared to camping! I seriously slept like a baby!

Besides the bunks, there was one small table and a small space heater. There was also an overhead light and a couple of electrical outlets. We brought an electric kettle to heat up water for cup o’ noodles, oatmeal and coffee/hot chocolate. There was also a fire pit right outside each yurt.

At night we played Bananagrams and Spot It, and read books in our cozy yurt. It was nice to spend some quality family time together.

The Restroom Situation

The closest bathroom was a bit of a trek from our yurt. It was perfectly fine during the day, but kind of a pain at night. However, the bathroom was one of the cleanest we have used at a campsite. Part of the reason may have been because it did not seem to be getting much use from fellow campers. (Who else is crazy enough to camp in December?) We never even ran into one other person while using it! I should also mention that here was a trio of port-a-potties that were closer to the yurts. D used one of them at night, but it was pretty bad, so this is not recommended!

A Spectacular View

Each yurt has a wrap-around deck that maximizes the lake view. Our deck had two plastic chairs for hanging out.

The Sage, Poppy and Lupine yurts have a nice sunset view, while the Oak, Sycamore, Pine and Redwood yurts reportedly have a glorious sunrise.

You could also see tons of stars once the sun went down. The nights we stayed in December were definitely cold (mid 30’s), but the space heater really helped. I would highly recommend the Cachuma Lake yurts if you are looking for a budget-friendly yurt experience in Southern California.