Pineknot Campground in Big Bear California is located directly at the base of Snow Summit Resort. If you’re planning on hitting the Bike Park at Snow Summit, you should try to camp at Pineknot! I have been skiing / snowboarding at Snow Summit my entire life and literally had no idea this campground existed until a few months ago. I’m obviously late to the game cause when I visited, it was packed.
Pineknot Campground is roughly a three hour drive from San Diego. I drove straight from work so I arrived at the campgrounds at 4pm on Sunday 8/15 and I left on Tuesday 8/17. The campground has a lot of trees / shade and the weather was 88°F/31°C during the day which meant it was nice and cool at night. I reserved (a month prior) space #44 which was close to the exit / edge of the campground but next time I’m going to be shooting for space #47. There’s no showers but the restrooms were very clean / modern for a campground in my opinion.
So, I arrived at 4pm on a Sunday. Got camp set up but instead of cooking, I rode my bike to Village Pizza in Big Bear Village. Very easy little 5mile/8km round trip ride. I couldn’t believe how close I was camping to the actual lifts at Snow Summit –
I made this trip to Pineknot Campground specifically to test out the new State Bicycle Co. 4130 All Road at Snow Summit. How naive of me to think an “All Road” bike could handle downhill mountain biking… I didn’t realize how intense the runs at Snow Summit would be. It wasn’t necessarily the bike that was the problem, it was the handlebars / brake configuration. VERY QUICKLY I learned that drop bars are no bueno for your wrists when you have to be feathering the brakes the entire time.
I got multiple comments about my bike with my favorite – “what you’re doing is remarkable”… REMARKABLE baHAHAHA All day long, as my wrists were absolutely killing me I was just thinking – “Charlie, what you’re doing right now is remarkable” LOL Anways so do I recommend this bike still? ABSOLUTELY – I just don’t recommend taking it downhill mountain biking!
This camping trip also allowed me to play with some new camping toys –
I just upgraded from a dinky Coleman one-man cookware set to this two-man GSI Pinnacle Backpacker Cookset. It’s designed for two but let’s be real – in camping terms “two-man” is really “one-man” and vice versa right? It comes with a 2L pot + strainer lid + frypan + 2 bowls + 2 mugs with sip-it lids + GSI pot gripper + and it all nests together nicely in a storage sack/sink.
I also finally pulled the trigger on a camp shower / bathroom set up –
That King Camp shower absolutely hit the spot after a long day of riding bikes in the dirt. The olive solar shower I got off Amazon solely cause it had great reviews but then I was at REI and bumped it to that Sea to Summit Pocket Shower that I muuuch prefer. The olive one worked fine but it is a much more bulky operation than the pocket shower. I mean, look at how compact that pocket shower is! It was about 85°F/30°C during the day so I set both bags out in the sun to warm the water. Both bags seemed to be about the same temp so all in all – I’d suggest the Sea to Summit Pocket Shower over that Amazon one…
Wifey somehow got one of the Camp Craft Cocktails gifted to her but she doesn’t really drink so I checked it out. Basically it’s a jar of dried fruits / ingredients and you add your favorite spirit a couple days before enjoying. Comes with a little strainer and shot measuring cap! This one was the Aromatic Citrus and I added Bicardi White Rum. Kind of pricey but definitely recommend if you’re looking to try something a little different.
I’m loving these Mountain House Adventure Meals! When home, I enjoy cooking, eating healthy, and all that jazz but when camping, sometimes ease and simplicity win over quality ya know?
These Adventure Meals are freeze dried so all that needs to be added is water. No need to worry about refrigerating these packages, they last like a million years on the shelf, and oh yeah – they taste great! As you can see, I had the breakfast skillet and the biscuits and gray ~ which is probably too much for one person – it was for me.
So that was my trip to Pineknot Campground and the Snow Summit Bike Park in Big Bear CA.
Hope this post helps you plan your trip.
Charlie Sears 