Camping in the Mountains

This past weekend we went camping up in Barton Flats on San Gorgonio mountain in the San Bernardino National Forest about 1 1/2 hours away from our house. The campground is at an elevation of 6500 feet with the highest peak being around 11,000 feet. Most of the camping areas were run by the Forest Service but there are several camping areas that are privately owned. The closet populated area, named Angelus Oaks, is about half way up the mountain and has a population of just over 100 people. We ran across several cyclers (bicyclists and motorcyclists) going up and down the mountain on the same road. We stopped at a country restaurant in Angelus Oaks for lunch and then went the the country store next door so Jeff could pick up a fishing day pass. The restaurant had hooks lined up along the front porch used to hang bicycles and there was always a motorcycle presence. This picture was on the way to the road up into the mountains but before we had actually started climbing. Most of the peaks of the bigger mountains were covered in clouds.
This was looking out over the passenger side of the road.

This is the campground we stayed at.

This is Jeff's way of utilizing excess space in our Xterra. I thought it was rather ingenious myself. He must have been a boy scout.

We went to Jenks Lake to do some fishing. Some of the kids had never been fishing so it was a real treat. We only caught one fish though... a beautiful trout that decide to eat the hook as well as the bait.
We fished off a dock on one side of the lake. It was a very popular spot and, at one point, was very crowded.

The whole group of adventurers.

Dee enjoying some fishing.

Since we didn't have fish we roasted hot dogs over the fire and had some delicious chicken barley soup. The spread was truly impressive.

This is our campsite. We had three families here and we used this as base camp since we were the most centralized and had the most camping equipment. Though it looks nice and sunny it was still cool (about 55° or so). At night we were expecting lower temps but not the 28° it ended up being. Several people were very cold that night. Around midnight or so we heard a pack of coyotes make a huge ruckus. It was very close and loud but it only happened the one time.

The boys found this great tree to climb and play around. Can you guess how many are actually in the tree at this moment? Hint: You can only see about half of them.
The sky was beautiful!

There was a tree swing not to far away. This was the biggest attraction for all the children in the campground. There was almost always a line to get on the swing.

The San Gorgonio mountain peak. You can't really see it but there is still snow up there.

One of the mountains on the way back down.

The clouds were about even with us on our way down the mountain. Shortly after this picture we saw the sign for 6000 ft elevation.