A Peaceful Pacific Crest Trail Ride in Big Bear with Baldwin Stables

(Last Updated On: January 2, 2017)

It’s not like riding a bike. It’s like riding a horse. After at least a decade of not riding, I was thrilled to take a Pacific Crest Trail ride last month. The Pacific Crest trail is just as gorgeous as it looked in the movie “Wild” and if you get a chance to ride or walk a piece of it, you should do it!

Thanks to Visit San Bernadino and Baldwin Stables for hosting me and getting me back in the saddle again.

Horseback riding was one of my favorite things when I was a little girl. Not that I was a particularly accomplished rider. My parents didn’t really get my passion for horse riding, and were less than enthusiastic about the expense. But I was a summer camp aficionado, looking forward to the day when the horses arrived at our camp and the annual naming contest occurred. If you won the contest, you had summer long riding privileges on your named horse, which meant I could ride several times a week and not the once a week that my parents had paid extra for. This was my time to shine. This was when my word obsessed nerdliness would for once work in my favor, gaining me entrance to the golden circle of “girls who ride horses.” I might even need a pair of jodhpurs and a helmet.

Choosing the perfect name for my horse was not easy. Too pretentious, not going to fly. Too cute, also no good. It had to be something iconic, slightly ironic and memorable to catch the judge’s attention. Food was good. Everyone likes a horse named after a snack. Camp horses were rarely called something like “Chocolate.” You had to be more witty and specific, and suggest a name like “Kit Kat.”

But I drew a blank. Looking at the horses, I ran through entire recipes. Toasted marshmallow. Pop Tart. Nesquick. Frenchfry… no.

“Burnt Frenchfry!”

My winning entry was chosen for a tan horse with a black mane, who would go by the nickname “Frenchie.” For four glorious weeks I was one of those girls who ride horses. My enthusiasm was not even dampened when Frenchie proved to be a bit skittish and I got thrown (snake) and almost thrown again (bee). I cantered and galloped and did an overnight trail ride. I actually thought I was pretty cool.

But then I grew up and aside from the rare vacation occasions of Egyptian deserts and Mexican beaches, I stopped riding horses.

“When was the last time you were even on a horse?” my mom asked me, when she saw my photos.

I could not recall. That’s how you know it’s been too long.

My ride in Big Bear took me through the countryside and up the Pacific Crest Trail where I got to glimpse some pretty spectacular San Bernadino vistas. The view was already postcard perfect – distant mountains gently overlapping in desert shades of tan and purple, but it was experienced in crisper focus from the height of a gorgeous (French!) Percheron hybrid horse named Oscar.

Baldwin Stables took care of everything we needed to worry about for the ride, from the saddlebags to the helmets to the quick riding refresher. The clear mountain air and pine scented breeze took care of the rest.

It’s still great to be one of those girls who ride horses. It still felt pretty cool.

Visit the Baldwin Lake Stables site for information about their one and two hour trail rides.

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