Sunset Trail to Big Laguna Trail
(4 miles, +500/-500 feet).

It’s been a very wet winter in SoCal, and recently very cold too. The last set of storms took the snow level all the way down to 3,000 feet, so we couldn’t wait to get up to Mount Laguna to hike around in it.

There were a lot of footprints on trail from yesterday since it was a beautiful Saturday. There was also the occasional frolic.

After doing some cross country and some bushwhacking we made our way to Water of the Woods. But the water was buried in snow and ice. It was spectacular!!!

We made our way into the woods past the lake and headed down towards Big Laguna where the wind was blowing at about 30 miles an hour.

Soon we were admiring the expanse between the trees.

The wind made some beautiful patterns in the meadow.

Interestingly, some of the patterns were raised impressions of past hiker activity. Where skiers compressed the snow into ice, the wind gradually blew the snow around its base to create an elevated highway. My favorite were the impressions left behind by trekking poles.

We made our way south on the Big Laguna Trail through the open meadow.

At the end of the meadow, snowmelt filled a small dam and flowed over making pretty icicles.

Soon we reached the end of the meadow and climbed a bit through the woods to close the loop.