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WHAT

The Champion Lodgepole Pine and Hangman's Tree

WHERE

Big Bear Lake, Calif.

WHY TAKE THE DETOUR

Hunting for these two notable trees takes you farther into San Bernardino Mountain territory and deeper into its history.

The Champion Lodgepole Pine is about 440 years old, which means it germinated around 1560, about four years before Shakespeare was born. The drive to get there, over sometimes wildly rocky road, is SUV-worthy and winds through towering trees and piles of boulders that sometimes take on a human aspect. On a recent visit, my husband, young daughter and I spotted one hefty rock that looked as though it was grinning at us. Our drive and hike to the tree were on a crisp, cool fall morning, when the light was shining through trees in a range of yellows. And the evergreens looked black outlined against a startlingly blue sky. But a spring visit, when the wildflowers pop up, also can be a sight to behold.

After the rough ride, the three-tenths-of-a-mile hike was the easy part. The wind in the trees sounded like a rushing stream. We had the place to ourselves. Numbered posts along the trail correspond to a Forest Service brochure that points out foresty highlights such as white firs, granite, lichens and where parasites have made their mark. The champ pine, so named because in 1963 it was declared to be the largest of its kind, is near a wide meadow and looks like the granddaddy it is. It reaches about 110 feet into the air and, near the ground, is nearly 20 feet in circumference.

The drive to Hangman's Tree, an ancient juniper on the opposite side of Big Bear Lake, is a little less scenic, though the road is just as jagged. Still, the sites here tap into your imagination.

There's little hiking. Drive along what's known as Gold Fever Trail to spots marked by signs, such as the Hangman's Tree. The years following the 1860 discovery of gold here were rough. Several men met an untimely end at this towering juniper. Tree limbs are said to have been chopped off when the hanged man was cut down. Looking up at the gnarled tree, it's not hard to imagine the gruesome scene.

Among other sites is a Gold Rush-era saloon, marked just by some logs, and the shell of Bellevill cabin, where you can look out the window and try to picture the scene in the late 1800s, when the area was filled with prospectors and miners looking for gold.

The recent fires did not affect either of these Big Bear Lake sites, according to a Big Bear Resort Assn. spokesman.

GETTING THERE

Guides and maps to trails can be found at the Discovery Center, 40971 N. Shore Drive, Fawnskin, Calif.; (909) 382-2790. The drive from Los Angeles to Big Bear Lake takes about two hours, depending on route and traffic. One route: Travel east on Interstate 10 to California 30 west, turn onto California 330 north, which becomes California 18. To get to Hangman's Tree, from California 38 (which is North Shore Drive at the Discovery Center), turn north on 2N90, which becomes Polique Canyon Road and joins 3N16, Gold Fever Trail.

To get to the lodgepole pine trail head, take California 38 to Mill Creek Road (about one mile west of the city of Big Bear Lake), after about 4½ miles, keeping right at forks in the road, turn right on 2N11 and continue for about one mile to the trail head.

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