After four months to the day since our last hike, we finally found ourselves a day with nothing else in it. We hadn’t been to Big Bear since passing through last July on our way to Joshua Tree, so we decided to pay the area a visit and hike the 7 roundtrip miles to Bertha Peak, elev. 8,201′, a prominent summit on the ridge running along the north side of the lake. Since this was our first day out in a while, the moderate elevation gain (only about 1,300′ over 3.6 miles each way) seemed just the ticket to get tuned back up. The trail would take us a couple of miles up to a ridgeline, then east on the Pacific Crest Trail for a half mile before turning southeast up a service road that allows access to the radio facilities on the summit. We found the Cougar Crest trailhead easily with about 10 cars in its parking lot, heading first north away from the lake along a paved trail for about 200 yards – this path continues another 1/4-mile east to the Big Bear Lake Discovery Center. Where the paved trail turned east, we continued north, now on a wide dirt track that looked to be an old roadbed. We were quickly impressed by two things: 1) the gentle gradient of the trail, which made the gradual ascent to the ridgeline much easier than expected, and 2) the astonishing number of people on the trail, way more than the few cars at the trailhead could support (we figured most of these must have walked up from the Discovery Center). At any rate, there was no shortage of company as we made our way to the PCT junction some 2.4 miles from the start – the views improved with nearly every step, first to glimpses of the San Gorgonio Mountain area to the south and then over the lake itself. As we turned east up the PCT, we suddenly left the crowds behind, which was something of a mystery in that this section of the PCT is nearly level as it traverses the south side of the ridgeline. Perhaps the reason many people stopped behind us is that they had prior warning about the next section, i.e. the service road to the summit. After leaving the PCT, we were met directly with the steepest grade of the trip thus far, a slog of maybe 100 yards straight up the fall line of the ridge – it was a thigh-buster for sure, but we reached the top of the hill in decent shape, only to realize that the road resumed its relentless grade a short distance later. This was the pattern all the way to the top, as we followed the winding road as it switched back and forth across the summit’s western slope. We were so occupied by the climb that the views from the summit, though quite similar to those lower down the ridge, came as a surprise, reminding us that we were huffing and puffing in a very beautiful place – what was striking, though, is that the views seemed much more open from the top, extending now to the west and north and making the exertion well worth it. We could not locate a register anywhere (not really surprising, given the peak’s proximity to civilization), but we ate some snacks and lounged around for about 30 minutes, waiting for someone to catch up with us from below – no one did. We left the peak at about 2:30pm, retracing our steps to the trailhead in less than 90 minutes. This was a very nice hike – not too steep, not too long, and beautiful late winter/early spring scenery and weather (temps in the low 60s with gentle breezes). A great day that promises to draw us back to Big Bear for more.