Baldwin Lake Ecological Reserve Visitor Center
40971 North Shore Drive/ Hwy 38
Fawnskin CA 92333
(909) 382-2790
mountainsfoundation.org

Hours: 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. 5 days/week Closed Tuesdays & Wednesdays

BIG BEAR LAKE, CALIF. -- Blossoms not found anywhere else on Earth can be seen on Spring tours at Baldwin Lake Ecological Reserve in Southern California's San Bernardino mountains. Take a self-guided tour or go with a botanist and volunteers of the Southern California Mountains Foundation on free interpretive hikes that depart at 11:30 a.m. each Saturday through the end of June annually (always call to confirm before going.)

Once a glacier lake  (Pleistocene era 10,000 years ago,)  a combination of unique soils, thousands of years of the swelling and shrinking of the soils, annual freezing conditions in the winter and isolation from other similar areas has created floral species found nowhere else on the planet.  Baldwin Lake pebble plains is so unique that it has been compared to coral reefs with more than 20 species in a square mile. The Reserve can be accessed by driving east of Big Bear Lake on Highway 18--look for roadside signage that marks the entrance to  Baldwin Lake Ecological Reserve Visitor Center where the half-mile trail loop with 11 marked posts that point out key facts about the pebble plains and the rare wildflowers that grace the unique terrain. Parking and restrooms are available.

Flower identification photo, bottom left clockwise: Eriogonum ovalifolium, Astragalus albens, Calochortus striatus,Arabus parishii, Phlox dolicantha, Calochortus striatus, Erigeron parishii, Sidalcea pedata