Bonita Falls: 5.23.20

10/30/2020
Hiking

Needing to get out of the house for a bit and reunite with nature, during the holiday weekend shrouded by pandemic, I headed to Bonita Falls. I found it on the All Trails app, which noted it was 1.49 miles. It got good reviews and noted that it was not a hard hike. I thought this sounded like the perfect opportunity to gallivant around for a bit.

Really solid idea in theory, but terrible execution. Once in the the general area, there too was everyone and their mother in the general area. I was expecting a crowd certainly, but with as many people who were there, it looked like no one was concerned that there was an invisible threat be-bopping around that could infect anyone of us at any given time. Disappointed by the volume of people and annoyed by the large majority of whom certainly weren't taking any precautions, I made it a point to distance from everyone.

Annoyance aside, parking was a challenge. Everywhere close to the trail head was taken. Less than a mile up the road was a rinky dink easily ignored post office. This is where we parked. We went the extra mile and asked the only employee in the post office if we were permitted to park in their parking lot. With a lot of disdain and bitterness, the post office worker told us that she can't control who parks there so good luck. We interpreted this as as close to a stamp of approval as we were going to get. Countering her snottiness, we thanked her and wished her well and went about our business, walking about half a mile to the trail head, which opens up into a vast rock-ridden trench that easily was or could have been a river bed. Nonetheless, onward!

It is a straight shot from the quarter mile worth of rock bed to edge of the tree line. There was a section of rock faces that made up the left wall of the ravine. A lot of graffiti was here. Most of it was nothing to write home about and were mundane, un-inventive, run of the mill tagging. As far as tagging go, to its credit, it was written on a large scale and was pretty large with sharp lines, bright colors, and complimentary contrasting colors to draw the viewer's eye to a particular focal point of that particular tag. Culturally deep or relevant it was not.

Once at the tree line, it was the equivalent of Disneyland. By that I mean there was a literal slow-moving, jam-packed, organized chaotic mass of spastic families trying to stay in their self-ascribed designated space without overly inconveniencing other families in front of them and behind them with children's attention spans waxing and waning and tempers festering. You can see the (un)appeal right? At any rate, it made for good people watching and unexpected entertainment while the line wound its way over trees, through a few narrow rocks, and some natural points to splash around in water holes. Around some of the water holes was also graffiti.

In the grand scheme of things, seeing graffiti, especially meaningless dribble of graffiti (basic tags), defacing the natural beauty did trigger an epic sized rage within me. However, I could take a step back and in part, could appreciate the juxtaposition of the graffiti with the surrounding nature of the flowing water framed by rocks, framed by trees, hidden by shade from branches, and illuminated by light that playfully navigated its way through the dark to kiss the water and cause sparkles. So in a way, this was an aesthetic all in itself.

On the other hand, tagging and disrespect for nature and property, especially this type of property is common practice in San Bernardino County, which Lytle Creek where Bonita Falls is located, is in. In a way, I guess this just goes to show that the cultural pollution and dilapidation of San Bernardino (i.e., crime, homelessness, disrespect for property, corruption, disregard for the well being of others, permeates even the purest and most neutral of players. There was an obvious dulling of the path leading to the falls due to the aforementioned, but there was a vein of water that was running harder and faster now that we were nearing the falls. The forest opened up and as I gazed up, there was an immediate large pool at the base of the falls. It was a glorious site. A glorious site poisoned by people everywhere. They were like ants, absolutely everywhere, trying to get their piece of the action to post on Instagram or Facebook. There were very few enjoying the site as is.

Recap: between the walking from the post office, walking through the rocky river bed, and finally walking to the destination itself, the entire hike ended up being about 3 miles round trip. It was very crowded. If you choose to do this hike, this is one that I recommend: 1) not doing on a weekend, 2) not doing over a holiday, and 3) complete during the week. Overall, this was a pleasant little hike. For me, because it was about 2.5 hours drive round trip, it was not worth it putting up with all the people, the crowding, needing to be particularly mindful, annoyingly so, so that I do not accidentally bump into a little kid and send them tumbling down the trail. However, that notwithstanding, I would most certainly do this hike again. It was beautiful, despite being contaminated with people and several overlaying agendas.