Rescheduling that springtime road trip to the mountains? Many travelers are, as people keep close to their pads as a way to flatten the coronavirus curve. But we can still virtually visit some of the spectacular and notable happenings at the places we adore, such as what is currently blooming around the Pebble Plains near Big Bear Lake.
Belly plants, in short, have made their outlandish annual return, and while these scrubby, low-to-the-ground charmers might not possess as much initial kapow as, say, a rose, they do astound and delight once you're up on their offbeat and seemingly unlikely backstory.
Read on, to get the flora's compelling story from a Pebble Plains representative, and see some snapshots of this year's beautiful bellies.
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Big Bear Lake
"A tiny geological treasure can be found in the San Bernardino Mountains: the Pebble Plains."
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Wendy Craig
"Located near the town of Big Bear Lake, this 92 square-mile area exhibits a soil type found nowhere else in the world, a combination of clay and quartz fragments left behind by a glacier lake that existed during the Pleistocene Era."
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Big Bear Lake
"Tiny botanical treasures are also found there, referred to as 'Belly Plants' because they are so small you have to get down on your belly to see them.'
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Big Bear Lake
"About a dozen of these plant species are found nowhere else in the world, having evolved there in isolation, adapting to the unique soil."
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Big Bear Lake
"The Pebble Plains are within the San Bernardino National Forest and a portion of them are protected within the boundaries of the Baldwin Lake Ecological Reserve."
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Big Bear Lake
"Unique to Big Bear, the Pebble Plains offers a glimpse into the Valley's ecological past, and a stunning view of spring in the mountains."
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Big Bear Lake
Dreaming of a visit to the Pebble Plains in 2021 or further down the road?
