Lake Arrowhead or Forest Falls? (Huntington Beach, Redlands: real estate, rentals, houses)

[courtneyrocks]

I'm looking at places in Lake Arrowhead, and want to relocate by myself (female) and was wondering what is a safer place for someone living alone? I am thinking about winters and wild animals, and that kinds of stuff. In Lake Arrowhead I am looking at places that have good commuter access, on snow plowed roads, and hopefully somewhat level access. I'm not sure if Forest Falls has issues with fog and snow. They are the same elevation around. From your perspective, which is a nicer place to live, and perhaps better suited for someone who needs to do everything themselves and will live alone? I know I will have to drive to Redlands for Trader Joe's and Target regardless of which city I live in. I'm just wondering what each city's strengths and weaknesses are. I'm really wanting to live in the mountains, but am afraid of all the downfalls. BTW I only will need to commute two days a week, one out to Huntington Beach, stay the night and one day back, so commuting won't be a terrible issue. The rest of the week, I work from home.

[darkhorse02]

I grew up in Lake Arrowhead and I have been to Forest Falls so maybe I can shed a little light for you. You mentioned animals and winters as your concerns. Animals are of almost no concern in my opinion. You may see a bear if you are lucky some day. Coyotes and racoons are common, but harmless. Never have I seen an animal come after a human in Arrowhead. The only thing a bear may do is knock your trash over because you put some smelly chicken scraps in it or something like that. Coyote's are very skitterish and I have hand fed racoons which are very gentle (but I dont recommend that). I would say the only animal in either place to worry about would be a rattle snake. But with a little caution and education on their habits and where they usually live, there shouldnt be much of an issue.

The biggest difference in the two town you mentioned is that Arrowhead is like a major city compared to Forest Falls. We are talking a population of 13000+ in just Arrowhead, vs under 1000 in Forest Falls. Also there are numerous communities that surround Arrowhead with more people and more amenities. Speaking of amenities, Arrowhead has many stores, shops, grocery, autoparts, lumberyard, etc. So Arrowhead would be the overwhelming choice for day to day needs. You may want to check into the availability of DSL or cable internet in Forest Falls. Since it is somewhat remote, it may not have as fast of an internet connection as you need to be able to work. Finally, Forest Falls is a little closer than Arrowhead to the freeways. But since you will be heading southwest to Huntington beach (on the 215/91 I assume) they may be fairly close to the same distance.

As far as snow, I would guess they would be close. Arrowhead again is bigger so maybe they have more plows. I lived on a main hwy in the Arrowhead area so I never had any problems with plowing.

My conclusion for those 2 specific places is that if you are looking to get away from it all and be fairly isolated with a few stores/shops etc, then pick Forest Falls. If you are looking for a nice area, with enough amenities and a resort destination, then pick Arrowhead. You may want to go stay at both places for a day or too and explore as both of them have lodges in the area.

Good luck with your search, I hope you find what you are looking for!

[woodsart]

I'm the opposite- I've spent time in Lake Arrowhead (visiting) and I live in Forest Falls. My husband grew up here, and I've lived here off and on for about 4-5 years.

Forest Falls is wonderful, and I love it. It's very distinctively small, rural town life. I think it has a certain culture to it that you can't really find in the larger towns like Lake Arrowhead. People are really integrated here into a communal type of life. There are at least two distinctive groups- a relatively conservative Christian community (many of whom work at the conference center here) and a very liberal bohemian community. However, there is not really any tension. We just live in different social circles and get together for town-wide events.

The feel of the place culturally is that it is very tight-knit, and people not only look out for each other, but (downside) also tend to know each other very well and swap stories. LOL It's very much a small town, with the ups and downs that entails. If you're social, you'd have no problem making friends in whatever community works best for you and soon get invitations to dinners, BBQs, hikes, and all manner of social events. I've been through three major disasters here (a medium sized flood, a very big flood, and a snowstorm where we got 4.5 feet of snow in 24 hours and got snowed in for three days)... in every case, neighbors were cooperating with each other to make sure everyone was taken care of. People were wonderful, the store and restaurant helped feed everyone and relayed news. Mountain communities everywhere deal with more natural disasters, I think- Lake Arrowhead had the crazy snowstorm this year too, and has dealt with large fires. I don't know how their community handles it, but here there really is a sense of pulling together as one community to make sure everyone is OK. If I had an emergency, I could go to any of my neighbors and ask for help, and know they'd help me. For me, that would be a big comfort as a woman.

However, it has very few conveniences. I live here with my husband in a 1940s gingerbread cabin. A lot of the cabins are historic, and some are charming (others are just plain funky!). LOL Most are not at all fancy.

The questions and details:

Amenities: The commute from here to the freeway is about 20-30 minutes. Same for gas, Trader Joe's, and everything else in Redlands. In town, we have a couple art galleries, a general store (one room), one restaurant (it's good- Mexican), two real estate offices, a couple tiny churches, and a community center. That's it. LOL Our population is around 900 full-time residents. We lack conveniences, but we make up for it by being a mile high in elevation, at the base of San Gorgonio. Some call us "Little Yosemite" and it is pretty spectacular scenery. Also, you should know that even in the bigger towns like Lake Arrowhead, the stores can be very expensive, so you’d likely want to stock up off the mountain anyway.

Roads: It is a V-canyon, and there is only one way in and out. The main road, Valley of the Falls, is regularly plowed if it snows. The side streets can take a bit longer (til mid-morning on occasion, though usually in time for commute), but they do get to us eventually. However, if you have a flexible job and/or don't commute much, it won't matter. Overall, we feel the commute is much better from Forest Falls than Lake Arrowhead. Highway 38 virtually never closes and it is much less curvy than the highways to Lake Arrowhead.

Weather: We rarely have fog, but do on occasion in the winter. We get a fair bit of snow, and it isn’t unusual to see 2 feet or so per storm at our house (around 6500 feet). But they are good about plowing. You will want to keep in mind you have to shovel your path and driveway on your own. Houses in lower canyon are substantially lower in elevation and get far less snow- the farther up the canyon you go, the more snow you get. Four-wheel drive vehicles are pretty much a must-have for me as a woman. I would not want to lay on the ice and put on chains. With all mountain living, it is recommended that you have enough supplies on hand for at least several days in case of a very severe storm or a flood, which has happened to us twice in about four years of being up here. We have had flooding fairly regularly, but on the up side, we haven’t had fires- knock on wood. Be sure to always have enough propane and firewood to last through about 2 weeks. A bad winter storm can be scary if you’re out of heating materials. Also, be sure to always have lots of candles on hand. We lose power relatively regularly for short bursts in the winter due to snow storms, and occasionally in the summer due to thunder storms.

Animals: Aren’t really much of an issue. We do have bears, and they will come eat your trash. But if you put the trash in the garage, shed, or indoors until trash morning, it’s no big deal. Bears are really skittish and at worst just stand there if you yell- normally they run away. Basically, outside of watching for snakes while hiking in the summer, none of the animals are an issue. There are, however, bugs- big spiders abound. Just FYI.

Housing and Utilities: We have only two real estate agencies that do rentals- Gilmore and Mountain Air. We’ve worked with both and they’re OK. There are also some private rentals available right now, from what I’ve seen in signage. Rent here tends to be way cheaper than off the mountain. In selecting housing- pay attention to stuff that down the hill would not be a big deal, like how well insulated it is. Otherwise, you pay a fortune in heat costs. Keep in mind that propane is expensive for heating and many cabins rely somewhat on fires to heat in the winter. Since you are home all the time, this will be a major expense, whether you heat with firewood, propane, or both. We spend around $100-150 a month on firewood and propane in winter (though you buy them in bigger increments- like $300-400 at a time). You want to be prepared for this for the first winter. It is way cheaper to go get firewood yourself from the National Forest (just a cheap permit cost), but you probably don’t want to do that as a woman (my husband does it, but I wouldn’t want to). It involves chain saws, splitting and stacking firewood, etc. You will want to learn to build a good, effective fire if you don’t know how. It’s a critical skill up here. When you select a cabin, keep in mind that a wood burning stove uses far less firewood to heat effectively than a fireplace, even though it isn’t as pretty or romantic. And propane wall heaters are very expensive, so you don’t want to run them a lot unless you have a substantial amount of money. Having a smaller, well-insulated cabin helps a lot- or a cabin in which you can hang a drape or shut a door to most of the house when it’s very cold- thus retaining heat just in the rooms you really want to use. We found it economical to buy small electric heaters for every room and just heat the room we’re in (the office) when we’re working from home. Also, invest in down bedding. It makes a big difference- you can shut the heater off except on the coldest nights. Be aware that many people who haven’t lived in snow before can’t stand the winters and move out after a few months of it. The winters are gorgeous here- totally stunning, in fact. But you have to be willing to live with the cold unless you have gobs of money or an extremely efficient cabin (which most rentals are not). This will be true in both Forest Falls and Lake Arrowhead.

Telecommunications: We have DSL and cable up here, and we now (finally!) have cell phone reception, but only if you have Verizon cell. The service is fast and as long as power isn’t out, works fine. I’ve telecommuted and it works great.

Hope that helps!
Kim