Beautiful Roads.

The Arctic Circle Is Closed This Week: Your Guide to the Rim of the World Highway to Big Bear

Aerial view of cars on a winding hairpin turn of California State Route 18, the Rim of the World Highway, through dry mountain slopes in the San Bernardino Mountains

Introduction: The Best Way Up to Big Bear Is Shut All Week

There are three ways up to Big Bear Lake, and most drivers from Los Angeles and the Inland Empire pick the dramatic one: State Route 18, the Rim of the World Highway, climbing out of San Bernardino through Crestline and Running Springs before it threads the narrow, cliff-hugging stretch locals call the Arctic Circle and drops to Big Bear Dam. This week, that stretch is not available during the day. If you are headed for the lake, you need a different route, and a different timetable, until Friday afternoon.

What Happened: A Full Daytime Closure on the Arctic Circle

Caltrans District 8 crews have closed State Route 18 through the Arctic Circle completely, in both directions, from Monday, October 26 through Friday, October 30, according to the closure notice reported by KVBB 94.5, the Voice of Big Bear. The closure runs 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. each day, between Snow Valley Mountain Resort and Big Bear Dam, and during those hours the highway is impassable, with no through traffic.

The work is winter preparation, the unglamorous kind that keeps a mountain road alive: critical rockfall removal, landslide mitigation, and slope scaling, where crews bring down loose rock on their terms instead of letting storms do it later. The Arctic Circle is exactly the wrong place for falling rock. The road is carved into a steep face, it is narrow, and there is nowhere for a driver, or a boulder, to go. Closing it fully, in daylight, is how crews can work the slope without traffic underneath them.

This follows weeks of drainage, guardrail, and safety upgrades along the corridor between Snow Valley, the Arctic Circle, and Arrowbear, with lane controls and short holds. This week is different in kind: a full closure, both directions, for the core of every day. Outside the 8-to-4 window the road reopens, so early and evening trips are still possible, but anyone planning a midday trip through Running Springs should treat Route 18 west of the dam as closed. The live picture, including any extension, is on Caltrans QuickMap. Check it on the morning you travel.

The Drive: 107 Miles Along the Rim of the World

When it is open, the Rim of the World Scenic Byway is one of the great Southern California drives, roughly 107 miles following Highways 138, 18, and 38 from Cajon Pass across the crest of the San Bernardino Mountains, high above the Los Angeles basin the whole way. Visit California's Inland Empire road trip traces the same byway to Big Bear Lake, and it rewards a full day rather than a rushed climb. Drive the Route 18 core west to east with these stops in mind:

  • San Bernardino and Waterman Canyon — the climb begins. Highway 18 starts switchbacking almost immediately, with the Inspiration and Panorama overlooks giving the first big views back over the city.
  • Crestline and Lake Gregory — the first rim community, a good coffee and fuel stop before the road commits to the crest.
  • Lake Arrowhead — reached by the Highway 173 detour, the alpine-feeling resort lake of the range. Lake Arrowhead Village is the natural lunch stop, with food, shops, and the boardwalk on the water.
  • Heaps Peak Arboretum — a free, easy one-mile loop near Skyforest, through giant sequoias planted after a 1922 fire, black oak, and white fir. The best short leg-stretcher on the route.
  • Running Springs and Keller Peak — the junction town where Highway 330 drops back to Highland. The side road to Keller Peak Fire Lookout, at nearly 7,800 feet, delivers some of the widest panoramas in Southern California.
  • Snow Valley and the Arctic Circle — the ski area signals the high country, then the road narrows into the closed stretch itself: a shelf cut into the mountainside, the most exposed few miles of the byway.
  • Big Bear Dam and Lake View Point — the eastern payoff. The road reaches the dam at the west end of Big Bear Lake, and from here you can loop the lake or continue down Highway 38 over Onyx Summit toward Redlands. The byway pages at MyScenicDrives map this end of the drive well.

Fall is arguably this road's best season: cooler air at 6,000 to 7,000 feet, sharper visibility after summer haze, black oaks turning along the crest, and fall color around the lake. That is why a full week of daytime closures lands hard. This is the week many people had circled for it.

Practical Tips: Getting to Big Bear While Route 18 Is Closed

  1. Do not plan a midday trip over the Arctic Circle this week. Between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., October 26 through October 30, Route 18 is fully closed between Snow Valley and Big Bear Dam. There is no escorted through traffic and no shortcut around it.
  2. Use Highway 38 as the main detour. Route 38 through Mentone and Redlands, over 8,443-foot Onyx Summit, reaches Big Bear Lake from the east. It is longer, and a real mountain drive in its own right, so add time rather than assuming freeway pace.
  3. Consider the desert side of Route 18. Through Lucerne Valley, Route 18 reaches Big Bear from the north without touching the closure. From Victorville or Joshua Tree country, it can be the fastest open option this week.
  4. Travel before 8 a.m. or after 4 p.m. if you must use the front route. The closure is daytime only, but confirm the day's status on Caltrans QuickMap first, because mountain work schedules move with conditions.
  5. Expect company on the detours. When one of the three Big Bear routes closes, the other two absorb everyone. Leave earlier than the map suggests, use turnouts, and let faster traffic by.
  6. Pack for winter even in October. Crews are scaling those slopes now because snow season is close, the same pattern playing out across California's high roads this month, from our guide to Sonora Pass closing for snow to Tioga Road shutting in Yosemite. Carry water, a warm layer, and, once storms begin, chains you have practiced fitting at home.

When to Go

If your trip is flexible, wait for the weekend. The closure runs Monday through Friday only, so from Friday at 4 p.m. the Arctic Circle should be open again, in time for fall color at the lake and the clear, cold mornings that make the rim overlooks worth stopping for. Go early for the best light, and stop at designated turnouts only, never on the narrow Arctic Circle shelf itself.

If you cannot move the trip, go anyway, just go around. Highway 38 over Onyx Summit is a beautiful drive many Big Bear regulars prefer, with taller forest and less exposure. A closure on one route is a good excuse to finally learn the other one.

The Bottom Line

The Rim of the World is closed this week at its most famous pinch point because people are hanging off the slope above it, knocking winter's rockfall down early. That is the right trade. Use Highway 38 or the desert side until Friday afternoon, check QuickMap before you commit, and save the Arctic Circle for the weekend, when the road, the lake, and the fall light are all open at once.

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