Not only did large debris flows bring mud and rocks onto the road in the area of the 2020 El Dorado Fire burn scar, but a significant portion of the highway washed away completely just a few miles east of Angelus Oaks.
"Unfortunately, it was a lot more extensive than we first thought," said Eric Dionne, a spokesperson for Caltrans District 8. "Just from seeing the images on Thursday night, (there's a) complete washout of the road. So a lot of material came down from the El Dorado Fire burn scar."
Tourists hoping to get to Big Bear are advised to use Highway 330 through Running Springs, or Highway 18 from the north through Lucerne Valley. Caltrans says there's no official timeframe on how long it will take to rebuild the highway.
Unfortunately, the closure is causing not only a headache for many mountain residents, but a significant hardship for the Oaks Restaurant in Angelus Oaks that depends on the highway for business.
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"That's a lot of my business," said Monica Aguilar, the owner of the Oaks Restaurant. "Winter? There goes winter. Because if there's no access to Big Bear, there's no snow play out here. It's going to hurt a lot."
Aguilar said she intends to keep her restaurant open, and hopes residents from Angelus Oaks and Forest Falls continue to dine in her restaurant, and support tourism in the area.
"Please come up," said Aguilar. "The community is great. We still have our trails; we still have our waterfalls."
Many of the camps above the highway closure now face the challenge of potential customers not having the ability to access the camp via Highway 38. An employee there said the drive to Angelus Oaks, which usually takes only about ten minutes, now takes much longer because he has to go all the way around the other side.
"It took about two hours to get around the mountain," said Jacob Truitt.
Thunderstorms last week also caused significant damage in the mountain community of Forest Falls, also in the burn scar.
The San Bernardino County fire department has reported 11 homes with significant damage - two of those homes are listed as "destroyed."