John Lennon wisecracked "Uh, Paul will answer that for you!"

A confused Paul McCartney answered "It's...it's just a name.  Could have been any name.  Could have been..."

Ringo: "The Shoes..."

Paul: "There you go- The Shoes!"

And so it is with Kuffel Creek.  Its just a catchy-sounding name.  However, there is a real Kuffel Canyon, named after the Kuffel family, early settlers in the San Bernardino Mountains.  

Around Mother's day, drive up highway 18 from San Bernardino towards Lake Arrowhead.  The smog from the valley obscures the mountains until you are almost upon them, and then you start to see the gray outline of Strawberry Peak.  If you look to the right, you will see the rocky outcropping that resembles a gigantic arrowhead that has many legends surrounding its creation.  The lower hills are already turning from their winter green to summer brown, and the vegetation represents the lower Sonoran desert.  

But you soon turn onto the Old Waterman Canyon road, right at the turnoff for the newest Arrowhead Hot Springs Hotel built in the '30s (it has burned to the ground three times).  Soon you will encounter Sycamores, Alders, live oak  and wild grape growing along the steaming hot springs of Waterman Creek, who's headwaters are bottled and sold under the Arrowhead Spring Water label.  (In 1889, patrons at the restaurant at Arrowhead Hot Springs Hotel remarked how good the water served tasted.  The hotel started bottling this water, and soon made more money from it than from the hotel.)  This stream threads along the canyon, back and forth under the steep, windy, narrow road built by Mormon settlers in the 1800s to log the forests of Crestline.  

The old road joins the highway again at an altitude of 3000 feet, and the vegetation changes to high chaparral.  Manzanita covers the hillsides, and the Spanish Broom bushes lining the highway, usually resembling giant green porcupines, have burst in bloom with an explosion of yellow flowers that strongly smell like grape kool-aid.  As the highway winds its way up, the chaparral slowly turns to sparse trees, then pine and fir trees intermingled with Black Oak. 

After the Crestline turnoff, the highway narrows to a two-lane road, and winds between steep granite outcroppings that occasionally  shed boulders to roll across the highway.  This is part of the Rim O' the World Highway, aptly named for the spectacular views of the valley 6000' below.  WPA-era stone columns linked with heavy chain act as guardrails to line the highway, and the road thankfully widens at the historic Cliffhanger Restaurant.  

The forest now thickens, giving little evidence of the wholesale clear-cutting that denuded the mountains by 1910.  The road follows the old railway grade from the narrow gauge tracks of the logging trains.  Artifacts such as steel cable or railroad spikes can still be found under the pine needles in the forest.  The highway passes through sleepy towns with names like Rimforest and Skyforest (former site of Santa's Village), and skirts the scenic Dogwood Campground.

But the focus of our story is the turnoff to Kuffel Canyon Road.  This used to be marked by a historic log building that housed Lavender Hill Restaurant, which like most historic building in the mountains, burned to the ground.  The site is now a frequent location for flea markets and craft shows.  Kuffel Canyon road drops steeply from the highway, and immediately the traveler is confronted with one of its many hairpin turns.  The forest canopy closes in overhead, and resembles the Black Forest of Germany more than the Sonoran Desert.  If you timed your visit right, there is an explosion of dogwood blossoms on bare twigs, and daffodils carpet the forest floor.  This is best viewed from other than the driver's seat, as your full attention needs to be on the road!

But alas, there is no creek running down the canyon, only a drainage ditch.  But Kuffel Ditch doesn't have the same ring to it, so Kuffel Creek had to suffice.  Kuffel Canyon Road comes out at the highway circling Lake Arrowhead.  You can either turn right, and eventually turn onto Hook Creek road and visit the trout-filled waters of Deep Creek, or turn left and enjoy a Belgian Waffle at Lake Arrowhead village.  Either way, it is a fine way to spend Mother's Day.

Ed. Note: The tragic Southern California fires of Oct. 25, 2003 destroyed hundreds of the houses along Hook Creek road in Cedar Glen, and a resulting flash flood on Christmas Day in Waterman Canyon killed many people and wiped out a church camp. We extend our condolences to the families who lost their homes and loved ones, and pray God's blessing on their rebuilding. effort).