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The Bradford Ridge Trail (Two and a half miles long ) is a great option for people wishing to access Deep Creek Hot Springs who live in the Inland Empire and LA areas. From off of the 210 FWY, just east of HWY 15, you take HWY 18 up into the mountains, then take HWY 189 through Twin Peaks, go to Grass Valley Rd and follow it northerly until it reaches HWY 173. turn left and follow it to just before the pavement ends. HWY 173 is closed by a gate past here, and the four and a half mile dirt section leading down towards the high desert is not open for travel now. At this point, a couple hundred yards or so from where the pavement ends there is a concrete bridge that goes over Kinely Creek. You will park at the side of the road by this bridge, and the Bradford Ridge Trail starts on the north and right side of this bridge. It is well traveled and you should find it easily. The trail follows along Kinely Creek on the east side of it for the first 25 minutes of hiking, then the trail veers away from this creek off to the right crossing over some hills before you reach a high point and begin to descend into the Deep Creek Canyon.
*** After going downhill for about 15 minutes you will ( if you notice it ) come to a split in the trail. One which goes right which is steeper but a shorter route to Deep Creek Hot Springs (Saving about 10 minutes ), or straight ahead which goes down the Bradford Ridge. ***
Both trails end at the Pacific Crest Trail, and when you reach it in both cases you go right, upstream direction, and you will arrive at the springs shortly. Remember landmarks if its your first time down this trail so that you will be ok finding your way back out. For those wishing to access this trail from the high desert its the same directions. Travel HWY 138 by Silverwood Lake, then pass by Lake Gregory on Lake Gregory Drive which will take you to the intersection of HWY 18 and Grass Valley Rd, then follow the directions that I gave above from there.
The next few lines are about the split in the trail (which I kind of highlighted above).
When you're going downhill (to the springs), it's all fairly straight forward. Whether you take the easier or harder trail, you will make it to the hot springs.
But when you're going uphill, there needs to be a little bit of a clarification about this split:
- When you're going back up to your car (from the springs), again you have the option of taking either trail. The split looks like this when you're going back to your car.
- If you go up the left side (the steeper but shorter option), you'll be on the right path regardless.
- HOWEVER, if you go up the right side (the slightly easier but longer trail), there is another split in the road that you may not be aware of (Especially if you took the other way down). That is what I want people to know about.
- What you want to know is that if you go up the easier trail, you are going to need to eventually go UP the mountain, because you will eventually go around a corner and there's another split in the trail that may not be obvious to you. You will notice that the well-worn trail continues to the right alongside the mountain and this looks like the same trail you've been on all along, but... you are supposed to go left, straight up the ridge, straight up the mountain. If you continue toward the right, it will be the PCT and not the same trail and you could get lost.
The other reason I say this is because...
I went to the springs yesterday for a daytrip using the bradford ridge trail (barefoot both ways, again)... and the girl who was with our group (who had never hiked so much in her life) would not believe that I was going the correct way because I was making her go UP the mountain and not continue along the well-worn PCT trail. I was very sure I was going the right way, but because it was only my second time, she made me kind of question myself which was not a good feeling, especially because the rest of the group now had some fear instilled them, as the darkness was coming and I was potentially leading a group the wrong way. But I knew deep down it was the right way so I just made them continue go up the mountain the correct way, reminding them that this is actually easier than the way we came down (no one believes me in that moment) and we made it just fine after a couple hours (aforementioned girl was quite slow, but it was all good).
Trip Report:
While I'm making this post, I'll just also make a quick report about the springs. I was extremely displeased with the way the place looks compared to two weeks ago. There are now multiple tents that look like they have been left there as trash. There are trash bags hooked up to the deep-creek metal sign which are full and nobody took with them. There is random trash strewn all around including lots of empty alcohol bottles. I wish I could carry all that trash out with me next time, but the hike is so brutal as it is for me that I couldn't carry more than my pack. I wish there were an easier way just so I could haul trash out everytime. The springs themselves are in good shape. I made some sandbags to try to divert water from the crab-cooker into the other pool so it would heat up better cause it was mostly just going into the river, and I needed to make one more for it to work better but I had to leave by then.
Oh yea and as I was hiking down to the springs, I ran across a hiker (with prominently tan legs) who said they'd been coming since 1977! He pointed out the two round-domed mountain peaks in the distance and told me those used to be volcanoes and that there's a fault line down where the deep creek flows, which was pretty cool. Oh and he complained a lot about there being tons of human-shit all over the grounds just 50ft away from the springs that people are not burying at all. So bury your shit, people!
