Steamboat,
Thank you for the report. However your report lacks specifics. For example, how high is the creek in relation to the lower pool? How good is Bowen ranch Rd.? How deep is the main pool now? Is the sand in that pool black already? Does it smell yet? What day was it ? Did you stop to smell the flowers? Which ones? Where the people there nice? What differences did you notice since your last visit?
I log on here to check for trip reports, before heading to my favorite hiking destination. If I weren't a good swimmer I would take the Bradford ridge Trail. But I am usually in to much of a hurry to get there. The best place to cross is as far upstream as you can go up stream from the beach. The crossing there is less than twenty feet even when the stream is at the lower pool level. When I was there last month I crossed there and the current carried me to the lower pool. After just missing the large rock I usually would climb out on, the current formed an eddie and it carried me to that pool.
Perhaps another volunteer will bring a replacement raft, thanks to your report. And that will be a good thing.
Who, what, where, when and why? Those are the magic words for good reporting. I do not mean to preach, but your post left me wondering about my favorite hot spring.
Hopefully on my next trip I will take Highway 174 around Lake Arrowhead and stop and take pictures of the spillway on it's back side, to see how much water is being released from the lake, and report about the condition of the Bradford ridge trail. Last time I was at the springs I saw several persons who had taken it that day, and said it was in good condition. Probably a lot of flowers by now.
Thanks for spiking my imagination.