Wonderful day down at DCHS. My wife, two daughters and I hiked in about 12 PM, with lots of sunshine, blue skies, and warm enough temps to catch some rays on DCHS Del Mar :-) Very big crowd for winter time. I soaked in the Womb for a good while, then headed up to the Aniversary Pool for some more soaking, and good conversations with various regulars. Brad Burns ( nice guy ), the USFS enforcement ranger for the area showed up with a USFS trainee with him, to check up on things. Brad offered his thanks for the various volunteer work that people do to help keep the springs clean. My family and I crossed the creek at the Rock Crossing, with my daughters hoping across with ease. Fortunately no ice on the rocks at that location, even though just down stream a bit towards the Arizona Pool there was some significant ice along the stream, in the shade of the cliff. Things were looking good down there, with some small amounts of trash to be found. I was told by a regular, Nakid Man, that it looks like someone cut down a tree, near the grassy area by the Aniversary Pool. I found some fresh green limbs by one of the fire pits. Just kills me, why can't those fools just leave the trees alone! Besides that, it was a real relaxing and rewarding day of soaking and conversation. When we crossed the creek on our hike out, the stream level had gone up maybe 2 inches or so, making the " rock hop " a little more tricky, but still very doable :-) On the hike up the Bowen Ranch trail, nice to see a sliver of the moon off to the west, with Venus next to it, with wispy red clouds around it. Also up at the top of the hills by were we parked, there was snow on the north facing slopes, that my daughters had some fun with. With the recent warm up, that little bit of snow in the mountains will be melting fast :-)
