Trip Report 12/30/08 - Gunfire!

I and a friend of mine visited Deep Creek hot springs on Tuesday. The weather was very nice, a bit cool, but sunny and perfect for hiking. There were a fair number of people down at the springs that day, but not too many and everyone was really nice. We were all were relaxing and just enjoying the serenity.
Late in the afternoon we heard what sounded like gunfire from a small rifle. After a bit, a group of young men, possibly high-school or college-age came down the trail. They didn't come over to the tubs, but they did get close enough for me to make out that one of them was carrying what appeared to be a .22 calibre rifle. I'm sure they meant no harm, but I also reckoned that firing guns is probably prohibited in the area. All of the soakers seemed to be at least a little annoyed and several of us commented on how unfortunate it was that these guys had been shooting in the area. One of our fellow soakers (a gentleman who I'll call Mike), did comment that it was not a good think and it was potentially very dangerous to be shooting any kind of gun in the area because it's not as deserted as it would seem and at any given time there are many people hiking exploring and soaking in the area.
Eventually the boys hiked away and we didn't hear any more shots until the end of the day as we approached the parking lot at the ranch. At that time we could here what sounded like gunfire, but from a larger gun. Mike expressed concern because he thought maybe the boys also had an assault or large hunting rifle. As we approached the cars we saw to patrol cars and a few Sheriff's deputies waiting there. We spent a few moments discussing the gunfire situation, and everything seemed to be okay, so we proceeded to our cars. Parked next to my car was a giant SUV with a really high lift-kit, which looked even bigger parked next to my tiny NPR-Mobile (Prius, Subaru, Volvo: you take your pick). The big truck turned out to be Mike's vehicle, so we teased him a bit about it, hinting that we didn't take him to be the red-neck type. Mike explained that the truck might look a bit over-the-top, but he uses it for his work, which takes him to a lot of remote places along dubiously maintained dirt roads. Additionally, he said it's great for getting to the free parking area, closer to the springs.
Mike noticed that someone had left a note on his card. The note was from someone who was also annoyed buy the earlier gun fire and went it went something like, "people like you who think it's okay to fire guns don't appreciate this place. We come here to enjoy nature...[etc etc]" Writer of the note assumed that he owner of the truck was the party responsible for the gunfire. After Mike read it he asked if we had notes on our cars. I didn't and I looked around and there were no notes on any other cars. I think Mike actually got his feelings a bit hurt for being singled out as the good-for-nothing, nature-hating, uncivilized redneck.
Anyway, if the person who wrote this note is reading this, I assume that their intentions were good and that he or she is not a bad person, but I hope they realize that being prejudiced and close-minded is not helping: it just makes you look silly and gives a bad name to us tree-hugging radicals everywhere.



-- Larry