Bowen Ranch Road is in reasonably good condition. I made it all the way through with my regular-size sedan, no problems. There are currently two spots where there's water flowing across the road, but they're both less than an inch deep and weren't a problem to pass.
Got to the Bowen parking area around 9:30AM, and two other gentleman, DCHS regulars, were there right behind me. They mentioned that, just as I was making that really tricky turn over the washed-out area on the way from the Bowen gate to the Bowen parking area, I actually had my right-rear wheel a foot or two in the air! Didn't even notice that, which means I'm either a shitty and unobservant driver, or that's not nearly as big a deal as one might think. I certainly knew that I was rocking and bouncing at that part, but didn't know I had a wheel off the ground!
The three of us hiked in and had some nice chats on the way. Got to the creek around 10 or so, and waded across. The water came up to my waist at its deepest, and I'm about six feet tall. It's cold, but not too bad.
When we got to the pools, we found Jobe there, just finishing up giving the womb pool a good scrub. He was there most of the day, and I saw him shoveling out the Arizona pool and the crab cooker at various points in the day as well. Thanks, Jobe (and everyone else who does this), for taking such good care of this natural treasure!
Not much else to report, other than that the pools were fun to soak in as always, and the scenery was delightful, as always. Here's some pix I took from across the river:
Joel
