Trip report Friday 9-23

My first return to DCHS since July. I decided to stop coming for a bit until the schools were back in session after my last visit. Beautiful day all in all, one of the most relaxing I have had out there.

Got out to the area as early as I could, arrived to the parking area at the Bowen Ranch by around 8:30 am. Bowen Ranch Road is in pretty bad shape I would say, from the recent rains. It was in perfect shape in July, so the difference was stark. Even if you feel like you know the road, be careful there are lots of new gullies and holes, and rocks and exposed rock etc. The graded road of July is just gone, and you bounce the whole way now on a million ruts. The road from the ranch to the parking is the worst I've ever seen it, and I fear may soon become hard for any 2WD car to pass. I had a hard time getting out later in the day.

Upon arrival, I noticed three other parked cars, and one white van in a camping spot with a man free-camping, let's call it, and enjoying the morning sunshine. So I free-hiked down, and it was full-on sunny at that point in the day, and pretty much the hottest I was all day (scattered clouds rolled in later on). Very beautiful hike, passed no one, until the last 10 minutes. Came upon three guys one with dreadlocks, young guys, all hiking out already. Said "hey guys," and they smiled and responded "NUDE DUDE!" It was funny. Kept going--when I got to the springs all seemed real quiet. Still and peaceful. There were three more people readying to pack up and leave. I hopped in the water to cool off, then shared the Womb with a Korean man who was there all day, keeping to himself and soaking for hours at a time. Basically, after the 3 campers hiked out, there were only five of us at the springs in the morning hours. Until at least 12 noon, on this early autumn Friday, just 5. All of us were nude, four men and one woman. SO MELLOW. Young guy with the woman offered to help spray my back with the sunscreen I was trying to apply, which I thought was really friendly and so we wound up talking a lot during the day. Maybe some of you regulars know him, he told me he has been living off the land and in the wild now for over 400 days, since starting a Mexico-Oregon PCT hike in May 2010. A lot of stories there, but they are not mine to tell. The departed campers had left behind a pile of ice melting into the beach sands, and so I grabbed it all and stuffed it into the plastic bag in which I had carried down some beers, and shared them later with my new Thoreau-ian friend.

I noticed a lot of bees in the area today. I was troubled by how many of them seemed to be floating in the water, you would find them in the stream and sometimes they would crash into the hot springs water too. There were at least two functioning floats left down at the springs, and so I did a lot of floating about in the lagoon. The pools were so relaxing in the morning hours. Like I said, only 5 of us from 9am-noon, around 10 maybe by 2 pm. Still 100% nude at that point, which really in my opinion makes DCHS seem special, like something from another simpler era, and even more relaxing. Clouds rolled in and rolled out, great to be in the pools when the sun disappeared, and it rained down on us for around 15 to 20 minutes at one point, just before the sun came shooting back out, turning the shower into a brilliant sun shower. We all ran out from our shade cover when the rain arrived, and it was fantastic getting poured on in the heat of an otherwise hot day. I've never been down at the springs during a rain storm before, even one this brief.

Some textiles appeared in the afternoon hours, but they were always in the minority. I saw some familiar dogs arrive late in the afternoon, so I knew the Wizard would soon be arriving. It was nice to talk. Place seemed in good shape, there was a bit of trash about, I cleaned up the area that I was using in the shade but that was all. Free hiked out around 5 pm, beautiful breeze and some late day massive clouds in the blue skies. Passed no one coming down, but lapped three older men at different times who had left before me. Parking lot full of cars when I returned, and one new free-camper set up on a hill near the white free-camping van. I wondered if it was lbcalrr from the message below. My goal for the fall is to return and free camp myself for at least a day. I will pass though on the idea of staying out there for 400! It had obviously rained a bit more up by the ranch, and my car was covered in polkadots from the big rain drops pounding the cover of sand and dust. Drove out to brilliant fire in the sky clouds and sunset, the desert landscape looking like something truly divine. A perfect day, really.