Trip report May 18 - 2014

It was 7am as I was heading down Bowen ranch rd. a Bobcat jumped right into the front of my truck.I missed running into him by @ 10 feet. He took @ 5 hops in front of me and then as if by some magnetic force he jumped back into the bushes. Of course I took this as absolutely fabolus. I had a very good look at this beautiful animal. I decided to stop and look for his tracks and found them, they were very large paws almost as large as my hand. Then I followed them back toward a spring I know of but have not been to in a decade. I will NOT say where this spring is to alert hunters. When I got to the spring I was almost half a mile from the road. There was a dead rabbit with his head eatten off. The cat must not have been hungry enough to eat the rest of him. And so is nature.
The Bowen ranch parking lot was full when I drove by. It was another weather perfect day near paradice. When I got to the Freedom trailhead there were 6 vehicles. I parked at the Hunter's camp where 2 trucks and a van were parked. As I got to the gate I noticed some body has destroyed the gate by running over it. Perhaps the BLM should go out and fix it.
When I got to the hot springs it was kinda a Woodstock vibe with a pretty young woman playing a flute some where...
I could see 4 tents around the trees and 3 more on the beach. With 2 hammocks with people sleeping in them. I had the Annivrsary pool all to myself it put me into another dimension, somehow.
At 3 pm I took my thermometer out to see what I might learn.

The outside air temp was 80 degrees in the shade trees above the Arizona pool. It felt much warmer in the sunshine.

The Creek just upstream from the Arizona pool was 64 degrees and as good as it gets for swimming around in.

All pool temps are taken in the center of the pools and near the surface.

The Arizona pool was less than 1 foot deep and 110 degrees. The constant sunshine made this pool hotter.

The Anniversary pool was heaven on Earth at 107 degrees. A lot of people were useing the shower below and draining this pool sometimes.

The Womb pool was terrific at 105 degrees. Nowhere on Earth can you get a feeling like the feeling you get from being here in this pool, now.

At the Serenity pool someone had placed a sandbag deverting the hot water out of this pool coming from the Crab cooker pool. So, it was only 104 degrees.

Some hot spring angel has placed sandbags in front of the hot water from the Crab Cooker pool. This is a very large and popular place for hot spring lovers to hang out. So a GREAT BIG THANK YOU TO YOU ! for making this great pool. The water was 104 degrees there.

The Crab Cooker pool was 115 degrees the sun was doing it's thing cause it is usually 114 degrees there.

All during the day there were 10-20 through hikers around the springs enjoying it's beauty and it's healing power. A wonderful thing to behold.
If I could just get the picture of that rabbit outta my head I'd say it was a Woodstock kinda vibe day !
ENJOY !