There will always be fools and A-holes who refuse to do the right thing like bring drinks in unbreakable bottles. Some years ago I patched up a young man's foot cut to the bone by broken glass in the creekbed. After bandaging his wound I gave him some aspirin with codeine and saw him and his friend off up MoFo on the painful walk back to the ranch. I expect that those kinds of "accidents" will be on the increase.

I wish all the folks who visit DCHS have the love and respect for the place that most of us here on the forum do. We can't change human nature so we try to find the land mines and booby traps of lesser beings and keep the sacred site as safe as we can.

What is different about the current situation is that the disrespectful crowds now often outnumber the devotees. I first visited Deep Creek Hot Springs in 1970. In the 70s spring and summer weekends might see 50 to 75 people, almost all of them nude, enjoying the Hot Springs environment. There were misbehavers, of course, but the vast number of us gently (and sometimes not so gently) enforced a standard that pleased most of that fragile, temporary community. Now, I fear that many of us who early on celebrated the environment, lifestyle and community spirit of Deep Creek Hot Springs are now in our 5th and 6th decades. Many former regulars stopped coming years ago and the clothing optional culture that we loved, honored and protected now seems odd, "hippyish" and weird to many younger persons.

I am discouraged………… but not beaten.