When I got to the ranch there were about 6 or 7 cars parked in the parking area. It was cold up top but farther down the trail it warmed up a bit. The trail was in good shape, a few places you could see where some cattle had walked along it and caused some damage to the side of the trail. Also I had to step around some cow pies in the middle of the trail.
When I made it to the springs the creek level was up just a little bit. There was no rope across the river and after going up and down the creek there was no easy way across using the rocks, so I just had to grin and bear it and cross where the rope usually is. There were a little over a dozen people in the springs, almost an even mix of men to women, everyone was textile. At first I was not sure how they were going to react to me but since I did not bring a bathing suit and I was not going back without a dip in the springs, everything came off. Like the majority of the other folks I left my gear on the beach side and crossed the creek with just a towel held above my head. The water was freezing, ice had formed on the sticks and grass along the edge of the creek. The water came up to just above my stomach. The lower pools were pretty full so I went around the rocks and got into the upper pool. Got a few stares but everyone seemed cool. About 30 minutes later two more gentlemen showed up without suits, but that was it for the rest of the time I was there, it was definately a textile majority. It was a very mellow crowd, not the wild drinking bunch you sometimes run into on the weekends.
The area around the springs were pretty clean, I only saw an occasional soda or beer can on the ground and some spent candles around the pools. It was very cold unless you were sitting in the pools. I went down to the Arizona pool but the water level was only 8 inches deep, it must have sprung a leak somewhere. I sat in it and tried to dig out a little of the sand to make it deeper but I did not have much success. It was too cold to spend much time trying to figure out where the leak was in the pool, someone will have to try to do that on a warmer day.
I spent most of my time in the upper pool, there just was not enough room in the lower pools with all the people that were there. While I was soaking maybe one or two more couples showed up. I left the pools around 3pm. It was another freezing trip across the river only this time I had no welcoming warm pool to greet me
After crossing and quickly toweling off, I got dressed and started the hike back out. On my way up I ran into four couples heading down the trail to the springs.It was a good trip, probably the coldest trip I ever made to the springs. It is hard to belive that I was there just a month ago and I was able to hike almost all the way back out sans clothing.
