Lauging Bear you wrote " I dont believe these stories about Mike Castro being the boogie man, stalking people wearing surgical gloves ". There is one " story " about Mike and sugical gloves as recently cited by Jobe. The way you write that using " stories " makes it sounds like you don't think there is any history of Mike doing bad things during his time of occupying the Bowen Ranch. Mikes negative history in the area during his time as owner of a piece of property that makes money off of DCHS visitation has not, and will not be forgotten by those of us who have enough history in the area to know. Remember when Mike and his moto pals were invading the ACEC in Juniper flats burning that new trail after the Willow Fire? You sure didn't have nice thoughts to think about Mike back then, and said as much in your postings at the DCHS Forum! Mike and other moto riders he knows have made lots of the illegal trails out there. I have seen Mike riding at times in areas illegally off of the open public routes allowed for riding. He used to even ride his moto down into the Deep Creek canyon many years ago when he would go to DCHS. So Mikes your good buddy now? Did he give you a big wad of cash or something :-)

And then you wrote this Laughing Bear, " I do believe if someone goes to Bowen Ranch and gives him a ration of BS, he will tell them to find another way to get to the hotsprings ". Well just this year I was talking to a regular DCHS visitor who did have some words with Mike about his fee, actually the content of the argument was basiclly the same as what occured with the lady in Jobes story. Then this guy told Mike ( unfortunately for him ) that he didn't need to use the Bowen Ranch and could just go around and park and use the Freedom Trail. This is what the guy did, he then hiked to DCHS for the day, and later on when he got back to his car, his window was broken out. Supprise, Suprise! This happened just a few months ago.

You wrote, " For those who wish to camp and respect the minimal rules on his property, everything will work out fine ". Looks like things don't work out so fine for people who have had a disagreement with Mike and then decide to find " another way to get to the hotsprings ". I could go on and on with lots of accountings by people I've met who told of negative things that have happened to them related to Mike. And it all doesn't add up to lots of people of myriad backgrounds having a collective conspiracy to make Mike look bad.

And here is just one little tidbit of the dark side of Mike. Remember Jim Pepper, who supposedly died of a heart attack. Well anyway one day I was at the Bowen Ranch way back then talking to Mike about it and he said to me something along the line of " Jim Pepper was causing to much trouble and we finally got rid of him ". I asked him what he meant by " we finally got rid of him " and Mike would not elaborate on that. It was like he was implying " they " actively did something to cause Jim's death, not that he meant merely that he was glad he was gone. What kind of mind makes a comment like that, whether based on anything true or not, after a man dies under odd circumstances? Mike hated Jim Pepper who was another person who knew the dark side of Mike Castro and spoke openly about what he thought of him. I remember how Jim Pepper would try to warn me and tell me stuff that Mike was in to, the troubles he was causing. In those times I was one of those people who only knew of the " good side " of Mike. Well after Jim died, in the ensueing years, the things Jim cited about Mike rang more and more true. And the stories I have heard, from people who used to hang with Mike at the ranch, before the eventual and always inevitable falling out of favor with him would occur. Who of those people hang with him now? You know I could really keep going on and on with accountings like these. I just wish a truly decent, thoughtful and caring person had resided at the Bowen Ranch for all of these years, then I wouldn't have had to hear all these stories and such about evil deeds done by its current occupant.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/12/2010 11:47PM by Wizard.