trip report 7/9

In LA, the marine layer just won't quit, so I decided to get up early and get to Deep Creek for a glimpse of sunshine. When I arrived at Bowen Ranch around 9 am, a bank of clouds in fact had rolled in over the area. There were about 3 or 4 cars parked, and a couple packing up things to leave. The guy was nude, the clouds were providing cover, so I joined in and stripped down in the parking lot for a nude hike to the springs. As I was descending the first big hill from Bowen, I could see in the distance another guy nude hiking up the hill toward me. When we passed I asked him if he was already hiking out--"No, just hiking," he said. Now I may be wrong about this, and maybe its my imagination given the growing creaks in my joints while doing the Deep Creek hike, but I think this guy kept doing the hike up and down from the creek to the Ranch like all day. I saw him down at the creek a while later. Then I saw him hiking up MoFo hill with what looked to me like a cooler in his hand. Then he was back down at the creek. Then gone again. I'll come back to him at the end of my report, but mentally I started calling him the Billy Goat.

Passed or saw no one else on my way down to the creek. Upon reaching the point where you can look down into the creek basin, I saw no signs of human presence. No one hiking upstream from the hot springs, no one camping in any visible way near the springs, no one visible from above using the pools. It was much the same when I arrived creek-side, though I could hear and then see some folks in the trees across the river. Then two guys came out to see who had arrived, saw I was nude, and I think I heard one of them pronounce: It's 100% nude. They went back into the trees. But they were right: until after lunch, during the morning hours, all the visitors this Friday morning were nude. 100%.

I was alone on the beach. I thought. There was some trash, as the last trip report reported: a twisted metal rod that looks like it would have been a sign post, a metal box for grilling/BBQ/fires. Closest to me a jar of mayonnaise. I took a step closer, and suddenly the jar of mayonnaise exploded into motion: a squirrel had been inside it, and bolted for the rocks. I jumped out of my....well I was nude so I jumped out of my imaginary clothes. On the subject of trash: Things were otherwise pretty clean down there. I noticed throughout the day that Hippy Dave was walking around picking up things that he found, cigarette butts, glass fragments, paper, whatever trash he could find. My efforts were hampered a bit by the fact that at one point when I was away from my pack, a critter of some sort tried to get inside the plastic bag I carry with me and when I returned it had been chewed to bits.

Back to arrival: I swam in the creek, made my way over to the pools. Had them all to myself. Someone had opened the drain on the Womb pool, and it was almost empty. If I had a brush, given the cloud cover, I would have loved to do some scrubbing, it was a good moment to clean it out, things down there quite cool all morning. With the water gone, I noticed a lot of spiders crawling their way down the walls of the emptied pool. This was the new critter for me of the day: saw spiders everywhere on the rocks during the day.

I have to say it was the quietest day at the creek for me all year, the quietest Friday there I have ever experienced. As I said above, all of the few visitors in the morning were using the springs nude. There was Hippy Dave, and another guy from Israel, and myself, and a woman who had camped in the woods, another two older regulars, and some handful of day trippers who came in after me. All told, maybe ten people, and at the height of things, after lunch, none of the expected groups of kids or weekend campers really arrived. The clouds passed after noon, so that wasn't the issue I expect. It was just quiet. Before the cloud cover broke, I took a hike upstream to see the secluded beaches and parts of the creek I had not yet explored. Ran into one nude hiker on my way back to the springs, he was at the springs himself before long. The clouds broke and we filled the Womb pool again, The day was spent reading a book, laying out on the rocks, soaking in the Womb, and using the shower--everyone was enjoying that during the day.

My friends, the springs were fragrant this summer day. Was it the wild herbs growing in the summer sun, or some other perfume .... brought to the springs by man? By the way, the 420 rock formation someone laid down on a beach upstream has been dismantled.

Some new inscriptions: on a rock on the beach, someone had used charcoal to inscribe a peace sign and in big letters the words "GET NAKED!" The inscription seemed to be working. In the trees just upstream, someone had used the same charcoal to inscribe a death's head on the rocks, with the words: DANGER SNAKE AREA. I asked a regular positioned near these rocks if there have been a lot of snakes, I haven't seen any this year though I have seen many in the past. He said definitely, but that some had been capturing snakes and releasing them on the other side of the creek. Then he added that someone even had killed and eaten one the night before. "Not much meat on it," he laughed.

Nothing much else to report besides the peace and quiet. On the hike out: I left around 5 pm. I had a last swim and soak in the Womb, as at my arrival, I had the place to myself--at 5 pm on a Friday! People had moved off into the shade or woods, so it really did seem I was at the springs by myself. As soon as I started to leave, I could see things would soon be different. Hiking up the MoFo hill, I ran almost immediately into the nude Billy Goat, this time coming back down the hill leading a group of four African-American guys and girls down to the springs. On my hike out, after this group of 5, I passed at least 10 more, so 15 or so people in groups of two or four or more hiking down to the springs by around 6 pm--that is more or less a bit more than the entire population of spring visitors the whole day that I witnessed. So I assume there were a bunch of campers, and I assume today, Saturday, is a quite different day at the springs than yesterday. But all seemed like young, cool folks. New addition to the trail: someone has spray-painted red arrows on some of the rocks pointing the way unfortunately. At one point, someone had marked a red arrow with bike reflectors, glued to the rock. To help people out at night I guess.

I write to you from LA, enveloped in a fog so thick you can barely sense the sun above, or see more than a few hundred feet into the distance. Dreaming of the crystal clarity of the sky at Deep Creek.