I went to the springs yesterday, Wednesday. I thought I would have the springs too myself because of the bad weather, I was wrong. I got to the Freedom trail head at 1:30pm. There was a Chevy Blazer in the parking lot.It had very dark windows and appeared some one might be inside. A truck was in the Bowen ranch parking lot. And another big 4X truck had circled in the Freedom trail head parking lot and continued on to the parking lot near the kiosk and fence. This was a large Chevy Pick up jacked up with over sized tires.
The wind was gusting at 40-50 mph. It was drizzling and it appeared to have rained earlier. Clouds were passing overhead at a high rate of speed.
So as I headed down the trail the first thing I noticed was some beer cans beside the trail. I stooped down to get them and found they still were full of beer 3 of them. As I continued on I found several empty beer bottles of the same name brand as the cans. I figured some one was just carelessly drunk. And placed them in my garbage bag. As I continued on the trail I almost steped upon what I fisrt thought was a large stick. Only to discover some one had craped right into the middle of the trail. This was not a small pile but about the size of an official sized football. So I found a large stick and holding my nose with one hand and the stick in another I moved the stinker off the trail. It was a fairly recent pile.
So after completing my good deed for the day I continued on. Only to find that some one has graffitied the trail rocks with yellow and white paint. As I continued to what I call the earth quake rock I found that these Ass ____s had used several cans on this rock. This rock is @ 50 feet before you get to the Mofo hill easy trail split that descends down to the springs area. It is not only both sides of the trail but near the beach area also. So be warned !
When I got to the beach I was greeted by a person at the springs who knows my name. I have seen this guy at several other hot springs also. There were 4 other hipsters there also. The water level was the same height as this weekend, clear and just as cold.
The pools were pristine looking and marvelous. So I got my siphoning hose out and removed the rest of the sand out of the Womb pool. As I did this the rest of the folks went back to where they had come from. Then I did have the place to myself. But I came to the realization that the clear creek was not clear any more ! Then I noticed the creek had risen about 2 feet higher and was getting higher still.
It was 5:00 and time to go. As I left the creek was only a few inches below the Serenity pool. It was also up to my shoulders and the Arizona pool was under water again.
The one step forward and 2 steps backward is how it goes this time. Step 1 forward there is no more sand in the Womb pool. The two steps backward are grafitti and the Arizona pool is most likely full of sand again.
Happy soaking anyway ;~)