Trip Report 4/1/2011

What can I say; it was a beautiful and laid-back day at DCHS. I Arrived at the Ranch at about 8 AM. The road was very doable for my Toyota. I find it is less expensive to drive my Toyota and pay Mike than to drive my 4X4, especially with gas at $4.00/gallon. The stream crossing is just as Hiker reported; crossable but cold. The depth of the creek came to the middle of my chest and the best place to cross is a few steps down stream of the rope. If you try to cross a little further down you are going to slip on the submerged rocks. When I arrived at the springs there were about 5 people and about an hour later a few more arrived totaling about 10 in all. It was mixed group of about 90% nude. Some of the regulars were there – Joe, Don and a gentleman name George with his dog. The pools are in fairly good shape. The Arizona pool was being breached by the creek but there is enough sandbags placed there to provide a semi-cold/warm pool to cool off in, without having to jump in the frigid creek. I found some shade up by the trees above the Anniversary pool. As the day wore on more people arrived mostly textilian. By the time I left, the milieu of the springs was mostly textilian. A family came down – an older man, wife and their two teenage daughters and it looked as if he was preparing to do some spring maintenance – he had a bucket and siphon hose and other material. I wish I had gotten his name. On my way out I was able to gather some trash and haul it out and passed several more people hiking down the trail. A little side note - I want to thank all you guys for helping to maintain the springs and keep this place serine. A big kudos to all of you, for without all of us pitching in I could not imagine what this place would be like. I can’t wait to come back.

Thanks, Windsailor