Re: Trip report Friday 9-23 & camping report

Hello neogeo,
Thanks for the great report, I was also at the springs on Friday and yes that was me who was free camping up on the hill near the white van.

I totally agree that the Bowen Ranch road is in really bad shape, it is way rougher than I have seen it in awhile and like you reported there were a few places where rocks are sticking up in the middle of the road. If you have a low sitting car and are not paying attention these rocks might snag the undercarriage of your car, possibly damaging your oil pan. Normally you can cruise along at 30mph but now you need to keep it down to about 15 to 20mph and pick your path carefully. Also the short drive from the toll gate to the parking area is getting progressivley worse. I see that Mike Castro has a small tractor parked near the house and the tractor has a rear grader blade, hopefully he will put it to use soon on the road down to the parking lot.

I arrived at the parking area around 10:30am on Friday, it was already very warm outside. As soon as I got out of the car I disrobed and did not put on any clothes again until I left on Saturday afternoon. I did not set up camp right away, I decided to hike down to the springs first. I have gotten very comfortable free hiking and I no longer bring any clothes with me down to the springs, just my backpack with a beach mat, a towel and some water. Neogeo I am sure I must have seen you at the springs on Friday, I was up on the beach laying on a blue plaid blanket, pretty close to the couple that I think you mentioned in your post. I arrived at the springs the same time they did, right after the short rain burst you described. The creek was very refreshing, I would lay in the sun for a bit then take a dip in the creek to cool off. I did go into the womb for a short soak. After a short while I decided to hike back up to the parking/camping area to set up my tent and camp, this was around 3:00 or 3:30pm. I left my beach mat on the beach and I was going to return for it after setting up my camp. This probably was not one of my smartest moves because it was still really hot at 3:30pm and I did not bring along enough water. I had finished my one small bottle of water before I got to lower parking area and I was really struggling, I ended up having to stop two or three times before I made it to my car. I had easily sweated out way more water than I had taken in. I have done this hike countless times but this is the first time I have every had heat exhaustion issues. Once I got to my car I slowly rehydrated myself, it took me about an hour before I felt normal again. I learned a lesson and I hope I can share it with everyone, make sure you bring along plenty of water, more than you think you will need. Also drink alot of water before your hike

After setting up camp I made small campfire in the fire pit and cooked some hot dogs. The gentleman in the white camper van arrived back from the springs, loaded up and left. I ended up being the only one camping at the ranch on Friday night, it was very quiet and peaceful. People started returning from the springs and getting in their cars and leaving, I am sure neogeo was one of the ones I saw departing. Right after eating my dinner I put out my fire, loaded my backpack with plenty of water and free hiked back down to the springs. I have never been at the springs at night so I was looking forward to a quick night time soak after I retreived my blue beach mat. The moon was not bright enough to light my way so I had to use my LED head lamp on the way down and on my way back. I passed a few people heading back up the trail, it did not seem like any of them had flashlights. There were still quite a few people at the springs and more kept coming, they must have parked at the Freedom Trail parking area or come in on the Bradford Ridge trail because there were no new cars at the Bowen Ranch lot when I got back to my tent later on Friday night. I ended up hanging out at the springs until 2am then I hiked back up to my tent. There were lots of people at the springs when I left, all of them trying to find camping spots.

I slept until 6:30am, it was not very cold out so I never had to put on any clothes and once the sun made it over the mountain it warmed up quickly. Once I had my breakfast I took down my tent and loaded up my camping gear and headed off to the springs for the third time in 24hrs. Unlike Friday the textiles were in the majority on Saturday, there were only about six of us sans clothing out of the approximately 30 to 40 people at the springs.

Other than my Friday afternoon heat exhaustion issue this was one of my best trips to the springs, I just wish I could have stayed another day or so. Being able to free camp in such beautiful weather and free hiking back and forth to my camp site was unbelievably awsome. Neogeo you really need to get in a free camp at the ranch before the weather gets too cold.