Re: DCHS 2-10-12

Hello Wizard, it was an honor to finally meet you and Phil. I really appreciate both your's and Phil's updates and advice on this website and it was nice to meet both of you in person. Like you posted, it was a beautiful day for a hike and soak on Friday. I was able to free hike both in and out, the weather was perfect. I only passed one person on my hike down and did not meet anyone on my hike out. After the helicopter rescue it was a very quiet trip back up the trail. I filled up about half of a 33 gallon trash bag with junk I picked up around the springs and on the trail out. There actually was not a lot of trash at the springs, what I found was mostly discarded clothing and some food wrappers. Thank you to everyone that helps taking out more trash than what they bring in.

I parked at the Bowen ranch with my very low riding front wheel drive sedan. The Bowen Ranch road has lots of washboard sections and is getting pretty rough so lower speeds are a must with my car. The hill down to the Bowen parking area is also getting to be a challenge, it is doable but you need to pick your route carefully to prevent scraping the bottom of any low riding car.

After leaving the springs I headed out to the Ridgecrest area of the desert to go off roading with some friends. The wind really picked up and we had strong gusts and blowing sand all night Friday and all day on Saturday. I am glad I made it to the springs before the bad weather moved in. I looking forward to getting back to the springs. I plan on coming back in early April and weather permitting I hope to camp a night or two at the ranch.