Need some clarification: The parking area that I used for my hike was right at the bottom of the 173, just before the road closure at the bottom of the mountain. The PCT trail crosses the 173 right at that point with trail markers and small walk through gates on both sides of the 173. Is this the parking area that gets vandalized? I noticed during my hike that there also appears to be a parking area up on one of the dams, right below the PCT trail where it starts it's steep climb up the mountain from the edge of the dam. I was thinking that maybe this was the spot that cars might get vandalized because it is kind of out there all by itself. The one at the 173 road crossing has a house near it so I thought that maybe being that close to a dwelling would deter some of the vandalism.

Of the two homeless guys the really tan guy that has been there for many months seems to be a good caretaker of the springs. I have heard that he helps keep it clean and will bag up the trash and leave it for someone else to haul out. This guy always seems to be clean and well kept and is easy to talk to. He usually has a nice clean set of clothes with him, though most of the time when I run into him he is not wearing them. I am not sure were his camp is, he mentioned that he can see the springs from his camp site. The other guy that slept in the Anniversary pool was a little bit different. Not sure if he had a camp somewhere but the night I was there the air temperature was right at the freezing level. He had told me earlier that he spent the nights down below soaking in or near the crab cooker. I was suprised when I went for a soak under the stars in the Anniversary pool at around 2am that the guy was in the pool sleeping on the other end. I soaked for about 20 minutes then went back to my sleeping bag. Both guys were in the pool after the sun came up. They were talking about their supply runs and what kind and how much food they bring and stash at their respective camp areas. I don't know how a ranger would pick them out from the rest of the groups that hang out at the springs during the day. They would have to locate their camps and then determine who was occupying them. I think I have heard before that when the rangers do show up these guys kind of just disappear and stay out of the ranger's sight until the coast is clear.