Re: A New Life Begins at the Springs - revisited

Sam, I do not know how AZ Mike is doing these days. The last time I saw him was quite a few years ago when my wife and I met Mike over by the 15FWY and Bear Valley RD to buy a chain saw from him. As I said in the past I did spend alot of time with Mike at Deep Creek, and he even used to come over to our place to spend the night, or for dinners with other DCHS friends of ours. He even at one point purchased 40 acres of land up by where we own property in Northern Cal but then he later decided to sell it to my brother. When he had that land one time he was clearing and cutting a bunch of " bushes " on his land, then he piled them all up and burned them. Unfortunately for Mike those bushes were poisen oak, and he had to go to the hospital because of his exposure to it while cutting and breathing the smoke. He said it was so painful that he cried at night. Poor Guy :-( Anyway he was a good friend when he wasn't having one of his down days. It was Mike and I that were caught in the Deep Creek Canyon the day the 64,000 acre Willow fire in 1999 burnt through the area, past the Bowen Ranch and on north to Apple Valley where that fire burnt around 40 homes. Mike and I had to get in the creek and breathed through wet towels because of the thick smoke and falling embers. It was like a rampaging fire monster was burning up the canyon all around us. When we hiked out of the canyon it was like a moonscape of barreness in so many places. That fire even burnt a hole in one of my trucks tires. Funny that my first time to Ricks ( old format ) original forum was back right after that fire when Katrina posted some of the fire photos I took while Mike and I were in the creek. It was 12 noon but some of my photos looked like they were taken of the fire at night because the smoke was so thick. Oh also, back in the BEGINNING my forum name was Mojo, and then some other name incarnations ( like Crude Yuckie Dude as one ) just after that when I used to have some " fun " with Jennifer, who called me a Cretin at least once :-) Oh those were the days my friends :-)

And Katrina is still around, up in the Lake Arrowhead area I think, unless she has moved. She still post here from time to time. Yes there were " questions " about the ownership status of the Bowen Ranch building as opposed to just the property. I even contributed $150 dollars toward a quit claim deed that Katrina obtained concerning the building but all that is a long story and you can read about it in the archives Mohave :-)

Now Mr Abe Perlstein is a very long time friend of mine who I first met at DCHS. When I took my wife Darcy on a date the first time I had ever met her in person we went to Deep Creek - DCHS and came across Abe kicking back in a hot pool reading a National Geographic. Three years later my wife and I decided to get married while sitting along the creek right near DCHS :-) Abe still remains a great true friend and he now lives up in Los Osos, next to Morro Bay. He is not able to do the hike down to DCHS these days because of a heart condition. He has always been an avid photographer and you can google his name to see some of the endless amounts of various images he has done over many years. Abe is an amazing guy and he is loved by so many. I wish he lived closer so I could see him like I used to, going with him on so many hikes to DCHS and sail boat trips to Lake Mohave on the Colorado River :-)

And I see Mr Gary posting, another great long time friend who I originally met at DCHS. Saw Gary just this past summer as we were passing through his Hood up in Salt Lake City. He is always sending me lots of very nice photos of his various outdoor adventures along with other things too. And Gary, I see your comments for that one pic of mine at Wizard's pictures, funny guy, Elena at Burning Man was cutting a long piece of some type of ( long ) bread for us ( Nathan and I ) to enjoy with some Pesto :-) Gary gets around to the various hotsprings up in his part of the nation, like one at Diamond Forks which he walked a long ways into one day in the snow :-) I wished Gary lived closer to us so our family could visit with him and his family more :-)

I have met so many wonderful people and have had such great times at Deep Creek and DCHS, and as long as I can get down the mountain and back up, I'll be making more great memories in the days and years to come :-)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/13/2012 11:48AM by Wizard.