I got to the Freedom Trail head at 950 am. There were no cars parked at the Bowen ranch nor was anyone at the freedom trail head. Also there was no wind. An eerie quietness was all around me.
I read on this forum that there was trash at the freedom trail head. So I spent about 45 minutes picking up 40 gallons of said trash. Then I took pictures of the parking area. Then I went to my car to drink Ice water. As I sat there there was a lizard perched upon A large boulder nearby. This guy was 10 inches long with black and white stripes along his entire length. On one end was a real eye and on the other was a round black thing that could be confused as a eye. As I sat there watching he slowly moved one foot at a time very extremly slow. After about 5 minutes he had stepped behind the back side of this large boulder till only his eyes were in view of me but not his body. I decided to stare this beautiful creature DOWN. I did for about 10 minutes then a crow began circling over head and he disappeared quickly. Like poff and he was gone.
So I decided I would show the crow who the king of this riparian area IS !
When I got to the springs only one couple was there. They were Deep Creek regulars for many years. They said they had camped upon the Bradford ridge trail. And had a Nice time up stream from the springs the day before. I had the springs to my self for about 50 minutes when I large group of Vietnamese came down from the Bradford ridge trail. Ten School aged children and 4 adults. One of the adults told me it took them nearly 3 hours to hike downhill. He did not know how long it was going to take going up hill. So they were there about 2 or 3 hours and they wanted to stay but left.
While I had the place to myself I put my goggles on and found very unusual things on the bottom of the Womb pool. I think the most unusual thing was a half bag of ramen noodles. Then a dollar bill. A fancy party bracelet. Three empty beer cans and one full. Two water bottles. A very large spent bullet casing that I whistled with. A flip flop. And two quarters. Thanks for the tip.
At 130 pm I got my thermometer out and Took the temps of the pools.
Up stream from the Arizona pool about 7 feet where I usually take the creek temp, it was 84 degrees on the surface.
All pool temps are taken near the surface and near the middle of the pools.
The Arizona pool was 109 degrees.
The Anniversary pool was @ 2/3 full as the Vietnamese were using the shower. The temp there was 108 degrees.
The Womb pool was 104 degrees. A very nice warm up soak.
The Serenity pool was 106 degrees.
The Crab cooker was 113 degrees.
The contemplation pool was 96 degrees.
The outside air temp was 86 degrees near the shade trees above the Anniversary pool.
Just as the Vietnamese left 2 families of Mexicans arrived. They had parked at Bowen ranch and were very interested on taking the Freedom trail next time. So I told him how to get there. He said they had trucks.
Just as the families got used to the nudity about 3 or 4 groups of naked people started swimming around also. Everyone was happy to be there and the Mexican Daddy said he wanted just him and his wife to come down without his kids
So he and his wife could have some quality time together. I told him THAT is the American way. While I was talking to him another Deep Creek regular showed up. I talked to him until just before sunset. When all of us law abiders head up the path to reality again. Just before the Mexicans left a baby water snake was swimming around the rocks where the children were. He was just a little smaller than a foot long. So I picked him up and took him to where the water weeds are big and released him there. AS most know here I do not touch snakes but this guy scaring the kids. So I moved him to safety. It is a thing where my phobias do not matter when it comes to keeping children safe. The parents were almost as scared as the kids.
As I headed up the trail the sunset made the abundant clouds turn many shades of pink orange blue and gray. I would say the clouds were over the springs area @ 1/2 of the day making for an excellent weather day. Never more than 30 persons were at the springs making it a wonderful day. Also Neogeo posted about the rocks were removed from the pools in front of the hot pools. Well, I took it upon myself and put them back. The shower is working great as I spent @ 1 hour there.
Happy hot spring ing everyone !