Trip report 1-19-14

It was 12:30 when I got to the trail head. The sun was bright and warm but there was no wind at all. The Bowen ranch parking lot appeared to be full. At the Freedom trail head were 9 cars and trucks.

As I went down the trail there were @ 25-30 people going uphill toward the ranch, mostly teenagers and only a few adults. I thought this might be nice as it would not be too crowded. Wrong, it was still crowded but not too bad.

The first people I saw were Wizard and Greg so I talked with them for a while then headed for a soak. A lot of the people I talked with were first timers.

At 1:47 I took my thermometer out to see how cool this place is.

The outside air temp was 60 degrees.

The water in the creek at the spot I have been taking it upstream from the Arizona pool was 46 degrees.

The water in the creek where most people cross the creek from the beach was 48 degrees.

All pool temps are taken from the center of the pools and near the surface.

The Arizona pool was 108 degrees. And full of some very nice people.

The Anniversary pool was 106 degrees. I noticed the shower had been running for a long time. This may be why it was a few degrees cooler than normal.

The Womb pool was at 98 degrees. Cooler than normal, probably because the Anniversary pool water was going out the shower.

The serenity pool was at 107 degrees. And full of a bunch of first timers.

The Crab Cooker pool was at 112 degrees as expected.

The Contemplation pool was at 86 degrees. Some Mexican girls/almost women were soaking there. They thought my thermometer was not working right because they thought it was much colder. I told them it was most probably right and they wanted to argue their point. So, I just walked away because they seemed more interested in looking upon my naked parts. Kind of weird.

Everywhere I went I saw people happy to be at my favorite hiking destination.
Glad I can help !