Re: Trip Report 1-11-2020 DCHS parking and camping

I'm not convinced that the new access location will have significantly more visitors than Mike. Of course if they do develop more organized camping facilities, that could change. I would like to know how many visitors actually go through Bowen Ranch . It would be good to know some monthly or even average yearly visitors. I doubt Mike kept track specifically unless he monitored his incoming cash accurately, but he's no CPA LOL!

As I mentioned in a previous post, the new access point folks should make every attempt to educate visitors, especially newbies, on basic things regarding the springs. I'd like to see the following information passed out to all visitors :

Welcome to Deep Creek Hot Springs!

These natural hot springs are located in the San Bernardino National Forest. The pools were built by volunteers over a period of years and are largely maintained by volunteers in the pristine state you see them in today. The beautiful and unique landscape, the soothing hot spring waters mixing with the cool mountain stream, local custom and tradition makes for a wonderful clothing-optional setting to be enjoyed by all. Since the time Native Americans inhabited the area, people from all over the world have come to the Springs to get away, soak, sunbathe, relax, and enjoy the natural environment all year long.

Please help preserve and protect Deep Creek Hot Springs for our children and grandchildren as they exist today. Deep Creek Hot Springs should be open and available to all, clean, healthy, clothing optional, family oriented, with the intention of bringing people together in a sense of community and in harmony with the natural environment. Please do your part to preserve the natural beauty of the Springs and your right to enjoy it. You can help by being fully aware of the United States Forest Service regulations appropriate to the area. You can help by participating in volunteer cleanup efforts if and when they are conducted. If you are a returning visitor bringing along friends for their first visit, please educate them regarding the rules and appropriate visitor etiquette. Most of all, respect the land and the water around the springs.

United States Forest Service Regulations

Please learn the USFS regulations for the area. Ignoring these regulations could lead to the closure of the area that would affect us all and cost you a fine between $50 and $200. These regulations prohibit the following activities in the Deep Creek drainage area:

-- Camping on National Forest lands within a mile of each side of Deep Creek.
-- Building, maintaining or attending a fire, campfire or stove fire.
-- Being in the Deep Creek area after sundown or before sunrise.
-- Possession of glass containers within a mile of each side of Deep Creek.
-- Being publicly nude within one-quarter mile of the T-6 crossing (close to Arrowhead).

Deep Creek Hot Springs Etiquette

Here is some basic hot springs etiquette. This is just common sense. These aren’t rules. They don’t signify authority. The intent is to help make your Deep Creek Hot Springs visits more enjoyable for you and your fellow hotspringers.

-- Respect other people's privacy. Many are at the hot springs for quiet time. Please refrain from shouting. Don't monopolize a person's time unless the welcome mat is out. Recognize when you are unwelcome.

-- Do not bring glass containers. Even though you can take the greatest of care, accidents do happen or someone else could accidentally bump in to you. No one wants their children to cut themselves on glass you brought in.

-- Pack it in, pack it out. There is no official trash collection at Deep Creek. If you carried it down, you can carry it back up. It is recommended that you pack out a little more than you packed in. Unfortunately, not everyone packs all their trash out. Remember cigarette butts and melted candles are trash as well. Please do not leave them in the pools for others to take out.

-- Respect the environment. Do not cut down trees or harm the wild life and other vegetation you see at the springs or on the trails.

-- Don’t go out of established nude areas. To wander nude into clothing compulsive territory may offend many, and undermine our objectives. The hot springs you save may be your own.

-- No overt sexual activity. Nude is not lewd but combined with sex, it undermines our image and could cost us our freedom and enjoyment of the hot springs.

-- Speak up for our standards. If a person seems unaware of hot springs etiquette, explain it kindly and plainly. Don't let unaware individuals ruin our fragile and beautiful place under the sun.

-- Do not photograph people without their permission. It is common courtesy to ask first. Not everyone wants to end up in a stranger's photo album. Never photograph any children but your own.

-- If you bring your dog to the hot springs, please keep it under your full control at all times, and this may require you keeping it on a leash.

--Do not bring firearms down to the springs. Many people enjoy imbibing alcoholic beverages at the springs, but please refrain from getting excessively inebriated. Excessive drinking can lead to dehydration in the warmer months, and you don’t want to have to be rescued and Life-flighted out of the hot springs.