Paul P: Yesterday Ron mentioned that he will contact Brad to find out if the USFS was involved with the cutting of vegetation on the Route 3 trail. I walked out that trail yesterday and the vegetation has been cleared off the trail so it will be interesting to see what Brad has to say about all of this. Concerning accessing the USFS parking lot by way of Route 4 to 3, I drove that way to the parking lot to install the DCV Brochure Box yesterday. I had not driven all the way to the lot in a long while and there are definitly some tough sections in it. On the steep hill by the beginning of the Route 3 trail there is a very steep spot I heard referred to on an internet site as " the wall ". The spot is so steep that my four wheel drive truck is almost at the point of sliding when you go down the steep face of some decomposed granite. Also the last big hill down to the USFS Parking Lot has a deep rut down the middle from the winters rains. You do need a four wheel drive, high clearance vehicle to make it to the lot accessing by way of route 3. The only other way to access the USFS Parking Lot is to use Route 1 which comes from the Bowen Ranch road just a ways past the cattle gaurd. This Route goes by the Luna Vista Ranch and swings up to the North side of Luna Mountain then goes back west downhill all the way to the USFS Lot. There is also a short cut off along Route 1 which is Route 2 but it is very rough even though it saves some distance. Trying to access the USFS lot by way of Route 1 is very lengthy, rough, and requires a high clearance 4 wheel drive also. A two wheel drive vehicle can make it to the spot by the steep hill on Route 3. People that get to that point are naturally inclined to hike south in the direction of the springs which drops them into the canyon of the Route 3 trail. The are not inclined to hike route 3 basically west a good distance up and down hills to the USFS parking lot then only to turn again south on the Bowen Trail. Something I wonder about is why the road leading from the south end of the Bowen Property to the USFS parking lot has not been reopened. There is a section of BLM land that is crossed on that route and back after the Willow Fire Gates were installed and the area was to my knowledge supposedly closed for reasons of restoration of the lands. When the BLM lands opened again including the land on that route the gates remained. The USFS, BLM and the Sherrifs Search and Rescue have keys to those gates and use that route to access the USFS parking lot. Of course they are not inclined to use the other two, public access routes to the USFS parking lot for obvious reasons. Why is the public not allowed to access the USFS lot across that small section of BLM lands when all the surrounding BLM lands are traveled by vehicles. It appears to me like and attempt to contain people to the Bowen Property regarding access which obviously works to Mike Castro's advantage in terms of his income from visitors. The BLM enforecement ranger for the area, Barry Nelson, and Mike Castro have had a close working relationship. Are the BLM keeping the access closed to support Mike Castro's interest ? Also from a past conversation with Ruth Wenstrom, the USFS spokesperson I learned that the relationship between the USFS and the BLM has not been real good at times. Since the USFS parking lot is at present a difficult option for vehicle access, and a saftey concern regarding left vehicles, the vast majority of visitors to DCHS then have to choose ( or become forced ) to use the option of paying a toll to Mike Castro. Years ago before the Willow Fire alot of work went into increasing the parking lot size and a large kiosk was installed to inform visitors using that lot of the local USFS rules etc. Brad Burns has told me in the past that he prefers people to use the parking lot and hike the Bowen trail when accessing the springs by way of the public vehicle routes. If the USFS realistically want to see the USFS parking lot, and trail 3W02 being used, then they will have to make the USFS Parking lot more accessable
