Well Sam, I'm your man for that info! What ever you do, don't tell Mike Castro, or he's likely to shoot me for telling you this, but, I hiked in to DCHS on the Bradford Ridge Trail today, and it was marvelous. I hit the road from my digs at around 9:30 and checked out the Mohave River at Bear Valley Road to see the runnoff. At that time, just a tiny 3ft little stream runnin under the bridge. So off I went down south on Deep Creek Road to Rock Springs Road to check the Mohave River again, and to my supprise, I found a big river flowing of dark black waters. My plans of hiking into DCHS from the northern rim were immediatly altered at that point. As I made my way down south by the Mohave Dam I noticed that the Mohave fork, which goes into Summit Valley was very black with the soot and ash running out of the burned areas out that way. I went on up HWY 173 past the Burn Facility which is burning up all the dead trees being pulled out of the San Bernadino Forest, and parked my ride for a hike, and adventure I might add, to OZ! The Bradford Ridge Trail is in excellent shape, and this morning while hiking down it I enjoyed the many little rivers running out of the canyons because of the recent rains. I must say it was like being in Oregon again where I lived for four years, bright green plants all around, a fresh wet smell in the air, the sound of running water, clear skys, white clouds, it was, a special experience. When I finally arrived at DCHS I found three other folks, who had come the night before, from the Bowen Ranch, specifically advised by Mike Castro that everything would be, OK, only to find themselves trapped by the high stream waters. Fortunately they had good gear too keep them warm. I offered to drive them back up to the Bowen Ranch area, but they said that Mike Castro was going to send a trolly down with Champagne and Snacks, I said, sorry, can't beat that! Anyway I had a wonderful time soaking in the Aniversary Pool and then as the flood waters went down, I made my way around to the Womb. I had to wade through the cold, brownish creek waters directly through the Crab Cooker which was under water, past the Serenity Pool which was under water, and on to the Womb, my all time favorite pool! The Arizona Pool was under water too :-( My soak in that special pool ( the Womb ) this day only reminded me of how much I love DCHS and its beauty. Yes Mike Castro, I actually love DCHS, I know, you don't give a " rip " about it, but thats your problem. So I floated, soaked, dived, pondered the universe, dived again, OK, OK, I did take a couple of sips of Boxcar :-) At the end of the day I gave my ed for four years, bright green plants all around, a fresh wet smell in the air, the sound of running water, clear skys, white clouds, it was, a special experience. When I finally arrived at DCHS I found three other folks, who had come the night before, from the Bowen Ranch, specifically advised by Mike Castro that everything would be, OK, only to find themselves trapped by the high stream waters. Fortunately they had good gear too keep them warm. I offered to drive them back up to the Bowen Ranch area, but they said that Mike Castro was going to send a trolly down with Champagne and Snacks, I said, sorry, can't beat that! Anyway I had a wonderful time soaking in the Aniversary Pool and then as the flood waters went down, I made my way around to the Womb. I had to wade through the cold, brownish creek waters directly through the Crab Cooker which was under water, past the Serenity Pool which was under water, and on to the Womb, my all time favorite pool! The Arizona Pool was under water too :-( My soak in that special pool ( the Womb ) this day only reminded me of how much I love DCHS and its beauty. Yes Mike Castro, I actually love DCHS, I know, you don't give a " rip " about it, but thats your problem. So I floated, soaked, dived, pondered the universe, dived again, OK, OK, I did take a couple of sips of Boxcar :-) At the end of the day I gave my best advice to the three travelers about stream conditions and safe crossing points, handed them a DCV handout which the quickly used to light their camp fire, and oh, did I mention that these three had been in Peru 2 weeks before, white water rafting! Now thats pretty darn cool! I said my good byes and hiked out in the setting sun, enjoying the multitude of colors, green, brown, yellow, blue, white, black, and the textures of the landscape were fabulous! The best thing of all, no Bowen Ranch ( Mike Castro ) crap! And to finally answer your question Mr Samwise, the creek will most likely be a piece of cake to cross in front of the Crab Cooker by Saturday, or maybe even friday if you don't mind gettin a chill, down under :-)
