Re: Gold Strike h.s. trip report 02-19-10

Today I went back to Gold Strike h.s. after I got out of my dentist chair. I got to the trail head at 2:30 pm again. When I got there it looked like it could rain. The wind was @ 10 miles per hour and it felt cold. So I wore my long sleeved shirt. There were 7 cars in the parking area, one was Tim's truck. So I looked forward to seeing him again. Which I did @ half way down the trail. He and his friends had a small bag of trash, classic. He informed me @ the cleanliness of the pools.
I went back so I could see the rest of the canyon down to the river. When I got to the privacy pool I was hoping to soak there. But, there was a young couple making love there. So I said excuse me and went on to the cave pool. Which was even cleaner than when I left yesterday. No one was there. But you could tell some one, perhaps that young couple had just left. Because the water was slightly cloudy. Not wanting any of their juices on me I headed on toward the river. When I got to the water fall a group of U.C.S.D. students were climbing down about 15 of them. They had camped at the Arizona h.s. the night before and were going to camp at Boy scout h.s. tonight.
The water fall had @ 1 foot of extra rocks below it.
When I got to the pools I got my camera out and took some more pictures. When I got to the Grotto pool a couple was skinny dipping there. I have seen them here several times they hike around naked most of the time. So I stopped and talked w/them a while.When I got to the pool near the river a couple of guys were skinny dipping there. I had seen one of these guys before also. So I said hello to him and headed to the river.
When I got to the river a family of Mexicans was there. Two of them were fishing for 2 hours and had caught nothing.
The bridge across the river was awesome and beautiful. So I took pictures of it and the river.
When I got back up to the hot pool near the river I got my thermometer out. All temps are taken from the center of the pools near the surface. The hot pool near the river was 107.0 degrees. Near it's source it was 109.9 degrees.
When I got to the hot water fall I took the temp where the water hit my head, it was 105.5 degrees.
The out side air temp near there was 47.8 degrees.
The pool just down hill there was 91.4 degrees.
The grotto pool looked like some one has been cleaning it recently and fortifying the dam there. It was very pretty. The temp there was 105.5 degrees.
The new pool I dug out @ 2 years ago was very nice at 97.3 degrees. This pool is across the canyon from the grotto pool and up hill some.
The 2 waterfall pool near there was 77.4 degrees. I call that the 2 water fall pool because there are 2 water falls entering there. This pool will be really nice in the summer.
When I headed up to the lower cave pool again all the naked people had seemed get together there. So I joined them and got my hose out and got another cleaning of the pool beside the lower cave pool, again. It was mostly clean with only a few rocks and some mud. But , it should be very nice now.
There was no trash to be found any where.
I should be back in Ca tomorrow evening. I'll post pictures as soon as possible.
I am glad to help !
Happy soaking :~)