It was over 5 months since I last visited this terrific canyon, I had to go. I used to go every week when I lived in Vegas. Now I am living in So Cal so I missed this canyon and now go there in my dreams. I went to Vegas to visit my 1 year old grand son and my favorite Nevada canyon. When I left a good guy named Jeffery said he would clean up the trash at the springs. So I was curious how he was doing ?
I arrived in the parking lot at 7:30 am. There was a large amount of trash in the parking lot. I picked up 2 - 30 gallon trash bags there was probably 2 more bags to get but I filled mine up. So I prayed that if God wanted me to pick up the hot spring trash He would provide a way.
About half way to the springs I encountered a @ 2 foot long Mojave rattlesnake in the middle of the trail. I gave him time to move. After this every stick I saw looked like a snake.
About 100 feet past this snake some one had built a fire pit in the middle of the trail. So I removed the boulders and trash so persons can get around the mess which took up half of the trail.. They also left a pile of trash nearby, mostly tin cans and plastic.
When I arrived at the first set of pools it was as I had dreamed about. The upper cave pool was barely trickling out of the ground. The pool was less than 1 foot deep and only lukewarm. Not worth soaking in. There was no water flowing past here.
The upper source pool was the same, only a small amount of water is flowing from the hill source. It was less than 1 foot deep and lukewarm. There was also a large amount of Big Horned Sheep pooh settled into the pool and on the ground nearby.
The former big pool was completely dry. Last time I visited there was a wet spot here but not now.
So, when I got to the Private pool @ 200 feet down hill from the big pool and on the left I was happy to soak in my old friend.
This pool seems to have been used a lot more than before. I noticed that some one had removed a rock from the upper dam. Causing it to flow out there. Before it flowed out at the lower dam. But since this 1 rock was removed it flowed out from the upper dam, which is causing erosion to the rocks up there. And the pool was a couple of inches less deep. But still an excellent soak. And hotter, I measured the temp to be 106.1 degrees. I make all my temps from the center of the pool near the surface. This pool used to almost always measure at 101-103 degrees. I imagine it is receiving more of the heat that used to flow from the upper source springs.
I could hardly wait to see how the lower cave pools were. The Lower cave pool was 106.7 degrees. Hotter than I expected. Besides a champagne bottle and a broken wine bottle the springs were trash free.
The pool beside the lower cave pool was 91.7 degrees, and very clean and nice too soak in. A much needed relief from the extra heat. This pool too used to be between 101 and 102 degrees.
I went to my old hiding place that I share now with Jeff. There I found some of Jeff's camping equipment, and several plastic trash bags. Knowing he left them for me I took one to haul out any trash I could find.
No trip to this canyon is complete with out going to the Colorado river.
About 200 yards above from where this canyon makes a 90 degree bend to the river is a pool of creek water. It is @ 30 feet round and over 2 feet deep. The temp here was 86.6 degrees. And very nice too soak in.
Up against the sheer cliff from there is a 6 foot deep hot spring. It too used to be @ 100 - 102 degrees. This day it was106.6 degrees hot.
The grotto pool on the other side of this canyon and down hill some was very nice but almost too hot to soak in. It was 115.1 degrees. I did not stay in long as this was the limit for me.
Like I said before, the heat has shifted to these lower springs.
The hot water fall was hotter also. At 6 foot 2 inches above the ground were the water was hitting my head it was 115.4 degrees. The pool just below there was 114.1 degrees.
Then I went to the spring @ 100 yards from the river. It was the hottest pool yet at 166.6 degrees. I was in then out as soon as possible for there.
When I got to the river several canoes were going by but not stopping so I went to the big round creek pool and took a nap. Only to be awakened by a large group of children with their parents in tow.
So I picked up trash as I went back up canyon to my car. I picked up enough to fill up the 40 gallon trash bag.
When I got back to the lower cave pool a group of 5 female teenagers were discreetly skinny dipping there. They seemed to be embarrassed at my presence so I hiked through saying excuse me, pardon, excuse me. They just giggled at me as they tried to cover themselves. I was not embarrassed but it was fun pretending.
The weather was cloudy all of this time , but as I started to go to see the Hoover dam the sun came out. Much to my delight.
The Hoover dam is complete and workers appear very close to opening the roads around this area.
Glad to help and happy soaking !