Deep Creek

Day 22 – 5/4/15
In the middle of nowhere
Miles – 18.8
Total Miles – 335.6 (PCT 318.0)

It was a quite night with very little wind. Again, everyone slept well and no one wanted to get up. When the sun hit our tent we stated to get going. It was not long before we were on the trail.
Today was an easy day of hiking. The trail follows Deep Creek until it dumps out into the Mojave Desert, after about 15 miles. Mid morning we stopped to pump water and wash socks. It was a nice shady spot a little ways from the trail. We were able to also clean the pan after last nights dinner.  Since there has been very little water on the trail, more often than not, we have to cook dinner in the previous nights dirty pot. There simply is no water for the luxury to clean the cooking pot or eating utensils!  A clean pot to cook in is a real treat! After the chores were done, we headed back to the trail and the sun. The trail quickly headed up a ridge. Will was looking back at the small pond above were we got water and he saw a Black Bear. It was just heading down to the riverbed. I knew that there were bears in these mountains but I had never seen one.
Hours later we came to the Deep Creek Hot Springs. We were hoping no one was there so the kids could play in the hot springs. The hot springs is a popular location for the locals who live near by. Most who come to the springs take the “clothing optional” to heart. There were about 20 people there, all in different states of dress. We hiked on. Several miles later we came to the Rainbow Bridge and found a quiet location by the river. Will and Joon had fun trying to catch fish and Bull Frog pollywogs in Joon’s hat. Our granola was used as bait. To our surprise, the fish actually liked the oatmeal, however, they did not like the almonds. They would go for the almonds but they would immediately spit them out!  Unfortunately, Will and Joon did not have any luck catching fish but they had a lot of fun trying.
Towards the end of the day, we finally hiked out of Deep Creek Canyon and across the Mojave Forks Dam. Why this dam is here, I’m not sure? It is very large and there is no water behind it. In fact on the side of the dam where there should be a lake, it has 30′ Cottonwoods growing in it. I’m not sure if it has ever had water in it. As we exited the canyon, a really cold, strong wind came up. We were being blown from side to side and large dust devils twisted around us, blowing dust and sand in our faces.
We hiked on and as the sun was almost down we found a place to camp. It is somewhat protected from the wind. I have already had to go outside and put tent pegs back in after they came out from a strong gust of wind. I hope it let’s up during the night. The tent fabric is very noisy when it blows in the wind making sleep nearly impossible!