Day 28: Little Bear Springs trail camp to Deep Creek Hot Springs (mi285-307)

I think possibly for the first time ever, we were the first people who woke up this morning. Smiles and I were both awake at first light around 5 AM, but since it was so densely populated with hikers we decided against actually breaking camp until sometime later. The dawn songs of birds woke me up, and basically kept me up as I was still trying to train my ear to the montane forest denizens. Once there was enough light I would poke my binoculars out of the cinched-up opening of my sleeping bag to steal a glance of a bird flitting by. I remembered the multiple reasons why I loved cowboy camping: ease of packing and ease of wake-up chief among them at the moment. It was Smiles' first night cowboy camping and she handled it with ease. Despite lolling around in our sleeping bags for two hours, we were still the first ones on the trail from the camp. The elevation profile for the day was quite promising for long miles without too much (cardiovascular) effort since it was a steady drop, interrupted by small climbs minimal times. I spotted what I theorized to be a series of beaver damsalong Holcomb Creek, but was slightly incredulous about the presence of such an isolated population of beaver. I still have yet to confirm whether beaver have ever or still exist in the San Bernandino mountains. We took a water break in a secluded riparian canyon formed by a tributary to Holcomb Creek and reunited with the campground crew from the night before. Rocky discovered that fresh kale needs to breathe as rather flatulent odors wafted from the plastic bag containing the poor, decomposing vegetable. A mixed flock of grey-throated black warblers and yellow warblers started flitting around the water source, much to my amusement. We crammed our less-than-happy feet back into our shoes after the 30-minute repose, fueled by the fear that we would be swallowed by the bogeyman of 'the herd,' without having any real knowledge of what this herd was, how big it was, or whether we were actually in front of it at all. We observed an 80-foot cedar snag in a wash that was riddled with holes. Unlike most items in the backcountry that I had seen, it was not riddled with bullet holes. A very active hive of carpenter bees was present next to Holcomb Creek, tributary to Deep Creek and the Mojave River, and the bees appeared to be the culprits.

Smiles walking through Holcomb Creek canyon, with the eastern flank of the San Gabriels in the background.

Smiles crossing Holcomb Creek.

Smiles' feet are finally toughening up! Check out that four-layer blister on the pinky toe.

Team Tingo snapped a photo of us above Deep Creek after lunch, and just before the 300-mile mark.

Smiles at mile 300! She is doing better at 300 than 200, and way better than 100.

Dr. Slosh keeps it real at mile 300.

We passed mile 300 after a prolonged, relaxing lunch break by Deep Creek at the first crossing. I suggested a celebratory sip of the wine Smiles had packed in, but she wisely pointed out that it would be best if we kept it for the hot springs we hoped to reach in 8 more miles. It was ambitious, but we were trying for another 20+ mile day. The Deep Creek canyon was beautiful - it was totally unlike anything we had seen on the trail up to this point. Towering blocks of granite hemmed the watercourse into a sinuous course some 80-250 vertical feet beneath the trail. Along the steep edges trimmed with chaparral regulars, we observed San Diego alligator lizard (Elgaria multicarinata webii) and more of our favorite southern desert horned lizard (Phtyrnosoma platyrhynos calidarium)

A San Diego alligator lizard scrambled to cover from the trail.

'Eagle eyes' Smiles spotted another of her favorite reptile on the trail: the southern desert horned lizard ran around in circles before deciding that it wanted to go uphill and away from us. 

Smiles and I pressed through some extreme foot, back, and intestinal (on my part) discomfort to arrive at the Deep Creek Hot Springs before dusk. Sour Cream, Rocky and T-rex were already at the springs and strongly encouraged we take a soak (which had been the only thing on our mind for the last 5 miles as we punished ourselves to get there). The springs were amazing: a rock formation jutting out of the south side of the creek hosted two pools, with another one walled off from the flowing channel a few hundred feet upstream. The temperature was wonderful: hot enough to soothe the aching muscles and cool enough to facilitate prolonged soaking. We opened our delicious bottle of wine that had been well-oxygenated by jostling around in a green plastic bottle for 42 miles and shared it with Rocky, who was suffering bad IT band issues, and Sour Cream, who was young and basically indestructible.

Deep Creek is also home to the endangered Arroyo Toad (Anaxyrus californicus), which I had the privilege of seeing for the second time on the trip (the first time being when we left Warner Springs in Agua Caliente Creek canyon).  This individual hopped on through while I was cooking a quick dinner just after sunset (and post-hot springing) near the creek. I took the picture quickly and let the frog go on its way.