Day 23, May 10: Mile 301 to 320
Start: Mile 301.3
End: Mile 320.1
Miles: 18.8
Ascent: 2276 | Descent: 2956
The night wasn’t as cold as I expected, but I did have some scary thoughts about the dead trees nearby falling on us. Nobody else had seemed to think it was a big deal, but I won’t be doing that again. Thankfully we were all okay!
We hiked out and I was a bit behind the rest of the crew, but caught up briefly with Power Plant and Topo at a water source. I filtered water quickly and kept moving as the day was getting warmer.
After walking along the side of a wide canyon overlooking Deep Creek below, I arrived at Deep Creek Hot Springs! There was a wide sandy beach leading to some wonderfully clean man made/naturally fed hot springs nestled next to a chilly river. They were clean due at least in part to a funny old naked man named Joe, who was suction vacuuming algae off the sides of the hot springs. He said he has been coming to the place for 35 years.
The hot springs were amazing to soak in, and it was great to go back and forth between the hot water and the icy river. It reminded me of going to Korean spas with my sister. We stayed around two hours and I did not want to leave, but the rest of my group seemed antsy to keep moving. If it was up to me, I would’ve stayed all day.
I reluctantly got dried off and packed up, and left a half hour after everyone else. The next section of trail was relaxed, flat and easy hiking, following the wide canyon and the river below. The views were gorgeous and the sound of the creek was lovely background noise. I was able to get service for a second and listened to the sweetest voicemail from my momma while hiking.
After about 6 miles of hiking solo, I made it to highway 173 where the owners of a restaurant named Joshua Inn picked me and some other hikers up to bring me to their spot, where the rest of my group was. I had a pretty hilarious, cheap and incredibly delicious meatball sub, potato salad, and a huge beer. After eating, Amazon and I played a game of pool and she won.
Topo and Snake Charmer left a bit before the rest of us, so the remaining 5 of us packed up our bags and got a ride back to the trailhead. Once of the trail, we hiked 3 miles to the last water source for a bit, and hiked another 2 miles to a campsite where Amazon, G and I camped. Christina and Power Plant showed up after us but were feeling good so they pressed on a little farther.
G and I set up our cowboy camps, and then the three of us laughed about old Vines we remembered while eating dinner, and we all passed out pretty soon after settling in.