We had an outstanding day off.
It went like this:
Finish work, eat a burger, give co-instructor a lesson in cards over hot toddys in the gold miner cabin, learn some magic tricks, head to bed, sleep in, go drink coffee and watch the sun peek over the morning peaks at Lake Sabrina as the days first fishermen head out, bask on a granite slab and let the warmth crawl up me.
Hit the road and begin mission: Hot Springs Blow Out. We headed toward Mammoth. First stop: Wild Willy’s Hot Springs, a natural pond on a tiny stream with a tiny waterfall in the middle of the valley, surrounded by huge peaks, we had it all to ourselves, it was spectacular.... next: Hilltop, a concrete tub with incredible views, it was nice and hot and so was the Anthony Kiedis Looking Meatball who joined us, we had a tremendous conversation where he exclaimed in an accent somewhere between a real accent and a speech impediment “You read too!” clearly we had a lot in common, it was a day of interesting characters.
Next stop: Crab Cooker, the map we were using said we should watch for “crazed perverts” and we hoped we’d hit bingo with the camper truck parked at the springs. We asked our crazed pervert candidate if crab cooker was close, “yup” said the man of few words, it had just been drained, and would take at least 3 hours to refill and cool according to a couple beet red hot springs enthusiasts who then began to bicker about whether is was 140 or 160 degrees out of the ground, we headed back to the pervert. “Is there another over there?” we asked
“yup”
“can we walk to it?”
“you could” we began to walk.
We heard the music before we rounded the bend, one dude, 2 girls, a 30 pack of natty light, and we had arrived at Shepard Springs. It’s a deep box, close quarters, they were in suits, we were not. They were trashed, we were not. The water was luke warm, the series of events that led to my exit was this:
I looked over and saw the dude had gotten out and was peeing all over his feet and the side of his truck as one gal began explaining how her man was going to pay for her to get her vagina lasered, we were told to try Saline Valley where we’d “really fit in, there’s lots of nudists and stuff, you can remember it because it’s Saline, like the Saline Witch Trials” They were great characters but not great enough to keep me shivering in a box of luke warm water talking about Laser's vagina.
We walked back to Crab cooker where we cooled it with a stand up paddle, it was still burning hot so we headed back to Hilltop which was filled with 12 17 year olds and beer, no one us to sit on their laps, the sun was setting and we decided to try Crab Cooker again.
Best decision ever.
The burns we have today were completely worth watching the light pink and fade over the mountains while basking in clean hot water in the silence of the desert laying out to cool under the stars in the evening breeze, and back into the earth pit. It was magic.
A lot of singing in the car, a mexican food stop, and a victory at cards later I was tucked happy back in my little cabin.
Training is good, just doing short runs and drills, still working my lungs up here. I just got the next 3 weeks workouts, I’m excited to get home to my bike and the pool Monday, but for now, it’s not too shabby here.
