Fifthwater Update

[weeklySoaker]

The Gate on the Diamond fork road is now closed.



In one respect, I am glad because the extra three miles adds to the adventure.

[Wayne]

It looks like the gate is inviting bicycles to go through...

Wayne Estes
Oakland, Oregon, USA

[Casa Blanca Hot Spring]

Hi Wayne,

quote="Wayne"]It looks like the gate is inviting bicycles to go through...

Wayne Estes
Oakland, Oregon, USA[/quote]

Yes. That's known as the Pedestrian Gate through which can pass bicycles, snow machines, and foot traffic.

NN,
C&B

[weeklySoaker]

Perfect soaking at fifth water today. A few of us rode our mountain bikes to the springs.
The weather is cold enough to keep the road and trail frozen. You have to stay on the packed
portion of the trail, and your tires don't spin out except on the steepest hills. Several people
were snowshoeing in, but the snowshoes are not needed. A few people rode snowmobiles to
the trail-head and hiked from there.

The kokopelli pool is usable again, the warm weather last week must have melted the ice.

[Casa Blanca Hot Spring]

HI WS,

Perfect soaking at fifth water today. A few of us rode our mountain bikes to the springs.
The weather is cold enough to keep the road and trail frozen. You have to stay on the packed
portion of the trail, and your tires don't spin out except on the steepest hills. Several people
were snowshoeing in, but the snowshoes are not needed. A few people rode snowmobiles to
the trail-head and hiked from there.

The kokopelli pool is usable again, the warm weather last week must have melted the ice.

May we ask what percentage of the people were soaking nude? Thanks.

Naturally Nude,
Camilla & Bill

[weeklySoaker]

The lower pools(6 people?) all seemed to have suits on.

We went the the upper pools, and 5 out of 8 opted for no suits, however, there a nervousness
whenever somebody came up the trail to check out the pools. The nude soakers put on their suits until the people
checking out the pools left. This happened about 3 times.

[Casa Blanca Hot Spring]

Hi Weekly Soaker,

Weekly Soaker wrote:
>The lower pools(6 people?) all seemed to have suits on.

Do you know if that was unusual or "normal" for a winter Sunday, may we ask?

>We went the the upper pools

May we please ask if you mean the pools below the waterfall or the pools above the waterfall?

> and 5 out of 8 opted for no suits, however, there a nervousness
whenever somebody came up the trail to check out the pools. The nude soakers put on their suits until the people
checking out the pools left. This happened about 3 times.

What a sad situation.

BTW, if they were nude when observed by a cop, putting on clothing probably wouldn't make any difference if the deputy wanted to issue a citation.

People have been soaking in hot springs free of clothing since the beginning of time. It distresses us to see laws which make criminals out of them when there is no 'victim' of the 'crime' they're accused of committing.

We're all just human bodies who all came from a human body, made by god unto his own image, and he was pleased with what he saw. How the human body can be considered lewd, obscene, unlawful or offensive is beyond us.

Naturally Nude,
Camilla & Bill

[mdskibum]

Does anyone know if Sheep Creek road is open now?
The FS website says it gets plowed this winter.

I'm not up for an extra 3 mile walk from the locked gate on Diamond
Fork Rd. sore heel

[mdskibum]

Answering my post,
I went to DFHS Saturday a week ago. Sheep Creek Road is not plowed (FS site says otherwise).
Additional hike of 3 miles from locked gate to 3 forks. I tried skis which did not work at all & ditched
them in woods. A mountain bike is the way to go. 5 gals blew by on bikes which they took all the way
to the springs. road was packed snow a 4x4 or maybe even a car could travel if gate weren't locked.

Trail packed snow with no ice. Halfway in FS LEO"S on the way out insisted in searching me for drugs.
(I know I could refuse but having none I let them play their game) Later I found a young local kid was busted
by them at the springs. First guy I met was a Fox reporter who heard FS was visiting that day. He was up on
the big nudity bust several months ago.

The lower pools were used by several textiled couples. I found the gals with the 5 bikes at the upper pools
now CO and joined them . I family with 2 kids were trying to camp above the upper spring but did not like
the site & wandered below the lower pools. I never saw them again.

My sore ankle, heel spur, was killing me on the way but I got very lucky & hitched a ride halfway out on a
FS service SUV.

[-BoatSoaker77-]

Trail packed snow with no ice. Halfway in FS LEO"S on the way out insisted in searching me for drugs.
(I know I could refuse but having none I let them play their game) Later I found a young local kid was busted
by them at the springs.

Searching for drugs eh? The times they are a changin in Colorado. Herb is now considered medication out here. Everybody and their cousin has suddenly come down with chronic pain that only marijuana will cure....lol

[Kim_S]

Recent story and video:

http://www.fox13now.com/news/kstu-diamo ... 3036.story

[Jeff Allen]

They prescribed the pill form for my son's weight problem due to the CF.

He hated the effects and they ended up putting in a feeding tube..

That brought his weight back up. I'm thinking that there are a lot of people that wish their Doctor would tell them to gain weight like his does...

[cvresid]

Just watched the stories myself and glad to see they were posted her earlier. It must be news ratings month so a good nude story will bring in the viewers. Read the comments and maybe leave a comment yourself. Glad to see most of the comments were critical of the story and the angle the news station presented, but again ratings. What better way to boost ratings than talk about drugs, alcohol, nudity and crime all in one spot at one time. This reminds me of the San Onefre justification for closing down the nude beach. Blame it on the increase of crime and sex in the area imply it is due to nudity. Even though the spokesperson for the sherriff's department stated they could responsibly show that correlation, all the talk up to that point was strongly implying this relationship. The good thing about the timing is that due to the snow and road closure in the canyon, the hike is much longer than in better weather and so it should cut down on more people visiting the spring right now. By the time the weather improves and the hike goes from the 10 mile round trip it is now to about 5 miles, most people will forget about the springs.

It will be interesting to find out the results of the court cases involving the 8 people given citations back in Oct. Last I heard, the hearings were scheduled for Feb. and could have already happened or be in the next few weeks. Hopefully the results will be posted somewhere and the link can be posted here.

[Casa Blanca Hot Spring]

Hi Kim,

Recent story and video:

http://www.fox13now.com/news/kstu-diamo ... 3036.story

Thanks.

Rape, forgery, and fraud at a hot spring? Um, ah, er, can anyone give one proof positive incident of that?

Will Part Two be broadcast later? The announcer referred to it, but after Part One ended, the video stopped playing.

NN,
C&B

[Slackbaron]

There is a Part 2, which I accessed by clicking the video link at the very top of the channel 13 website. Here is a link which will get you to the archived videos:

http://www.fox13now.com/videobeta/

The Part 2 is on the 3rd page of videos.

[Casa Blanca Hot Spring]

Thanks much!

There is a Part 2, which I accessed by clicking the video link at the very top of the channel 13 website. Here is a link which will get you to the archived videos:

http://www.fox13now.com/videobeta/

The Part 2 is on the 3rd page of videos.

[ccso5667]

Fraud.. Really? I suppose there could be some Utah law that requires anyone with implants to disclose that fact to anyone who gawks at them. That's the only opportunity for fraud that I can even think of.

[Slackbaron]

Here's the direct link to Part 2:

http://www.fox13now.com/videobeta/?watc ... a33a15c59d

[cvresid]

I happened to drive up diamond fork canyon today and the gate was open. I drove a ways up the road but it got snowy and icy. I was going to try and drive to the parking lot but was only in a car. So about half way between the gate and parking lot, I turned around since the snow and ice was getting worse. So if someone goes up, a higher ground clearance vehicle and 4X4 is recommended for awhile. I don't know if they will reclose the gate with another snow storm or if it is now open for the rest of the year. Will need more updates as things change.

[weeklySoaker]

I visited the springs today. The gate is CLOSED, but the Forest Service must open it occasionally to do patrols. There is a car stuck in the parking lot. It was not there last Sunday. Just after I left the kokopelli pools today a 3:00 p.m., a couple of Rangers came up the trail. They didn't say much, just asked me if anybody was in the upper pool.I hope nobody got a ticket for skinny dipping. There were only 2 people in the kokopelli pool and nobody in the lower pools.

At noon today there was about 3 inches of new snow on the road, I was skiing in thinking this is not enough snow to ski, but too much to bike. 3 hours later when I came down the 3 inches of snow was melted off the road, so I hiked back to my car. I passed several people hiking to springs as I hiked out. Next trip I will plan on riding my bike.