The Naked Guy and the Ride

Today was a very strange day. It started normally enough, the boys slept in and Howie got breakfast started. We decided to head to the hot springs ride, up along diamond fork. It was a bit over an hour ride, down through Provo Canyon, through Provo then back up into the mountains, but rather low starting around 5600 feet. First issue, the bridge to the parking area that we were supposed to park in was being repaired. One of the workers said we could either go back a half mile and park but that was full or there was a pull off about a mile about. So we headed up the road. The road got rather narrow with a bunch of blind curves. Around one of the these came a HUGE truck. Im still not sure how we were able to pass, at least one of the dual rear tires on the outside had to of been hanging off the edge of the road and Im not sure how the front tire stayed on, it was definitely the scariest moment of the trip so far. We found the pull off and headed back down to the trailhead, about a mile down the road. We headed up Cottenwood creek toward the second water creek. It was definitely a different feel as we were riding at the bottom of a small canyon instead of on a mountain side or ridge line. It was more technical with a fair amount of rocks and few roots to negotiate. The first couple miles were pretty much right along the creek with a number of short steep ups. David managed to take the lead position about a mile in as I was in too easy a gear for one and spun out and David maneuvered by. It took another mile or so but he did the same thing, spinning out and this time I kept traction. It opened up into more of a valley meadow after few miles and smoothed out, a definite welcome respite for most of the crew. After about five miles of climbing and a couple cows we made it to the paved road that would take us over to the 5^th water creek and down to the hot springs. The boys chased a couple cows on the trail, well it was really more of a jeep road at that point. Things started to get technical with some interesting rock challenges and some rather exposed bench cuts along the creek. At one point we came around a bend and a HUGE bull was camped out perpendicular across the trail. And he really did not seem to want to move and was not spooked by us in the least. After a few minutes of yelling at him he finally sauntered off down to the creek. We continued the fun decent down to the hot springs, a few pools off to the side of the creek that were quite warm and smelled of sulfur. There was one guy there when we pulled up, he kinda hung out but didn’t get in for a few minutes then headed up the trail to a waterfall, leaving the pools all to us. It was quite nice and soothing to soak in them for a bit. We continued down the trail and that’s where things got weird. The guide book mentioned that the hot springs were clothing optional but that did not prepare us for the naked guy, yes I typed naked, walking up the trail, no clothes, no towel. I know plenty of mountain bikers have come across naked people in the woods, but all the stories that Ive heard, they have generally been in some sort of compromising position and were not planning on being discovered. This guy had at least about a mile walk to the hot springs and must have already walked up the trail about a mile. And we figure he had to have walked up the road from that other parking area as well. I actually had a minor wreck just after that as I was still a little stunned by what I saw. We finished up by following the sixth water creek back to the trailhead, about 16 miles over all, then up the mile of paved road to where we parked. The boys entertained us with more quotes from their comedy routines they have on their ipods, seemingly something for every situation. We stopped at a Mexican restaurant on the way home as it was gonna be too late to make dinner by the time we got home. Great food, plenty of it, and pretty darn cheep. We then made the obligatory stop for ice cream at Dairy Keen again in Heber city on the way through. The intersection that the ice cream place is on does not have stop light and is directly across from a large park that had some kind of festival going on. The strange part of this intersection is they have orange flags, kind of like the ones the cross guards used during elementary school, in holders on either side of the street. Apparently pedestrians are to use these to make sure the cars and trucks see them before they run them over. Well the boys found this amusing so they proceed to grab a couple each and skip across this major road. Maybe it was just that it had been such a strange day and this was such a strange view, but Howie, Paul, and I found it quite hilarious. The girls on the other side of the street however just looked at them like they were from outer space.