[pct-l] Deep Creek

[spiritbear2k at hotmail.com (Ginny & Jim Owen)]

When we were hiking in 2000 we ran into a BLM ranger at Deep Creek.  
Although we had camped on a bench about 5 miles before the Hot Springs, he 
tried to give us a ticket for camping illegally (it was about 9:00 and we 
were coming out of the hot springs, so of course we must have been sleeping 
there.  He didn't understand about thruhikers rising with the sun.)  There 
was, at that time, a sign saying NO CAMPING.  This was right after they had 
reopened the trail after the fires.  To the north and the east the trails 
were still closed.  To the south, and according to the PCTA website, the 
trail was open.  We argued with him for about an hour that yes, we really 
were there legally and if all the trails really were closed we were still 
going to have to go on the PCT to get out of there.  Only the sight of the 
enormous blisters on Jim's foot convinced him that maybe we had actually 
walked more than a couple of miles to get there.

Ginny