Suitcase Camping: Not all heroes wear capes

Ended up going for a backpacking trip to deep creek hot springs with a mate of mine. Deep Creek Hot Springs just north of lake arrowhead in California. I had always come in the Bowen Ranch way by going up the 15 freeway to Hesperia and then through the 6 mile dirt road. I was coming north from San Diego so I wanted to try something new. Came in through arrowhead and it ended up being a longer and steeper route. Got there Friday evening around 7pm after a great pizza in Arrowhead and way too much liquid wheat. Managed to get down to the hot springs around 8pm just as the sun was setting.

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Set up the tent and headed to the hot springs. Here is the clincher. The hot springs tend to attract a good amount of city folks looking for an easy escape into nature. Im all for that but unfortunately a good amount have no manners and even less fitness. That trifecta makes for beer bottles, cans, inflatable river floats, and get this, a datum suitcase that someone decided to hike down but decided getting it back up the 3-4 miles to the car just was not going to happen.

So I am a pro cyclist, had good parents and just believe in leaving each place better than I found it. It was on first sight that I knew I had to get that suitcase filled with as much trash as possible and hike it out to the nearest dumpster. My mate and I had a lovely trip, soaked in the hot springs, ate chips and salsa, tequila, Australian beer, and guacamole. Life was grand. Time passes slower down there and it is like being transported in time back to the 1800s. The Bradford Ridge route we had taken was a little bit longer to get to the springs but it spits out on the pacific crest trail which is pretty gorgeous. Only downside was Saturday afternoon when representatives from THE MAN show up wearing bulletproof vests and packing heat telling us that we can't camp there overnight. I had never seen law enforcement down there but I figure if there is going to be a day when the fuzz shows up it would be a Saturday night. Due to fire danger and just overall trying to control the peasants you are not allowed to camp within 2 miles of the springs.

We decide it had been a fun 24 hours lounging in the creek and soaking in the hot springs so we decide to pack up camp and make our way out. Cant go forgetting to fill the suitcase of death with as much trash left behind by selfish campers. The law enforcement looked on. I reminded them that they work for me as a tax payer and that they were free to chip in and haul the trash out with me as they were actually on the clock. They didn't find it cute or jump at the opportunity to help. I managed to fill the rolling suitcase with 40 lbs of trash, cans, bottles, and left behind clothes and inflatable rafts.

Ive done some hard stuff in my life but let me tell ya, a 60 pound backpack and 40 pound suitcase was certainly up there on the list of hardest things I've done in my life. 3-4 miles 80% of it being uphill gaining 2-3000 ft to where the motorcycle was parked. 110 triathlons, 4 Ironmans, 10 marathons, running the Grand Canyon rim2rim2rim and I can tell ya Tothy vs Suitcase is definitely up there on the list of "embrace the suck." during the last mile I stopped carrying it on my head or in my arms and strapped it to my back. Certainly made things easier and for one of the best gatorade and supreme quesadillas of my life. I highly recommend deep creek hot springs but if I see you dragging a rolling suitcase down there I am certainly going to question if you intend to hoist it back out back to your car. Thrive on friends, doing the right thing often sucks entirely but the satisfaction is almost worth it. Still can't walk right the day after...