I have not seen the spa in operation in all the years I have bicycled here. The road then descends to the West Walker River before climbing to Pickel Meadows and the USMC Mountain Warfare training center. Judging from the lack of activity, one might get the impression the world was at peace, either that or that the Marines were off fighting wars. In any case, things were mighty quiet. The half mile from the curve is probably the most challenging part of this side of the pass, the rest being a continual grade between steep sections and one descent.
Water is clear cold and abundant here between sage brush and sparse woods.
We rode up it around the outside to avoid gratuitous steepness and recalled various exciting descents on wet pavement between snow banks in past years. From here the road descends gently for about a mile next to Deadman's Creek before it dives down the Golden Stairs past the 9000ft marker and around a pair of ess bends to level off a bit before the next steep section. The road was in excellent shape with almost no traffic. Ray Hosler has some vignettes of this climb on his web page. We sat around and ate before continuing to Clark Fork JCT and the two mile hill to Donnells Overlook with a 1300ft near vertical drop to the waters of Donnells Reservoir on the Stanislaus River.