Let’s celebrate the spring with an invigorating weekend backpack exploring Sespe Creek, Southern California’s one and only federally-designated "wild and scenic river.” We’ll enjoy awesome mountain views and the potential for wildlife sightings ranging from condors to bighorn sheep and arroyo toads - all endangered species - but the surefire highlight will be the awesome wildflowers that carpet the canyon in April. The canyon was thoroughly scorched in the epic Day Fire of 2006, but regeneration is progressing nicely, with possibly spectacular displays of fiddlenecks and gilia.
After driving up to Sespe Creek bright and early on Friday morning, we’ll hike ten miles to our base camp at Willett Hot Spring, enjoying leisurely soaks in the 108-degree hot spring tucked in a remote canyon. On Saturday morning, the more adventurous hikers among us will head off for a 15-mile dayhike downstream to Sespe Hot Springs, a frequent hangout for a small band of bighorn sheep that make their home deep in the Sespe Wilderness. We’ll enjoy an extended visit and soak in the 140-degree hot springs before returning to our basecamp at Willett Hot Spring on Saturday evening.
Less ambitious hikers among us may opt to spend Saturday as a layover, doing shorter walks, birdwatching, journal-writing, soaking or just relaxing around our very scenic base camp at Willett Hot Springs. We’ll all hike out together to our cars Sunday morning, returning to civilization (and optional awesome post-hike pizza and/or wild boar chili in Ojai) by late afternoon on Sunday.
Though our trail will be mostly flat, this outing will still be quite strenuous owing to rugged terrain and length (20-35 miles, depending on whether or not you join the optional Saturday dayhike). We will also face several knee- to thigh-deep stream crossings as well as the possibility of abundant mud, ticks, rattlesnakes and poison oak, so this trip is suitable only for experienced backpackers in very good condition. Also, because many visitors prefer to enjoy the hot springs in the nude, this is definitely not the trip for you if you are at all uncomfortable with semi-public nudity.
Though a stone’s throw from L.A., the Sespe Wilderness is not to be trifled with. Extreme weather can make hiking along the river perilous. On January 20, 1969, for example, a group of eight boy scouts and two adult rescuers were swept to their deaths by a raging Sespe Creek. Therefore, this trip is strictly dependent upon a favorable weather forecast. Rain or a National Weather Service forecast of rain within 72 hours of our start will cancel this trip, as will fewer than four confirmed signups. This trip will be by individual commissary, and we’re not planning any potluck meals, so participants must provide their own three-day supply of food.
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