Day Hike Sespe Creek, So Cal

Patrickknives

Patrickknives

Joined
Dec 13, 2006
Messages
2,415
Looking for more areas to explore close to my house, Sespe is a little over an hour away and I had been there in the spring a few years ago. It is not a summer location, temps hit 106 really tough on the dogs.

There is a requirement to keep the river running to allow the fish to survive but there is very little water running, just a trickle. There are some nice pools which will be better in Spring.

Fillet008.jpg


Fillet002.jpg
 
I took my drop point, 3/16 A2 this is a tough knife. Alway find myself reaching down to see if its there because its light and the sheath is comfortable while walking.

I had made a slippie from green micarta with no bolsters to keep it easy, this was to take pressure off my nice slippie (going to church knife) its 1/8 A2. You can see its getting a nice patina from fruit.

campknife002.jpg


campknife003.jpg
 
Nice, that's a lot more water than where I went last weekend! Nice knives. I really like that slippie, did you use liners under the g10?
 
I saw your post, it was 106 when we go back to the car. Its too bad they dont release a little more water but there were a couple of nice pools left. This area will be really nice in the spring.

There are 416 ss liners.
 
I've hiked through the Sespe Gorge a couple times. You can do it with a float to swim your pack through a couple pools with steep canyon walls. Quite a few trout in there but the damn bluegill have become a real problem.

One thing that shocked me was the level of bear activity. The Old Timer who took me through the first time said there were quite a few but I didn't believe him. Saw a beautiful cinnamon colored bear up near the rim and lots of bear sign down below. He was right.

LOTS of poison oak down in the Gorge. And you definitely don't want to be down there if there's the slightest chance of a flash flood!

DancesWithKnives
 
I will have to look for the Gorge, we were near Piedra Blanca, probably near the other end. Where is the Gorge? Sounds like a great place.
 
It's been well over a decade since my last trip there so I'll have to pull a map out of my truck in order to get the names right. I live in the thick of the city so the truck is parked about two blocks away---but I'll grab the map when I'm out later today.

You definitely want to use two cars for a Gorge hike because the entry and exit trails are not close. I like to take 3-4 days and enjoy the solitude/scenery but it can be done in 2. Pack light because there are a lot of boulder hopping and trailess sections!

There were a couple spots where you could see oil and tar oozing out of the sedimentary rock along the canyon walls.

The illegally introduced bluegill are more aggressive in hitting food than the native trout. As a result, they tend to compete better for food. I think they probably also feed on trout eggs. Hopefully they won't wipe out the trout. We would sometimes pull 40-50 bluegill out of a pool and leave them for the coyotes. There were so many that few of the bluegill grew large enough that we wanted to cook them.

DancesWithKnives
 
Sespe is a nice area. There are some nice waterfalls at the Lion Camp area. Great pics.
 
Looks like the Gorge is on the other side of 33 near where we were, I will have to get some more information. We are looking for some nearby areas to camp. Need water for the dogs.

I will look at Loin Camp, probably no falls now but would be nice in spring when water starts to run again. Not alot of rainfall so I guess there wont be water until the snow melt.
 
Looks like a nice area to train in. I wish you had taken more pics of the surrounding area though, even if it is dry scrub at the moment.
 
We started hiking and the trail moved off the riverbed to the side, the dogs got so hot that we were focused on getting back to the river and finding some water, so I just did not pull out the camera. The area is dry scrub except the riverbed which is sand, river rock and cottonwood with low shrubs.

On the way back the dogs were so hot and desperate once again did not pull the camera from the pack. We will go back, maybe even look for the area discuss above when the temps drop,
 
I retrieved the DeLorne book of topo maps from the truck. Unfortunately, they aren't detailed enough for me to give good directions. I can see that we took the road north out of Fillmore but I can't see where we left the vehicles, etc.

Sorry---I'll try to locate a better map.

DancesWithKnives
 
I believe the hot springs is the oposite direction, I saw some maps and I think I know where it is. I may ride my motorcycle up there to take a look. It seems to be on the west side of 33 right at Piedra Blanca. I drove past there and have seen cars parked but could not see where they went. I went down farther into the valley but that is a different creek there. The weather is cooling so may be a nice weekend to take a short hike and explore.

Hot I dont mind too much I have spent alot of time in Lucern, 29 Palms and Rosemond. Had the dogs with me which was a whole different experice. The forgot to take off their fur coats (punk fashion thing) and dress more appropiatly for the weather.
 
As I recall, the hot springs are in a different direction than the gorge. The hot springs are nice but usually you'll find other folks there. That's not bad when those other folks are young ladies without benefit of apparel.:D But the remote country is down the gorge.

DancesWithKnives
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top