Backpacking Training Trip: Sespe Hot Springs, Day 1, ~16 miles

Today was the start of my last backpacking trip before I begin the PCT. I chose to hike to Sespe Hot Springs, located north of Ojai, for several reasons. First, as opposed to most of my training hikes, I had never been there before; second, there are a lot of water crossings for me to practice those skills; and third, there are hot springs. Hot springs!

I got to the trailhead at about 8am. The Piedra Blanca parking area serves many trails, so it admittedly took two attempts to find the correct path from the parking area. I also realized why the area is named Piedra Blanca. There are some beautiful white rock formations.

The aptly named Piedra Blanca.

I headed down the trail that follows the Sespe River, crossing a couple of small tributaries. Most of these were close enough to the trailhead that there were logs and rocks to hop across. The trail then climbed the hillside next to the river, occasionally dipping back down to areas where people could camp.

Sespe River Trail sign.

The Sespe River.

Eventually I got to a river crossing that was wide enough that you actually had to get wet to cross it. Even though there was a sign that indicated the trail crossed at this point, I confirmed with several hikers crossing the river back over to my side that the trail picked up again across the river. They confirmed that it did so I crossed over.  The trail was not obvious on the other side so I just kept following along the river rocks looking for trail markers.

I got to a point along the river were the rocks became fairly difficult to navigate. I knew I must have missed the trail at some point. Maybe I was supposed to cross back over the river and I missed the marker? It looked like there was a trail on the other side. I went to cross the river again but it was fairly deep at that point. I'm guessing it was at minimum chest deep. After probing that crossing for a bit, I backtracked to a shallower section and crossed there.

Not only did I find a trail, but I found cairns and campsites. I continued on the trail for a ways. Eventually I grew suspicious about being on the correct trail considering the "path" was starting to become overgrown. This was my Bridge to Nowhere mishap all over again.

I wasn't sure where the trail was, but I did find this cool horned lizard.

At this point I was becoming pretty frustrated. I had a long way to hike and I was wasting time. I decided to backtrack along that side of the river to where I had seen the original trail sign. I was going to give this one more attempt. If I didn't find the trail the second time I was just going to head home.

As I made my way back, I studied the other side of the river for clues that a trail existed.  I saw a flat ridge high up above the river and thought back to my Bridge to Nowhere and Cottonwood Canyon training trips. In both those cases the trail had gone on a ridge above the river. I suspected the trail was there. I then reasoned to myself that even though I had wasted a lot of time,  if I found the trail I could still camp at Willett Hot Springs, which was only 8-9 miles from the trailhead.

As I watched the ridgeline, it appeared to slope down to about the area I had originally crossed. While studying this, I heard a voice out of nowhere yell, "The crossing is over here!" I had no idea where the voice was coming from. I yelled out, "Where are you?" Then, a man in a long sleeve yellow shirt and leopard print tights came eccentrically bounding down the rocks waiving his arms. I tried yelling out an explanation of what I had just done, but I'm not sure how much of that explanation made it across the river. I should have learned by now not to attempt to have long conversations across rivers.

I crossed the river again at the trail marker, and, since there were people there who obviously knew where they were going, I made sure to get details about where the trail picked up. Apparently, after you crossed the river, you were supposed to zig zag backwards to find the trail that went up the ridge. Because that makes sense...

I made a little bit of conversation with the man in yellow, whose name was Pan (like the satyr). He was hiking with another man (dressed much less eccentrically) named Ben. Pan and Ben were also headed to Sespe Hot Springs. They were going to repair some of the hot spring pools and campsites that had been washed out by the flash floods a couple months ago. Pan and Ben are awesome.

Pan had actually been in the area during the flash flood, riding it out in the high ground of Willett Hot Spring. Pan is badass. He asked me if I wanted to hike with them and I jumped at the chance. I had already wasted enough time figuring out the last water crossing, so I was pretty thankful to hike with people who knew the area, especially since Pan had said a few of the crossings were pretty washed out by the floods.

When we all set off again I noticed Pan was carrying a huge, heavy-looking, old school army pack. I asked him about the pack and he said it probably weighed about 80 lbs. I have now met two people hauling around 80 lb packs! I have no idea how they do it. Pan's pack was full of food and supplies for the 2+ weeks they were going to be out in the wilderness. Badass.

Despite how heavy the pack was, when we all got going, Pan sped out of sight. It was super impressive. I was hiking much faster than I normally do and could absolutely not keep up with him. My pack was about 50 lbs lighter than his too. Thankfully Ben hiked at a closer speed to which I hiked. If they were both super fast hikers I would have felt bad for holding them up.

I chased after Pan for a while as we crossed the river again, then rollercoastered up and down the foothills next to the river, occasionally taking breaks so Pan could set down his pack.

Tadpoles in the Sespe River.

Along the way I struck up a conversation with Ben. While Pan was one of the most unique hikers I have bumped into, Ben was dressed in the more traditional young backpacker style with a tank top, beard, bandana, and blue mirrored sunglasses. They didn't seem like two people who would normally hike together. I turns out they didn't even meet each other until recently.  Pan lives in the area and visits Sespe frequently. Ben is on a road trip through the western states. He bumped into Pan at the hot springs and decided to hang out with him for a while, helping repair the flood damage. I repeat, Pan and Ben are awesome.

I chatted with Ben the majority of the way to the hot springs and found out that he had hiked most of the Appalachian Trail. We compared trail notes between the AT and the PCT. His notes were from experience, my notes were from things I had read online. I am looking forward to actually getting PCT experience so I can feel less like a poser when talking to other thru-hikers.

As we wound our way past the turn off for Willett Hot Springs and through Sespe Wilderness, I couldn't help but revel in how magical of a place this was, especially with all the rain the area had gotten. There were tons of beautiful campsites along the trail, some with really nice swimming holes, the river was full, there were wildflowers everywhere, and we crossed though a green meadow before our turn to head up to Sespe Hot Springs.

Swimming hole in Sespe Wilderness.

Overlooking the meadow in Sespe Wilderness.

Pan had taken a bit of a longer break because of his heavy pack, but since he is so fast of a hiker, Ben and I started the last bit of trail leading to the hot springs by ourselves.  I was again thankful to have someone who knew the area with me, since I would have set my pack down at the first camping area I saw. Ben took me to where the best campsites and pools were. We set our packs down and he showed me the work the he and Pan had done.  I can't repeat this enough, Pan and Ben are awesome.

We then walked up to where the super heated water came steaming out of the mountain, then headed back to the campsite where we met Pan. I quickly set up my tent, changed into my swimsuit, and joined my new friends in the hot spring.

Steam from the hot spring source.

Every hike should end with a hot spring. No sore legs, no swollen feet. I got out my DSLR and played around with using long exposure on the hot spring and the stars. There was a little too much light pollution from the coastal cities, the moon, and the fire to get good star pictures but it didn't matter. I was spent the night camped next to a natural hot spring, watching shooting stars. Pretty amazing.

Long exposure on one of the hot spring pools.