Ryan's Journal

Memorial Day weekend involved a backpacking trip into the Los Padres National Forest along Sespe Creek. The path is well established and appears to have been a road in a past incarnation, to a now defunct and mostly removed hotel that was situated near the hot springs a few miles down from where we set up camp.

Starting from the Piedra Blanca trailhead involves crossing the creek a few times, none of them requiring a footwear change, and generally trends downwards when hiking in. There are only a couple hills to challenge your legs; the weather was perfectly cooperative, blowing a cool wind down the valley for most of the four hour trip. Given good weather, this seems like a great introduction to backpacking, and there are other sites closer to the trailhead in case seven miles is too daunting. It is completely exposed for most of its length, and poison oak clusters in one segment of the trail. Still, everybody made it in and out with no major problems - just a few missteps in the river - even our first-timers.

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