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Middle Sespe Trail - Los Padres National Forest
Trail Distance 7.38 Miles

Drive to Middle Sespe Trailhead, 17.1 miles north of Ojai on Highway 33. The trailhead is on the right side of the highway . The trail crosses Sespe Creek and follows the old road. It then leaves the drainage and climbs over a steep bluff. Once you have reached the high point, you will drop down and cross Rock Creek. The trail parallels the Sespe until it joins the Gene Marshall-Piedra Blanca National Recreation Trail 22W03) . This junction is .8 miles from the Piedra Blanca trailhead.

The trail follows the north bank of Sespe Creek but climbs over a tall ridge to descend to and cross Rock Creek. It then passes on the north side of the river across from the old Herb Lathrop camp which later became the Circle B Ranch. At one time this ranch was a Boy Scout Camp but now is private property and called Rainbow Valley Ranch. Continuing down stream to a junction with the Gene Marshall National Recreation Trail then crossing the Sespe to end at Lion Camp. In the spring there is often good fishing in the Sespe between the mouth of Howard Creek and

Trail Details

Trail #: 22W04
Wilderness Area: Sespe
County: Ventura County
Ranger District: Ojai Ranger District
Trail-head Latitude: 34.55683
Trail-head Longitude: -119.24333
Water Sources: Sespe River
Trail Condition: Kind of Good - Little to no bushwacking and easily followable
Topo Maps:
Lion Canyon

Activities & Features:

Backpacking
Camping
Creek
Wildlife Viewing
Wilderness Camping

Trail Stats

Total Elevation Gain: + 1714 feet.
Total Elevation Loss: - 1819 feet.
Overall Average Slope Gain: + 8 %.
Overall Average Slope Loss: - 7 %.
Kilometers: (km)
Meters: (m)
Miles: (mi)
Feet: (ft)
Average Slope: (%)

Photo By: UTMC - Website Link

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Survey This Trail

Survey Photos:

Los Padres Forest Association - 05-13-2014
Jay Rock - 11-24-2016
Jay Rock - 11-24-2016
Jay Rock - 11-24-2016
Jay Rock - 11-24-2016
Valerie Norton - 10-20-2017
Valerie Norton - 10-20-2017
Valerie Norton - 10-20-2017
Cairngorm - 05-25-2018
Cairngorm - 05-25-2018
Cairngorm - 05-25-2018
Cairngorm - 05-25-2018
Erin C - 11-03-2019
Erin C - 11-03-2019
Erin C - 11-03-2019
United Trail Maintainers of CA - 12-15-2019

Submitted Trail Reports

Middle Sespe Trail Survey - 06-06-2020 - by Anonymous Surveyor

Link:	Middle Sespe Trail
Date:	06-06-2020
Surveyor Name:	Anonymous Surveyor
Trail description:	The trail started off well but became extremely steep and exposed before becoming completely overgrown. At one point it was completely gone and we ended up bushwhacking through dense brush before hitting the river. We were able to walk in the river to get back. We were ask very experienced hikers and this was not a trail I would do again without a lot of maintenance.Â
Mode of transport:	Hike
Trail condition:	Non existent
Condition details:	Trail needs work

Middle Sespe Trail Survey - 12-15-2019 - by United Trail Maintainers of CA

Link:	Middle Sespe Trail
Date:	12-15-2019
Surveyor Name:	United Trail Maintainers of CA
Trail description:	Trail,is severely overgrown and completely closed over in many places. Walked ahead of stock in places and chainsawed just to get through to survey the Trailwork needed. This will be an extensive project taking more than one season to complete. Our first time seeing this trail.
Mode of transport:	Stock
Trail condition:	Hard to follow
Images:

Middle Sespe Trail Survey - 05-27-2019 - by Louis Tremblay

Link:	Middle Sespe Trail
Date:	05-27-2019
Surveyor Name:	Louis Tremblay
Trail description:	Trail in need of work. Between Beaver peak and Rainbow Ranch the trail is washed out, extremely thick brush, at times head high poison oak. Add in the swarm of thicks in this area, and this is not a friendly trail. If attempting this don't wear shorts like I stupidly did.Â I honestly think if this was cleaned up and opened to bikes it would become a local favorite.Â On the upside, there was plenty of water in the creeks and beautiful views the whole way.Â
Mode of transport:	Hike
Trail condition:	Hard to follow
Condition details:	through-hiked, not for the faint

Middle Sespe Trail Survey - 05-25-2018 - by Cairngorm

Link:	Middle Sespe Trail
Date:	05-25-2018
Surveyor Name:	Cairngorm
Trail description:	I started at Beaver and went about 5.5 miles east. The trail is easy to find now, marked most of the way by pink ribbon, orange ribbon and ducks. The way from the trailhead down to the creek is obvious. There was a good flow of water in the creek. Enjoy seeing it, because the trail goes inland and I never saw Sespe Creek again. The next mile or so is an easy road. All the brush has been cleared from the flat land north of the road, leaving the area strewn with branches. Then it narrows to a hiking trail, and as you climb easy switchbacks to the ridge at 3,750â€™, the trail is single file in places, but completely passable. At one place I missed a sharp left turn and found myself following a short use trail that ended right after it crossed a dry creek. You donâ€™t need to do that. After the summit, things change. Going down there's a series of traverses across steep, loose hillside, which all look almost unused, as if hardly anyone has risked it since the winter. Along this stretch, the pink and orange ribbons suddenly stop: the trail maintenance team must have been smarter than me and turned for home. They start again lower down, I guess hung by a team coming from the other end. Rock Creek was flowing well. After that the route got more overgrown, and I agree with the last surveyor that heading down to Rainbow Ranch it becomes an absolute gauntlet to run with scrub oak closed in almost the entire way. Soon after that, the trail led me to one side of another steep, gravelly hillside where it looked like nobody had been foolhardy enough to cross this year at all, and I suddenly looked at my watch and realized it was time to turn back to the car.
Mode of transport:	Hike
Trail condition:	Needs some work
Images:

Middle Sespe Trail Survey - 10-20-2017 - by Valerie Norton

Link:	Middle Sespe Trail
Date:	10-20-2017
Surveyor Name:	Valerie Norton
Trail description:	I headed out to see the fall colors, which was an excellent reason to take this trail. There is still some green, but they may be nearing their peak. I started at Beaver and hiked to the junction near Lion. (I realize these are no longer the names, but Beaver seems to now have no name at all and Lion is named the same as everything else for a few miles. The old names are much more unique.) The trail leaves the old road into the campground fairly quickly, but could be easy to miss as there is no sign. It gets some braiding as it crosses Sespe Creek. It is brushy, but generally not hard to follow. As it climbs, there are some spots where the trail becomes a soft slide for a step worth of walking and is generally very narrow. As the slopes it is on get less steep, the tread is much better. Someone has been cutting brush up there (and leaving it along the edge), but seems to be hitting it pretty randomly. Some spots are wide open and show work while others have brush hanging over most the trail and show no work. After the top, there seems to be no work being done and brush hangs into the trail a bit. Heading down to Rock Creek, the tread needs a lot of work. It is a mildly less slanted bit of hillside. Scrub oak is taking over a short bit toward the bottom. After crossing the creek, there is overhanging brush again. At the top, it is nice and open until heading down to Rainbow Ranch where it becomes an absolute gauntlet to run with scrub oak closed in almost the entire way. Rabbit bush is trying to obscure trail along the ranch. It is back to just having overhanging brush on the way out and continues to have random instances of brush closed in for a few feet on the way to the junction. Along the way, it follows creeks for an unusually long time three times with little indication it is going to do this.
Mode of transport:	Hike
Trail condition:	Needs some work
Condition details:	overgrown brush and some tread going missing
Images:	Scrub oak closing in from one side near Rainbow Ranch. Around the corner, it gets to coming in from both sides and does not stop for more than 50 feet total over the next quarter mile. Trail in the creek bed. Hard to see, but you get cool patterns in the rocks. Trail down to Rock Creek. Got some nice rocks to show where it is. A slightly less slanted bit past that is trail. Then just look for the straighter break in the thin bushes. Easy, right?

Middle Sespe Trail Survey - 11-24-2016 - by Jay Rock

Link:	Middle Sespe Trail
Date:	11-24-2016
Surveyor Name:	Jay Rock
Trail description:	Thanksgiving Day 2016 I stared at the interior Trail Head and walked it out and back. Having never been here before it was a bit confusing to find. Â From the parking lot you'll start a trail and start down into the valley, you'll cross over the creek bed (dry as of this writing) and pick up the trail on the other side. Â You'll ascend and wind around a bit but you'll come to the conjunction of the trials as marked with a wooden sign. see below. The trail is more or less flat through the middle with good footing about 97% of the way. 50 degrees but no shade, I imagine it's a killer hot trail during the summer. This time of the year, there is ice in the shade at the bottom of valleys and it was very chilly. Trail varies in width from almost 6ft wide to single file.Â Low brush, some signs of deer, but mostly birds with a few scattered lizards.
Mode of transport:	Hike
Trail condition:	Good shape and easy to follow
Images:	Walk on the way from parking lot - very cold in the shade, frozen mud and ice in ditches. Trail Head - Middle sespe seems like it's lightly used, I didn't see anybody on it, but it was only one day. Looking back towards parking lot. you can make out the road on the top/middle right as it cut backs and descends into the trees. Parking lot would be behind trees on left. Example of trail straight aways, note lack of shade. Straight aways are bookended by cutbacks that snake around dry feeder stream beds.

Middle Sespe Trail Survey - 07-26-2015 - by Donna Spencer

Link:	Middle Sespe Trail
Date:	07-26-2015
Surveyor Name:	Donna Spencer
Trail description:	Â Â Â Â Well here we go again, off on another beautiful hike when the dreaded monster of plants take charge.Â I was enjoying the expansive views when I dropped into Rainbow Valley and the sage brush plant obscured the trail.Â Then when climbing through a knoll, jest before the only major climb, ran into 6' to 7' overgrowth of plants.Â So I turned around and went back to the Sespe Trail Head at Rose Valley.Â Â However I will make another trip and try this hike from Highway 33.Â Overall this was a beautiful hike, I am just threating to bring a battery powered hedger and take care of business.
Mode of transport:	Hike
Trail condition:	Needs some work
Condition details:	Just passed Rainbow Valley 6' to 7' tall plants overgrown on the trail (at the knoll).