Fillmore, CA Trailhead Sespe River, Los Padres National Forest

[Ben H.]

I am wondering if there are any Fillmore, California hiking experts around.  There is a designated travel corridor through the Sespe Condor Sanctuary that follows the Sespe River north from Fillmore.  You can see it here:

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprd3824248.pdf

Even though there is a designated corridor, there does not appear to be a designated trail or trailhead.  I am wondering if anyone is knowledgeable about a good access point where I can leave my car overnight for this corridor.

This lady mentions they have cordoned off the end of Grand Ave that she used to access Sespe Creek:

http://www.vcstar.com/story/opinion/readers/2016/12/06/fillmores-endangered-hiking-trails/95065870/

Here are some pic’s of people who took a similar hike a few years earlier when you could access from the end of Grand Ave:

http://www.venturacountytrails.org/RecentPhotos/2011-12-26SespeCreekDevilsGate/_Page.html

but there is no mention of parking.  Has anyone done this hike recently?  Also I believe this area was not affected by the Thomas Fire… is that correct?

[Michael Schlesselmann]

From what I can tell the trailhead is the Dough Flat Trailhead. According to Hike Los Padres, the gate to get to the trailhead from Fillmore is closed from Nov. to end of April. Otherwise it does look like this would be the only way to follow that corridor through the Condor Sanctuary, but with the gate closed it adds an extra 4 miles (measured on Caltopo) to each end of your hike.

[Ben H.]

Dough Flats is the trail head for a second corridor through the sanctuary.  I am talking about the one that follows the Sespe River directly out of Filmore.  The second link I posted talks a bit about the difference and laments:

We can see the mountains that surround our town, but we can’t get to them.

The piece of land at the top of Filmore and the bottom of the sanctuary appears to be owned by the grandchild of an old Hollywood producer and has been involved in a series of escalating stand-offs with the government over the destruction of habitat along the river.

http://lpfw.org/sespe-bulldozing/

… maybe not the best area to hike through.

Barring better suggestions, I’ve decided to go up to the gate towards the Dough Flats trail head.  Walking the 2.5 miles uphill just to get to the trail head does not sound particularly fun to me.

 

[Michael Schlesselmann]

Oh sorry about that. I should have read a little more closely. Ya I think that Dough Flat is the only way to get through “legally” unfortunately. Please post a little post trip write up if you have the chance. I’ve been meaning to venture a little farther south/east into that part of the Sespe. Also update the Hike Los Padres water reports if you can. It’s gonna be another year of meticulously planning trips based on water…

[Ben H.]

I took this trip as a day hike and went to Dough Flats.  The good news was that the gate was open.  The bad news is that I met a ranger on the way out and he closed the gate after we left.  He said it was open for the fires we had recently.  For people wondering about water.  We found it both at Squaw Flats and Cow Springs though both were a well spread out trickle.

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