The Sespe Hot Springs/High Country Loop

This was probably the most daring backpacking trip I’ve ever attempted. This would be a tough trip anytime – 45 miles in three days over some grueling mountain terrain – but now it was even harder, with water sources few and far between, thanks to California’s severe record drought.   And who could have imagined we would be hiking in 91 degrees in mid-February, when the average is around 65 this time of year? 

We powered through it all – one of us with agonizing allergies and another with agonizing foot troubles – up some super-steep mountain trails, through sketchy river crossings, and across some seldom-hiked high-elevation paths where route-finding became quite a chore.  But the payoffs made it all worth it: soaking under a full moon in a hot spring, a rare sighting of a herd of critically-endangered mountain sheep, and a chance to explore one of the most vivid native American pictograph galleries in southern California.