Sespe Creek overnight with my son

I took my 5 y.o. son, Alex, on his first backpacking trip over Christmas break. We hiked up Sespe Creek in the Los Padres National Forest (Thanks for the suggestion Rockchucker!). I chose the hike because I knew there would be plenty of spots to stop wherever Alex got tired of hiking. He made it about a mile and half and besides a few hiccups had a great time. I was hoping to go farther but having a good time was my primary concern.

Here we are at the trailhead:


Shortly out of the parking lot the trail cuts across the mighty Sespe:

The first "water crossing".... hmmm the ranger said the Sespe always has water in it. Got a little concerned at this point, but was hoping one of the tributaries would have water.

Hiking down the trail:



About 3/4 of mile down the trail a tributary came in:


We set up camp on a sand bar near an existing firepit and collected firewood. Around 3 or 4 PM Alex tells me he is ready for dinner. I know he won't be happy if he is hungry so we start up the fire and roast hot dogs.



Went to check out the river. We found pretty good chunks of ice in the river. Hmmmm..... I had been following the weather at a weather station a few miles away on top of the ridge for over a month. Temperatures never dropped below 40° at night. Prediction for the night was a low of 48°F.



Got a visit from the ubiquitous scrub jay found at every campsite in California:



After roasting some marshmallows and drinking hot chocolate the temps started to drop. We snuggled into our sleeping bags and read books. After reading the 3 or 4 books I brought about a half dozen times we fell asleep.


In the night the temperature dropped like a rock. My sleeping bag and mat were inadequate and I did not sleep much. Luckily I had a warmer bag for Alex and he seemed to be warm and sleeping soundly. It could not have been any warmer than the low 20's. I guess the bottom of the canyon does not get much sun and stays quite a bit colder than up on the ridge. We woke up the next morning and a small pond nearby had completely iced over.

The next morning I was exhausted but Alex woke up happy. After we got up he told me his feet were "freezey". I tried getting him moving to warm up but the sun was nowhere near popping over the ridge and his disposition was degrading quickly. I built a small fire to warm up with but he was already pretty inconsolable and didn't want to stand near the fire. I finally threw him back in the tent with both of our sleeping bags and put a warm bottle at his feet. He perked up after that and when the sun finally cleared the ridge he came out and explored the area while I packed up camp.



Here we are back at the trailhead:


Alex said he had a good time and that is good enough for me.

hmmm.... why do my images never show up when I imbed them? I am pretty sure I am following the directions correctly

I've never been able to post photos on this site, either, if that's any comfort….

What a cool first trip. Sespe was a good choice.

All I can tell you is keep bringing him out there. When my kids were that age they'd complain pretty loud when I said we were going but they always had fun once we were there. And they complained just as loud when I said it was time to go home. That was my motivation to make them go again, but they never knew it.

Now they only remember having fun.

Using the wrong code. You had the correct img bracket, but you linked a hyerlink code. Try uploading to Photobucket.com then use the generated img code and copy/paste onto here. That what I do.

Glad you guys had a lot of fun!

Same here, it's very easy with photobucket.

I would love to have been there. Hopefully you get the pictures to upload!

That worked. Thanks! I guess when they say upload the image to a site like photobucket... they mean upload the image to photobucket.

I looked at your links. I didn't see a way for you to reference just the image. There may be one but I didn't find it. This is really a Google issue. They could provide an easy way to allow this but they seem to have decided not to.

The pictures make this tread soooo much better! What a happy looking boy, it so nice getting the next generation into backpacking.

So was the Sespe dry at Lions Camp? I've never seen it dry there.

Awww, great job, guys!

Cheers,

The entire river was dry the last time i was there. There were awful mucky little holes with a bit of stale water in them. We drank water from the faucet at Willets - which was from a cold spring with less minerals than in the hot spring, but still a bit flavorful.

Nice trip, Dad! We always saw leopard lizards, horned toads, bear tracks, lion tracks and snake trails in the trail - hope the kiddo got to see some critters and tracks too.

really? That sucks, I really love the Sespe when it's full, a real beautiful place with lots of hidden gems.

I've seen almost as many bears in the Sespe as in Monachi. Once we went through the devils gate via the river and all we could do is follow the bear tracks. The water was deep, cold, and full of fish.

yup bone dry. That pic is what the entire Sespe looked like until that tributary came in about 3/4 of mile down the trail.

Wow! We use to jump off the rock into the Sespe right there in Lions Camp, until the rock fell over. It was a good 40' up and deep enough that you didn't touch the bottom.