06-04-2011 Tar Creek

I got an email from a guy in Australia who was going to be in Southern California and wanted to know if he could tag along on a hike. Sure, I didn't have anything planned, so I told him if he wanted to hike Tar Creek I'd be happy to go out there with him.

It was a pretty standard Tar Creek hike. We didn't see anybody as we made our way to the bottom falls. The water temp was 61F on my thermometer, but it felt like low 50's when I jumped in. We didn't see any condors down there.

As we got ready to head back I saw a group people coming down with their two dogs. Pretty lame I thought. If you have a dog you take out on the trails a lot that's one thing. But Tar Creek is no place for a dog that's not used to more then playing in the back yard. At the 70ft falls we saw more people coming down. One guy was barefoot hiking and it made me chuckle.

Does anybody think that adding some chain to the anchors at the condors perch might keep people from leaving their webbing behind? I'm interested in hearing anyone's thought's on this.

Back at the Cascades there were a lot of people swimming and jumping in the water. I saw a few more house dogs that I could tell were going to have a tough time getting out. Then a class A jackass showed up with three dogs. For some reason (I think he was really stupid) he threw a stick off the to the left of the waterslide. I yelled, "What the fuck are you doing?" I thought the drop was too high for a dog to jump comfortably. One of his dogs (it looked like a year old lab pup) went chasing after the stick of course. The rock slopes upward then has a high angle slab about 6ft long before a free fall of about 10 or 12ft into the water. So when the dog got to the edge of the rock and saw how high above the water it was it tried to turn around and scramble back up the rock. But the face was to steep, so the little guy just ended up tearing his paws against the rock. After laughing for a second or two the jackass reached down to pull his dog up by the collar, but that slipped off and fell into the pool below. So he had to grab the dog by the scruff of its neck and pull it up. I was a bit disgusted by the episode. We left and hiked back towards the trailhead. We found empty beer bottles on the trail that hadn't been there when we came down.

It was nice hiking with Australia. He was a nice soft spoken guy. Like all Aussies he felt compelled to talk smack about New Zealand when I mentioned my family lives there. I'd be annoyed if it weren't so predictable.

03-05-2011 Tar Creek

Hopper Mountain

Frank, Justin, and I decided that another trip to Tar Creek was in order. So we headed out to Fillmore, powered up on waffles, and drove up the road to the trailhead. Right off the bat we found a rather large hole in the trail.

Watch out for C.H.U.D.S

The hike down to the cascades was nice. The water level is still pretty high. It was a cold 48.3F when I measured it.

When we got to the 70ft falls we saw a group of canyoneers rigging up to rappel the falls. I went over and was happy to find out that they knew to remove their webbing when they were done. We watched them make the short rap of about 30ft I'd guess.

Then we took the walk around, and proceeded to the larger bottom falls. I was pleasantly surprised to find that there wasn't any webbing left behind at the bolts at the big falls.

The Final Pool

Pretty soon the group made their way down to us. They rigged up, and started rapping down the 120-130ft to the shallow pool below. Frank and Justin took the walk around trail, and snapped some pictures of the canyoneers.

When they were all down I untied their webbing. I packed it into a water bottle their group leader had left with me. Sorry, I couldn't fit the rapide into the bottle, so I just fixed it to a bolt. Then I tossed the bottle down to the group. If any of you wants to see more pictures just contact me through the blog.

The three of us sat around for a little bit more. It was a really nice day. Just like my last few trips down Tar Creek, we didn't see any condors. Recharged, we hit the trail back up the canyon.

Just upcreek of the cascades we ran into a large group of under-prepared looking people. I saw a guy wearing just a pair of Crocs for shoes (he was rubbing his sore feet). And I saw more than one person that looked like they had just hand-carried a (now empty) Vitaminwater bottle as their sole source of fluids. I hope everybody made it out okay.




It took me 43 minutes to get up the big hill, five minutes off my best time. Here's a picture of Topatopa Peak (the real one) if you look closely you can see the frame of the lookout tower that burned up in the 2006 Day Fire.

12-27-2010 Tar Creek

Bear Heaven and Topatopa Peak

When it rains like it has been for the past few weeks, I really get an itching to get outside, and put some miles under my feet. The creeks are flowing again, snow caps the peaks of some of our taller mountains, and waterfalls are restored to their rightful glory. I love Tar Creek right after a rain. The canyon thunders with the sound of raging, muddy water. In the spring when the water calms down you can hop scotch along the rocks, and try to keep your socks dry. However, when the creek is rocking like it was this day, creek crossings take a more serious tone. If you slip and get caught in the hydraulics you are going to be in a world of hurt. Tar Creek is renowned for its huge purple sandstone boulders. The nice thing about sandstone is it doesn't get too slippery when wet. So jumping on to wet sandstone is not nearly as dangerous as the slick granite you'll encounter further north.

The hike to the cascades was easy enough. I think we only crossed the creek twice. The overhang waterfall was flowing with decent force.

We had to take the sorta sketchy side route on the river-right side due to the high water. There's a bit of exposure, and some careful foot placement is needed, but it wasn't too bad.

It looks like I'm fucking this rock.

After a little down-climbing, and crawling we made it to the 70ft (68ft) falls. Someone had left some black webbing tied to a boulder above the falls. I had to leap across the creek to cut and remove it. Here's a video of Frank pushing some logs over the falls.

Carefully we made our way down to the final section. The big falls were going off magnificently. The waterfall coming off of Bear Heaven was flowing. It only flows after it rains, but that is the tallest waterfall in the Ventura Los Padres that I know of.

Bear Heaven Falls

Just as I expected, there was some webbing threaded into the bolts at the big falls. I cut it out. I'll say it again, webbing and rope can kill condors. Please, if you're going to rappel Tar Creek, remove your webbing when you're done. Both rappels have walk arounds that someone in your party can use to bring the webbing down.

The Condors Perch

Then we took some pictures, and ate lunch. The water temperature was 47F. We didn't see any condors. I think this was our fifth trip down Tar Creek this year, and I haven't seen a condor once. In 2009 I saw condors every time we went down there. Sometimes we would see five at a time. I wonder what happened? I've seen them over the Stone Corral the two times we went by this year.

The hike back up was uneventful. It was little muddy, but not bad at all. We bumped into Jack from Jack Elliott's Santa Barbara Adventure on the way up the hill. Maybe he'll have a post about Tar Creek soon too. And that was it. Another trip to Tar Creek in the books. I'm sure there will be many more trips just like this one.

06-10-2010 Tar Creek

The Big Pool, Bear Heaven in the background

Frank and I decided that a day hike to Tar Creek was in order. We figure the water levels will be getting pretty low soon. And as the water heats up with the summer the algae will really bloom.

We got to the lower falls quickly, and easily. I finally worked up enough courage to jump from the 40ft perch. It was the highest jump I've ever done for sure.


Trying to work up some courage

Frank brought my boat, and floated in the big pool for awhile.


Relaxing in style


Snakes in love

A family of nude hikers made their way down from their camp at the cascades. The mom and the kid put some clothes on when they saw us, but dad was not about to cover up. What got me wasn't the lack of clothing, but that they weren't wearing any shoes. You have to be pretty dedicated to your nakedness to walk through the rough, and jagged boulders of Tar Creek without any foot protection. They hung out for a bit, and then they headed back to their camp, barefoot, and bare-ass. We took off shortly after the family did. I think we were both feeling pretty good because we made it up the Tar Creek hill in 38 minutes, a personal record. If you're thinking about hitting up Tar Creek this year, the countdown is on, hurry up. Contact me or leave a comment if you have any questions or anything.

05-16-2010 Sespe Gauntlet

Tar Creek, Sespe, Bear Heaven, The West Fork, Topatopa Mountain

I've been thinking about this hike for a long time. I think it started a few years ago when I was looking around on the internets for info on Tar Creek when I came across Christopher Brennen's web-book. In it he describes a hike that starts at Dough Flat links up with the Sespe at Alder Creek and ends at Tar Creek (or Devil's Gate). The most intriguing part of the hike to me had to be what he called "The Squeezes", three deep pools on the Sespe that had to swam across to be passed. The idea of floating alongside my pack in the Ventura backcountry has fascinated me since I read about it. I know that Frank and Zach had made a sort of ill prepared attempt at this hike ten years ago. Only to be turned back by a raging Sespe and to be driven out of Lions Camp by the late Tony Alvis.


Sleeping Indian Rock

Instead of starting at Dough Flat, I wanted to start at the Piedra Blanca trailhead (Lions Camp)and then camp at Willett Hot Spring, then Sespe Hot Springs, then in the Sespe Narrows, and finally camp at the Tar Creek / Sespe confluence. So, armed with Brennen's directions we headed out for six days of adventure on the Sespe. The hike out to Willett is nothing special. I described it in my last post. What I didn't mention in that post was that we had stashed supply's and eight beers up there. That allowed us enough room in our packs to bring fresh food for dinner the first night. What a meal we had. Frank brought Fillet Mignon (wow!), I brought some Tri-tip and Zach brought Bulgogi. Jeremiah rolled into camp with some fresh veggies.


Zach and Jeremiah grill it up

We had so much food we were able to feed the two other people staying up there as well. One them told us he was a runner in The Coyote Two Moon, a crazy looking race. After diner we headed up to the tub and relaxed with our beers for a bit. The four of us were able to sleep in the bunk beds at the condo that night. In the morning we had a big breakfast and then got ready to head on to Sespe Hot Springs. At one of the creek crossings along the six mile trail to the Hot Springs we ran into a group of upbeat kids from Thacher School. They had spent the night at Shady Camp and were headed towards Willett. What awesome school to go to. We walked past Cottriell Flat. I didn't stop to see if the camp was still there.


Cottriell Flat

Right as we got into Hot Spring Canyon it started to rain lightly. We made our way up to the Hot Springs and pitched camp at spot with a couple of palm trees. Frank measured the temperature, and the hot water bubbles out of the side the canyon walls at 189 degrees Fahrenheit! Right next to the Palm Tree Camp are a couple of one person pools that were a nice 106 degrees, perfect for a nice morning soak. It continued to drizzle rain throughout the night. I was a little scared that we might have to postpone going into the Sespe. The threat of flash floods is real. But the rain was light, and didn't really raise the water level at all. In the morning I got up and took a nice bath in one of the hot pools. Jeremiah earned canyoneer of the week honors for packing out a bunch of Keystone Light cans that some jerk had left behind.


Relaxing in scalding hot water

Right where the Upper Sespe Trail starts to head up over a saddle towards Shady Camp there's a sign that says, "Devil's Gate: 15" this is where you should take off your hiking boots and put on your water shoes (I'd also recommend some heavy wool or neoprene socks).


A good sign

We spent the next five hours walking down the middle of the Sespe. I think trying to find a way through here without getting your feet wet is next to impossible. Slogging through the creek was actually a lot of fun. The water was only about shin high most of the time. After a couple of hours we could feel the cold water of Alder Creek mixing in with the Sespe. We saw our only Condor of the trip circling above the Stone Corral.



Contemplating my next move

Finally we reached the campsite described in Brennen' guide. It's actually not a campsite per say, but more of a beach with a stone fire ring.



Overhang Falls Camp

There was plenty of room for the four of us. The site was so nice, that we decided to spend the next day there too. So we spent our forth day just exploring and swimming in the canyon. Late in the afternoon two other hikers passed through (Jen and Wes? Sorry, I forgot your names). They were real cool, and we would see them a few more times before our trip was over.


Sunset on The Sespe

That night it was really windy. None of us got a good nights sleep. Part of it was the wind, and at least for me, it was partly the excitement of the next days hike keeping me up. We packed up early. I lined my bag with a garbage bag in case I took a dunking in the creek. Soon after we started out, we passed by the two other hikers at their camp. They had had a close call with a falling boulder in the middle of the night, and seemed pretty shaken up by it. We wished each other luck, and our group continued on. The area near the First Squeeze is known as the Sespe Gorge. The power of the Sespe is on full display here.





The creek picks up speed and thunders over the boulders into a narrow chute, the First Squeeze, then spills out into a wide pool. We were able to get through this section without swimming. As a matter of fact we were able to get through all the "squeezes" without swimming. I don't think the water was low, but rather the dep pools had been filled with sediment. I don't know if these will get washed out when a really heavy storm hits, or maybe that's what filled them up. We were all a bit disappointed that we didn't have to float our bags and swim the narrow sections.


The First Squeeze


The Second Squeeze

We had been taking turns carrying my 3lb inflatable boat for nothing. I guess it's better safe than sorry, though. As we trudged on through the Sespe we refilled our bottles with water springing right from the base of Topatopa mountain.


Pure clean water


Approaching the Third Squeeze

The river water got cloudy-er as we neared Grassy Flat. And there's nothing flat about Grassy Flat. It's just a lot of rocks and brush. The West Fork is so overgrown I didn't even notice it as we passed by. When we found several nasty open pits of bubbling oil seeping into the creek we knew we were getting close to Tar Creek.


An open oil pit

As we made our way closer to our camp I turned back to see how everyone was doing. Right at that moment, maybe a few hundred feet away from us and a black jet roared through the canyon at a ridiculous speed, pulled a high-G bank straight up near Tar Creek Falls, did a couple of barrel rolls, leveled out, and then shot off east like a bat out of hell. The sound of it rushing by was incredibly loud, and scared the piss out of me.

Soon after that we got to the two gigantic boulders that I call Patty and Selma. They block the way to Tar Creek. Where they meet in the creek they form a formidably powerful waterfall. The only way past them is to balance your way down a log placed on the east side of the creek. A few minutes later we were at the Tar Creek camp. Like Willett we had hiked in a few weeks before and stashed some beers and food. So that night as we ate up the rest of our freeze dried meals and drank our hard earned beer. We talked about what we wanted to eat when we got back civilization.




The next morning we packed up our stuff for the last time. We made sure our camp was completely clean. My policy is to pack out any trash (within reason) I find in the Condor Sanctuary. Zach dubbed the trail up from the Sespe to Tar Creek the Donkeyballs Trail because it's such a bastard. Jeremiah was able to cut over from the trail to the bottom falls of Tar Creek. We all met up at the Cascades.


Grace in motion

At first we were the only ones there. Jeremiah and I cleaned up the make-shift campsites at the Cascades. We found a bunch of beer cans, a disturbing number of Blow-Pop wrappers, and even an old rope. As we made our way up the Tar Creek hill I kept finding more wrappers and cigarette butts. And then at the top of the hill our ride was waiting for us. A few minutes later Wes and Jen rolled up. We had made it. Thirty some-odd miles (twelve or so in the water)over six days. I thought I would feel totally beat after such a long haul. But to the contrary, I felt supercharged.




So to sum it all up, I had a great time. Despite not having to swim through the squeezes this was a really rewarding trip. We all worked as a team, helping each other out when we needed to. In the past I was proud of making it through the Stone Corral, and "finding" the Upper Matilija Falls was pretty cool, and I've completed some other hard hikes, but this was the most satisfying hike I've ever done. I'd love to try it starting from Dough Flat some time.