Sespe Hot Springs
Sespe Hot Springs surfaces near boiling, hot enough to scald, inside the Los Padres National Forest in Ventura County. Fillmore is the nearest town at around fourteen miles. Getting to the springs means a hike of a bit over four miles from Mutau OHV Road. Open access, Forest Service land.
Backcountry national forest at around three thousand feet, with a short rainy winter, a little snow in the average year and dry weather otherwise. The hike in starts from Mutau OHV Road, an off-highway vehicle route by its name. Goldhill Camping Area, about eight miles out, is where the record puts the closest camping.
Winter is the listed season. Plan for a hike of four-plus miles each way and check the condition of Mutau OHV Road before you go. The source water is scalding and will burn skin on contact; only get in where it has cooled, and test first every time. Goldhill is about eight miles away. No fee is listed.
Aircraft with laser scanners measured this ground to within inches. The scan strips out trees and buildings, leaving the bare shape of the land around Sespe Hot Springs.
Drag the handle to compare the two views. The orange dot marks the spring, in a frame about three quarters of a mile wide.
- Setting
- Canyon floor
- Steep ground climbs away on both sides of the spring.
- Highest ground nearby
- 422 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the northeast
A slice through the ground from northwest to southeast, about 0.6 miles end to end.
Elevation data: USGS 3D Elevation Program. Aerial imagery: USGS The National Map. Public domain.
That's about twice the US average of 65. It's higher than at 69% of the springs on this site.
Heat flow measures the warmth working its way up through the ground from deep inside the earth. Where it runs high, rain and snowmelt that seep down through cracks in the rock come back up hot.
See every spring on the geothermal heat map →
Heat flow estimate: Stanford Thermal Earth Model (Aljubran & Horne, 2024), CC BY 4.0.
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Goldhill Camping Area is an open camping location adjacent to Piru Creek at the base of Alamo Mountain. Recreational Vehicles up to 26 feet. Picnic tables, fire rings, toilets. No potable water available. Located near several Forest Service Off-Highway Vehicle (motorcycle and four-wheel drive) roads and trails and is approximately eight miles southwest of Hungry Valley State Vehicular Recreation Area.Area ammenities: Tent camping, Trailer camping, Picnic tables, Toilets, Parking, Trash service
Sespe Hot Springs is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear. The water is dangerously hot, so bring water shoes and test pools carefully.
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