Willett Hot Springs
Willett Hot Springs is a hot spring in the Sespe Wilderness of Los Padres National Forest, north of Ojai in Ventura County, with a man-made collection basin to hold the water. The temperature on file is 108, a proper soak. Reaching it is the work: the nearest road is nearly four miles away and the usual route is an eleven-mile hike from the Piedra Blanca trailhead. Forest Service land, open.
Mutau OHV Road, the nearest road on record, is a little under four miles off; this one is filed as a hike. The spring sits at around 4,100 feet in designated wilderness, where the climate is drier than you might guess, fourteen inches of rain and a foot of snow in an average year. Middle Lion Campground is about seven miles away.
December through February are the listed months, cool enough for a long approach and a hot soak. Wilderness rules apply in the Sespe. Camp at Middle Lion or carry gear for the trail. No fee shows up on file, and the water is near the top of comfortable soaking range. This record has a photo.
Wikipedia places the spring in the Sespe Wilderness and notes the collection basin that someone built to gather the flow. The popular approach it describes is about 11 miles on foot starting at Piedra Blanca.
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 Willett 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
- 819 ft above the spring
- Within a quarter mile, to the northeast
A slice through the ground from west to east, about 0.6 miles end to end.
Elevation data: USGS 3D Elevation Program. Aerial imagery: USGS The National Map. Public domain.
That's about 1½ times the US average of 65. It's higher than at 49% 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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Overview Leave the city vibe behind as you meander down a winding, partially paved, narrow road that leads you into wooded Middle Lion Campground and day use area. Relax next to the running creek, take a refreshing dip, or hike the nearby trails. Tucked away in a canyon encased by chaparral and wildflower covered mountains, Middle Lion Campground is particularly beautiful in the spring and fall, but camping is great year-round.Recreation The Lion Canyon Trail (22W06) starts at the back of the...
Willett Hot Springs is road-accessible, so you can bring more gear.
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