Sespe Creek
| Sespe Creek | |
| Arroyo Sespe, Cespai River, Sespe River | |
| stream | |
 Sespe Creek flowing through the Sespe Wilderness
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| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | California |
| Region | Ventura County |
| Source | San Emigdio Mountains |
| - location | Potrero Seco Campground, Los Padres National Forest, California, United States |
| - elevation | 5,280 ft (1,609 m) |
| - coordinates | 34°37′37″N 119°26′31″W / 34.62694°N 119.44194°W |
| Mouth | Confluence with the Santa Clara River |
| - location | Sespe, California and Fillmore, California, Ventura County, California |
| - elevation | 355 ft (108 m) |
| - coordinates | 34°22′48″N 118°57′17″W / 34.38000°N 118.95472°WCoordinates: 34°22′48″N 118°57′17″W / 34.38000°N 118.95472°W |
| Length | 61 mi (98 km) |
| Basin | 260 sq mi (673 km2) |
| Discharge | for Fillmore, California |
| - average | 126 cu ft/s (4 m3/s) |
| - max | 85,300 cu ft/s (2,415 m3/s) |
| - min | 0 cu ft/s (0 m3/s) |
 Map showing Sespe Creek highlighted in the Santa Clara River watershed
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Sespe Creek is a stream, some 61 miles (98 km) long, in Ventura County, southern California, in the Western United States. The creek starts at Potrero Seco in the eastern Sierra Madre Mountains, and is formed by more than thirty tributary streams of the Sierra Madre and Topatopa Mountains, before it empties into the Santa Clara River in Fillmore.
Thirty-one miles (50 km) of Sespe Creek is designated as a National Wild and Scenic River and National Scenic Waterway, and is untouched by dams or concrete channels. It is one of the last wild rivers in Southern California. It is primarily within the southern Los Padres National Forest.
The name Sespe can be traced to a Chumash Indian village, called Cepsey, Sek-pe or S'eqpe' ("Kneecap") in the Chumash language in 1791. The village appeared in a Mexican Alta California land grant called Rancho Sespe or Rancho San Cayetano in 1833.
The creek remains free from major habitat modifications and is noteworty for its lack of dams, although one was originally proposed for a site named Topa Topa near Sespe Hot Springs in the Sespe Wilderness. After originating above 5,000 feet (1,500 m) in the Sierra Madre Mountains in the northwest corner of the Ojai Ranger District, about 75 percent of the Sespe Creek subwatershed is characterized by numerous rugged slopes and canyon walls of the southern Pine Mountains. It flows intermittently but is characterized by a series of permanent deep pools. Major tributaries include the Lion Canyon, Hot Springs Canyon, Timber, West Fork Sespe and Little Sespe Creeks, although over 30 creeks and springs nourish it. Sespe Creek receives most of its rainfall between January and April, and furnishes 40% of the water flowing in the Santa Clara River.
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Wikipedia