Devils Gate: The Promised Land

This might just be my favorite place in the whole world. 4/14/18

I first stumbled upon this hidden gem by accident. Man, talk about a pleasant surprise. My trusted comrade Mr.Lee & I were on a reconnaissance mission. Our goal for the day was to make our way to the bottom of Tar Creek & see if any of the legendary waterfalls are visible from below. I unfortunately never made it out here before the closure. I'll ruin the surprise & tell you right now, they are not. Considering the access issues that come with trying to enter Tar Creek from the top by Dough Flat we figured viewing from down below was our best bet. We were in for an adventure far greater than we planned.

I completely understand why public access to Tar Creek has been banned. It infuriates me that people cant respect nature & just clean up after their damn selves. I heard that Tar Creek was becoming a repeat of Santa Paula Canyon & The Punch Bowls. Graffiti, trash & all the other bs that comes with human visitation so as irritating as it might be i actually support the closure. 

Our day started on the outskirts of Fillmore. Armed with a map, intel from hours spent on Google Earth & a tenacious attitude we set out. We were immediately met by walls of brush taller than us & a mucky water crossing. After about a mile or so things started opening up & it felt like we actually had a chance of getting something done. As we approached the dramatic red rock "V" that is Devils Gate we were astonished to find a 50 ft long, 30 ft wide & 12-15 ft deep swimming hole at the beginning of the canyon.

As you can see we were both pretty happy with our find. We stopped for a quick lunch & had a celebratory swim. Feeling rejuvenated we charged on in search of the mythical Tar Creek Falls. Anyone who has spent any time in this part of our local backcountry knows the going can be tough & slow. We climbed up & over many gigantic boulders. The sheer size of some of these rocks is mind blowing. I once heard it referred to as the Sespe Botanical Rock Garden & it couldn't be more accurate. The rocks here were happy, healthy & growing to monstrous proportions. We were in awe of the 1000ft + vertical cliffs that surrounded us on each side. We immediately knew we were somewhere special...somewhere wild. I have since learned that the Sespe Creek is Southern California's last undammed free flowing river. A tragedy & a point of pride all in one. Even more reason to protect this place. Luckily the Sespe has federal protection. Yet somehow that doesnt stop the forest service(or whoever is responsible) from leasing land adjacent to it to oil companies. How that makes sense to anyone is beyond me. ( Wink Wink $$$)

Anyways, as we continued upstream i kept track of how many tributary canyons we passed trying to zero in on which one would be the entrance to Tar Creek. From our starting point to Devils Gate was about 2 miles & i figured it'd be about another 3 miles from there to the Tar Creek/Sespe confluence. Eventually we came to a canyon coming from the East (our right) & it had only a trickle of water coming out of it. It was mid-April at this time & the creek was very full. We passed nice sized swimming holes the entire way up. We stopped to consider if this was our intended destination but we figured with water falls as large as we were expecting there would have to be more water coming down. So we foolishly kept on trekking, I now know this was in fact the bottom of Tar Creek. I will note there was an odd giant metal cable laying across the base of the canyon. My assumption would be its left over from the days when the Lower Sespe was the prospect for a rock quarry. Thank God that never came to fruition.

We were never worried about getting lost but this canyon sure does seem to go on forever.

We were treated to seeing a pair of Wild Mallard Ducks. 4/14/18

We had no clue how far we had gone or how far we were going to go but we were determined to find these falls. I believe we hiked all the way to the entrance of the West Fork Sespe (not even knowing what that was at the time) We found a canyon coming from the west with a good flow of water & remarked that it looked to be an even wilder place than the one we were in. If anyone has been to the West Fork/Sespe confluence before please confirm if that is indeed where we were. See pics below

I know this is a terrible photo for a point of reference but this is where 2 creeks met. The plateau above the trees continued WNW & that is where the 2nd creek was flowing from. I believe this is where the main Sespe & West Fork Sespe converge. 

This is looking down stream from that same spot in the photo above.

If my suspicions are correct we hiked waaaay past our intended destination. Still determined to lay eyes on the waterfalls we continued on. Eventually we knew we were going to have to call it a day so we stopped to make a fire & cook the meat we had in our bags. My ingenious companion devised a cooking method i had never seen before & yet to be duplicated. Beer Can Steak. Not quite the same as beer can chicken. Since we didn't have anything to cook on we sliced open a tall boy of Modelo (after drinking it of course) cubed up our steak, put said steak cubes in the can & then popped her in the center of the fire. A similar method as making a baked potato in tin foil. I was amazed how juicy & tender that meat came out. Beer Can Steak for the win. Although after all the rock hopping & scrambling we did i think anything would have tasted good. With the light getting dangerously low we turned tail & started heading home...or so we thought.

It got dark in that canyon fast. Before we knew it we were traversing boulders & down climbing in pitch black. Inexperienced & unprepared at the time neither of us had a flash light or head lamp. In short it was not fun. Out of cell service we knew the worst was going through our loved ones minds. It was about 4:30 or 5 when we turned around. Sunset was around 6 or 6:30 that day but we neglected to think about the fact that the sun sets much earlier in a deep canyon. We pushed on until i fell for about the 3rd or forth time & properly ripped my shorts & busted my ass. We looked at the clock on Eli's phone & it was 11:30 pm! We couldn't believe how slow we were going in the dark. Thoroughly exhausted we found a sandy bank to make a fire & try to regain our strength. After discussing our options we decided to hunker down for the night & pick up again at first light.

Equipped with absolutely nothing in the way of overnight gear we braced ourselves for a long night. Luckily the sandy bank we chose already had a small fire ring behind the shelter of a few boulders & a nice snag of driftwood so we didn't have to go more than a few feet for more firewood. We each had a towel so we dug holes down in the sand next to the fire & laid our towels in the holes. However when we first started the fire we awoke a colony of ants sleeping in the sand & had to wait for them to clear out.

Huddled next to the fire & taking turns wearing the one jacket that we brought we must of smoked a whole pack of cigarettes just trying to pass the time. Neither of us got much sleep. However we had water & some snacks so from a survival POV we were fine. As soon as first light broke we were up & moving again. We quickly realized we were only a 1/4 mile away from Devils Gate when we stopped for the night. We could have made it back to my truck but i reckon it wouldn't of been until about 2:30 am so i guess spending a night by the fire under the stars wasn't the worst thing that could of happened.

To our surprise we actually ran into a pair of guys camping on the beach across the water at Devils Gate. They were up having coffee. They had came in at some point while we were deep in the canyon. We only talked for a brief second but i couldn't help but wonder how our encounter would of been had we rolled up on them in the middle of the night. Interesting no doubt. With all that being said my first expedition into the Lower Sespe was an eventful one i will not soon forget. Ive been back to go swimming about dozen times since this trip & have spent the night on the beach twice. Once in a tent with my girlfriend & once on tarps with my buddy Scott. Its an amazing place. Unfortunately the last time i went was after our first winter storm this year the once amazing swimming hole was completely filled in with sediment. The deepest part where we would land after jumping off the rocks was now a sandbar. See photo below:

1/2/19. Now that we've had some more rain ill be heading back soon with the hopes all this sediment got washed out & my swimming hole is back. This is the same spot as the photo at the top of the page.

Here's a few more misc. photos from other trips there:

The Boys 8/8/18.

Bear Prints in what use to be the swimming hole. 1/2/19.

I'm guessing that's condor shit covering these rocks lol

My Intrepid Canine Companion, Jaxxon. 

Broke my toe on a rock hopping in the water this day lol felt great 10/10 recommend

This was an amazing day. My first time seeing an endangered California Condor & right before this i also met the incredibly nice Alasdair Coyne of the KEEP THE SESPE WILD committee. If you haven't heard of them check em out

Dogs being dogs.

Hahahaha. I told him that little thing wouldn't make it. She refused to go any further after the first 10 mins & this guy was stuck rocking a Baby Bjorn the rest of the day.

So yea to sum it up i absolutely love this place, if you go here please respect it. I plan on doing a multiple day trip through here eventually. Starting at Dough Flat spending a few nights in the canyon exploring & then coming out at Devils Gate. Ive never seen trash here & i hope it stays that way.

Peace.