Dough Flat Trailhead

Entrance to the sespe wilderness.

Within a short distance, you're standing in the middle of an ancient seabed. I have seen shells, bones and small prehistoric creatures embedded in the rock. The walk is moderate and beautiful

I had a great time doing an overnight backpacking trip to Sespe Hot Springs from here! The road to get to the trailhead was 99% fine but in the final stretch part of the road was completely washed out and it was a bit scary to attempt--good thing the Subaru was up for it! The trailhead was rather nice, well-kept, lots of parking (we had it all to ourselves on a weekday) and a bathroom. We did not see another soul during our two days back there! We saw a wild turtle, horned toads, lots of beautiful birds (sadly no condors), and so much beautiful foliage (be careful of poison oak--two weeks later and I'm only now recovered even though I was being very careful!). I'm only removing a star because it can be easy to lose the trail ... especially if you continue down to the creek bed at Alder Creek Camp and/or are trying to get to the hot springs like we were. Thanks to the kind souls who set up cairns for people like me!

The gate was locked and it was supposed to open a month ago. If you plan on going assume it's locked unless you can get an actual person at the ranger station to tell you it's open.

This is a little hidden Jewell, you get to see the amazing California Condor, great place for camping, backpacking, trail running, a pickinike, canyoneering, bird watching, rock climbing, mountain biking, fishing, stargazing