Sespe Creek
| Sespe Creek Arroyo Sespe, Cespai River, Sespe River | |
|---|---|
Sespe Creek flowing through the Sespe Wilderness | |
Map showing Sespe Creek highlighted in the Santa Clara River watershed | |
| Native name | S'eqp'e' (Chumashan) |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| Region | Ventura County |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | San Emigdio Mountains |
| • location | Potrero Seco Campground, Los Padres National Forest, California, United States |
| • coordinates | 34°37′37″N 119°26′31″W / 34.62694°N 119.44194°W |
| • elevation | 5,280 ft (1,610 m) |
| Mouth | Confluence with the Santa Clara River |
• location | Sespe, California and Fillmore, California, Ventura County, California |
• coordinates | 34°22′48″N 118°57′17″W / 34.38000°N 118.95472°W |
• elevation | 355 ft (108 m) |
| Length | 61 mi (98 km) |
| Basin size | 260 sq mi (670 km2) |
| Discharge | |
| • location | Fillmore, California |
| • average | 126 cu ft/s (3.6 m3/s) |
| • minimum | 0 cu ft/s (0 m3/s) |
| • maximum | 85,300 cu ft/s (2,420 m3/s) |
| Basin features | |
| Tributaries | |
| • left | Hot Springs Canyon |
| • right | Lion Canyon, Timber Creek, West Fork Sespe Creek, Little Sespe Creek |
| Type | Wild, Scenic |
| Designated | June 19, 1992 |
Sespe Creek (Chumash: S'eqp'e', "Kneecap") 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.