The main wall at Sespe Gorge.
Sespe Gorge
On our way back from the Channel islands Ellen and I stopped at Sespe Gorge to check out the climbing. The gorge is 33 miles inland from Ventura california on highway 33.
As you can see from the photos it is a small area, but the guidebook promises "excellent multipitch beginners routes."
When we arrived we saw two climbers on a classic 5.7 crack named "Ending Crack."
My friend Gene Miya says that Sespe isn't worth the trip from San Francisco or even from Los Aneles, but that if you are in the Ventura area it has some fine lead routes in the 5.5 to 5.7 range. He also says that it is often difficult to cross the stream between the road and the wall during the winter and sprring season. I easily stepped from stone to stone across the stream in early August.