After some brief hiking in the morning
we returned to camp to find another denizen of the Sespe making himself home at our camp. 
A horny lizard, flat round and spiky, was hoping we didn't see him. These guys don't really run from you like most lizards, counting on their unappealing skin to keep hungry ones away. We put in and paddled through some of the last brushyness as the rapids started to get steeper, and the boulders a little larger. Here the boulders were a tan sandstone that looked very much like the granite boulders familiar in the Sierras, but at one point you can see a large purplish cliff of sandstone high above which would be the source of some much larger boulders we were to encounter later.
After a couple hours of paddling we stopped at the hot springs creek for a quick side hike. I never did make it up to the hot springs taking a wrong turn on the trail, but wasn't all that interested in soaking when I was already sweating from the hike up the hillside Chapparal. Both the hikes that day were marked by an incredible abundance of wild sage in full bloom. Walking through the narrow trails would stir up the wonderful and pugnent smell of this plant which I have never seen in such density.
After putting back on, the rapids continued to gradually increase in difficulty. When scouting rapids we would often see bear tracks, but we never did see any bears. Turtles were numerous along the banks, and at one point as we were in an eddy above a good class III+ drop, a snake came floating by somewhat coiled and using its bouyant body to get his head several inches above water - after he punched through the first part of the rapid we lost track of him, but he sure did look calm at the top of the rapid.
As the river bends south around the Topatopa mountains, we saw an impressive vertical wall rise up on the right, and the river disappear into a steep gorge. We knew this was around a point when things would start to get exciting. Here the only trail left the creek, making the gorge that much more remote. 
In the gorge we found many great rapids with only several portages. We all agreed that it felt very much like the Garlic falls section of Kings Canyon, with perhaps even better scenery. This lasted most of the day until we decided to make camp at a small but comfy beach just above the confluence with West Fork of the Sespe. While frogs and crickets were the lullebies for our first night - here deep in the gorge we had only the sound of rushing water and the occasional pop from the fire.
Day Three
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