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Today's route stats: 

We expected today to be relatively easy -- much easier than the past two days.  We would now be on a familiar maintained trail all the way to the hot springs. 

The trail down to Shady Camp was a bit overgrown, but easy to follow.  We never actually got to Shady Camp because we turned off to take the trail that goes up, over, and then down to Sespe Creek.  I had originally hoped to hike directly down Alder Creek to Sespe Creek, but this would have been harder and take longer.  On a backpacking trip with YMCA in 1963, hiking the other direction, we walked down Sespe Creek to the mouth of Alder Creek, passing a camp called Sweetwater.  There was once a large Quonset hut there.  This site has been deleted from all current maps (which only increased my curiosity). 

Although the hike along the Sespe Creek was easy, we had to cross it twice before getting to Hot Springs Canyon.  The mile or so hike up Hot Springs Canyon was very pretty.  There is barely a trace of the old road.  If you didn't already know there had been a road there, you probably would never suspect.