Soaking the bones in Santa Paula.

September 12, 2016 9:37 AM

I was cruising down CA-150 yesterday between Ojai and Santa Paula, CA, and I swear that I smelled sulfur. I can't find any definitive information online, but is there a hot spring around there somewhere?

I was right around here when I smelled it, just after Thomas Aquinas College and right before Steckel Park. The Yelp page for Steckel indicates at least one person has found a hot spring nearby, but I can find nothing else. Can anyone with detailed local knowledge weigh in? (NOTE: This is not the Matilija Hot Springs, which I know for certain are closed to the public and are much further north than this location.)

posted by mykescipark to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (4 answers total)

I can confirm the experience of smelling sulfur in the area, having gone there to hike the punchbowl a few times (and having driven through that stretch many more times), but I haven't ever found any hot springs.
posted by wildblueyonder at 10:01 AM on September 12, 2016

That sulfur smell also could be your catalytic converter, although unlikely if the only place you've ever sulfur is that one spot on yesterday's drive.
posted by COD at 10:04 AM on September 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: It's seepage from oil drilling in Sulphur Mountain, which you are driving past on that route.
posted by Wavelet at 10:11 AM on September 12, 2016 [4 favorites]

Best answer: There is a lot of oil industry, and actively pumping oil wells along Hwy 150 in the Santa Paula - Ojai area. With the oil extraction a number of sulfur compounds are released. I haven't been through that area years but there used to be natural oil seeps along the shoulder of Hwy 150. Those may be the source of the sulfur you smelled. There is an oil industry museum in Santa Paula. You might find a visit there interesting.
posted by X4ster at 1:05 PM on September 12, 2016