Old Road

2.1 miles (one way). Mostly uphill leaving camp.
Junction with Lost Valley Road.

The Old Road was the first road into Lost Valley from Chihuahua Valley. It was built by Arlie Bergman’s son, Ray, around 1952 to replace the old Lost Valley Trail. Ray hired Frank Walker, a “Cat-skinner” from Anza, who spent about four or five days on a D-8 tractor grubbing out the road. It followed the natural contours of the land very closely, often winding through the bottom of the canyons then climbing sharply over the ridges. One of the ways Ray paid for the road was selling leaf mold from Lost Valley to men who would truck it out and sell it to nurseries.

This was the way the first men from the Scout Council came to Lost Valley when they were looking for a new summer camp in the late 1950s. Howard Bear, a longtime supporter of Lost Valley, made his first trip over the road early in 1959. “There was a little trail going in there,” he recalled, “but we had to have a Jeep to go in. I remember going in there and the closer we got to it the more my mind was made up, ‘We don’t want this, we don’t want any part of it, you can’t get in here in the winter.’ Everybody was very negative.

“The Old Road came in on the west side of camp,” he explained, “and all of a sudden we looked down a thousand feet or so and there was Lost Valley, a beautiful valley with pine trees and oak trees. This was what sold me on the property, when we came on that brim and looked down. It was exactly what you’d want in a camp.”

Howard and the other men were sold. In 1959 the Council bought Lost Valley from the Bergmans. When the Lost Valley Road was built in 1963-64, parts of the Old Road were incorporated into it, but much of the road was just allowed to deteriorate. The final stretch of the road down into the valley was passable by four-wheel-drive vehicle as late as 1980, but has long since been closed.

A hike up the Old Road offers views of several of our adjoining valleys, and is a nice short-cut to and from the Lost Valley Road and the Pacific Crest Trail. The trailhead is located on the road to the lake, just past the Borrego Mesa campsite. The lower part of the road has grown faint, but the upper stretches are still quite obvious.

The road climbs quickly, leaving the camp, and entering the Cleveland National Forest. Later, you cross over into the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

As you begin to climb along a small ridge, swing around for a view back across Lost Valley. Much of Camp Irvine is clearly visible. This is the sort of vista that helped to sell the Camp Search Committee on buying Lost Valley.

Several rock formations on your left offer possible overnight campsites. Or you can drop down into Sycamore Creek. Above is “Flame-Around-the-Ankles” mountain, with its prominent granite face. It is one of Lost Valley’s most recognizable landmarks.

The Lost Valley Road is 2.1 miles from camp, at the top of one last steep, eroded stretch. From here, it is about a mile to the Pacific Crest Trail, or about four miles back to camp. If you’re just out for a short hike you’ll probably want to take a few minutes rest here and admire the view of the Santa Rosa Mountains off to the north, then return the way you came.

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