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 I financed the road,” Ray recalls, was selling leaf mold from the valley to other men who would truck it out and sell it to nurseries. The council’s Camp Search Committee used this road on their earliest exploration trips into the valley in 1958-59. 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 recalls, “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 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.”

In 1959 the Scout Council bought the valley from the Bergmans, and Lost Valley Scout Reservation was born. When the present Lost Valley Road was built in 1963-64, parts of the Old Road were incorporated into it, but most of the road was just allowed to deteriorate. When power lines were finally extended to the camp in 1968, they followed the Old Road most of the way in--showing its route ever where the road has faded away. Because of this, some people call this road the Cable Road. The final stretch of the road down the hills into the valley was passable for four-wheel-drive vehicles on into the early 1980s, but is long since closed. It is the best preserved portion of the Old Road. A hike up the 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 Dodge campsite. Two tire tracks lead off across a small meadow into the trees.

0.0 Trailhead on the lake road, just beyond campsites Borrego Verde and Borrego Mesa. Once in the trees, the trail passes through the old meal ride area.

0.2 First creek crossing. The road crosses the camp boundary above here and continues on through the Cleveland National Forest.

0.3 As the road climbs up the hill, you move out of oak trees and into more pines.

0.5 The road here passes over solid sandstone, winding up and generally to the left.

0.7 As your climb continues, you leave the trees behind and enter pure chaparral. The biological progression is very orderly here -- from oaks, to pines, to brush. The last bit of shade under the trees makes a good rest stop.

0.8 As you begin to climb up this small ridge, swing around for a view back across the valley. Much of Camp Irvine is clearly visible. Another tenth of a mile takes you to the top of the saddle. This is the sort of vista that helped sell the Camp Search Committee on buying Lost Valley.

1.2 Overlook into the next valley to the west, a nameless part of the Cleveland National Forest. The road continues along the upper rim of the valley through chaparral and yucca. Up to your left is “Flame-Around-the-Ankles” mountain with its prominent granite face. It is one of Lost Valley’s most recognizable landmarks.

1.4 Despite the term Cable Road, this is the only spot where an electrical pole is located right along the road itself. From here, the road drops down the other side of the ridge and swings to the left.

1.6 As the road drops down to the right, it meets the creek. The road continues on, bearing right, up and down small ridges where some deep erosion is visible.

2.1 Junction with the Lost Valley Road at the top of one last steep, eroded stretch. From here it is 1.2 miles to the Pacific Crest Trail. To the right it is 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.