The Camp Cajon team is planning a guided tour to the historic site this month.

From 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on March 22, participants will be guided by local historians on short hikes over historic trails and roads that passed by Camp Cajon.

For centuries, the Cajon Pass has been a primary corridor into Southern California, beginning with footpaths created by the local Native American tribes.

In the early 1800s, the Old Spanish Trail became the primary trading route in the Southwest between Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Los Angeles. The trail passed through the Cajon Pass via Crowder Canyon, just a few hundred feet south of Camp Cajon.

Beginning in 1848, the early Mormon roads and the John Brown Toll Road (1861-1881) used sections of the Old Spanish Trail in Crowder Canyon. In 1913, the newly developed western extension of National Old Trails Road, the nation’s first “Ocean-to-Ocean Highway” also passed through the Cajon Pass via Crowder Canyon.

Camp Cajon opened in 1919 as a rest stop for motorists on National Old Trails Road, which became Route 66 in 1926. The site today is on a section of the 1953 alignment of Route 66, now called Wagon Train Road.

The camp was conceived by William Bristol, a well-known orange grower, community promoter, and author, from Highland. He worked tirelessly to transform a shady glen in the center of the Cajon Pass into a full-service rest stop for the newly motorized American public coming to Southern California. Bristol was a master promoter, and he was able to build Camp Cajon primarily with donations of labor and materials.

Facilities at the camp included custom-built concrete picnic tables, hand-laid stone barbeques and cook stoves, a band stand, and campsites with restrooms. A large stone building was also built to house the camp’s administration office, a store, and a post office. Beautiful stone outpost buildings were built there by the Elks, Knights of Pythias, the Riverside Mission Inn, and Santa Fe Railroad employees.

The camp became nationally famous as one of the country’s finest public rest stops and the facilities expanded to straddle both sides of Route 66.

In 1938, the camp was badly damaged by the Great Flood, and the facility was abandoned.

On March 22, tour attendees will be able to explore the relics at the revitalized Camp Cajon site. They include the 1917 Pioneer Monument, an original Camp Cajon picnic table, a replica of the Camp Cajon Monument, a California highway marker, a Route 66 directional sign, and an informational kiosk. The kiosk displays detailed information about the site, including photos, maps, and reproductions of historic road signs.

The tour program will begin with an introduction to Camp Cajon, and then attendees can take any of three walking tours.

Tour No. 1 includes the Camp Cajon facilities and the 1953 Route 66 alignment, about 800 feet total walking distance.

Tour No. 2 includes a half-mile round-trip hike up Crowder Canyon on National Old Trails Road, and the John Brown Toll Road.

Tour No. 3 includes a quarter-mile round-trip hike along the Pacific Crest Trail to view a section of the 1913 National Old Trails Road, and the Stoddard-Waite Monument. On this tour, participants will view the historic sites from the Pacific Crest Trail.

Participants should wear comfortable walking shoes and hats, and bring water, snacks, and chairs. If you choose to participate in any of the walking tours, be prepared to walk over pavement and easy dirt trails.

The Camp Cajon site is located at 3355 Wagon Wheel Road, in Phelan, a half-mile south of the McDonalds in the Cajon Pass. Take the 15 Freeway to Highway 138 east and make an immediate right turn (south) on Wagon Train Road.

The tours will be held weather permitting.