Breckenridge Road (Kern County Road 218 and Sequoia National Forest Route 83)

[Max Rockatansky]

Breckenridge Road is an approximately 42-mile-long rural highway over Breckenridge Mountain east of Bakersfield in Kern County.  This highway has come up as a frequent recommendation over the years and the Kern County owned portion finally reopened from a rockslide this April.  Seemed like a good as time to head out for one of the most significant roads I hadn't yet completed in the western Sierra Nevada. 

https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCjTQc

Breckenridge Road begins at CA 184 near Bakersfield and ends at Caliente-Bodfish Road near the original Kern County seat of Havilah.  The corridor crosses over an unnamed 6,847-foot-high pass just north of the 7,510-foot-high Breckenridge Mountain.  Approximately 30 miles of this highway are maintained Kern County Road 218 whereas the remaining 12 miles are maintained as Sequoia National Forest Route 83 (Forest Road 28S06). 

This was the washed-out section I spoke of above prior to repair:

https://www.facebook.com/bakersfieldtrailblazers/posts/pfbid02WrnYT7HRBYYgJvQWXjYHzBoQRZsbFVskk4tgc3SUZi29U5tNdXQkb8ithgrbM6YRl

And the fix completed just this year:

IMG_9976 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

The eastern part of Breckenridge Road in the Kern River Fault extension was part of a fire break used in the Borel Fire last summer.  This fire took out much of Havilah a couple months after the Bakersfield Road Meet.  The fire took out this sign which used to be present on Caliente-Bodfish Road at the westbound start of Breckenridge Road:

IMG_3721 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

This is the far less inviting replacement:

IMG_0093 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Much of Breckenridge Road is shown present on an 1898 Kern County map.  A sawmill is shown to be the end of the line near Breckenridge Mountain (T28S, R31E). This map shows what is now Breckenridge Road continuing northeast of Mount Adelaide to the Democrat Mine in the Kern River Canyon:

https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~254153~5519089:Map-of-Kern-County%2C-California?sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No&qvq=q:kern%20county;sort:Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=15&trs=19

The extension of Breckenridge Road to Havilah appears to have been concurrent with construction of the first Breckenridge Lookout Tower in 1912.  The corridor appears as it does today beginning on the 1914 USGS map of Caliente.  The current lookout tower was built in 1942:

http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/breckenridge-lookout/

Some news article citations on the Breckenridge Lookout:

https://californialookouts.weebly.com/breckenridge-mountain.html

There was a lodge also located on Breckenridge Road constructed in 1930:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2440130099360854/permalink/4567220469985129/

The lodge closed in 1942 and was dismantled in 1944:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2440130099360854/permalink/24833928746221003/

[Max Rockatansky]

Put this to blog form a while back but scheduled to publish on Labor Day:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2025/09/breckenridge-road.html?m=1

The summary:

"Breckenridge Road is rural highway located mostly in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Kern County.  The Breckenridge Road corridor begins at California State Route 184 near Bakersfield and extends 42 miles east to Caliente-Bodfish Road near the original Kern County seat of Havilah.  This highway is named after the 7,510-foot-high Breckenridge Mountain and strays a couple north of it via an unnamed pass. 
The entirety of Breckenridge Road is paved despite it being located in remote terrain.  30 miles of the highway are maintained as Kern County Road 218 whereas the remaining 12 miles are part of Sequoia National Forest Route 83 (Forest Road 28S06).  The eastern 8.7 miles descends along a sustained 7% grade to Caliente-Bodfish Road.
Much of what is now Breckenridge Road was part of a stage route from Bakersfield to the Kern River Valley via the Democrat Mine.  The highway was extended east of Parker Creek to Havilah in 1912 when the first Breckenridge Mountain Lookout Tower was constructed.  In 1930 the Breckenridge Lodge would open which was followed by construction of the second lookout in 1938.  The lodge was short lived as it closed in 1942 and was later demolished in 1944.  The current Breckenridge Mountain Lookout Tower was built in 1942.
Breckenridge Road in recent years has been subject to numerous disasters which has made it difficult to maintain.  A small but narrow portion of the Kern County owned section slid out in 2023 and has only recently been repaired.  The eastern half was damaged by the Borel Fire during the summer of 2024 which destroyed much of Havilah."