Cuddy Valley Road

[Max Rockatansky]

Cuddy Valley Road is an approximately 5.1-mile-long rural highway located in the Transverse Ranges of Kern County.  This corridor begins at the junction of Frazier Mountain Park Road and Lockwood Valley Road in the small community of Lake of the Woods.  Cuddy Valley Road passes through the namesake Cuddy Valley where it has a western terminus at the junction of Mount Pinos Highway and Mil Potrero Highway.  Cuddy Valley Road is presently maintained as Kern County Mountain Road 364.  Cuddy Valley Road essentially is a modernization of El Camino Viejo which had been in common use as early as 1780.

El Camino Viejo was the first European route from Los Angeles to San Joaquin Valley.  From Los Angeles the highway continued northward into San Fernando Valley and to Mission San Fernando Rey de Espana.  From San Fernando Valley the highway ascended into the Sierra Pelona Mountains.  El Camino Viejo entered San Francisquito Canyon to San Francisquito Pass where it emptied into Antelope Valley in the western flank of the Mojave Desert near Elizabeth Lake.

Upon entering Antelope Valley, the route of El Camino Viejo turned west along the San Andreas Fault to what is modern day Gorman where it intersected part of what would become the Ridge Route.  Unlike the Ridge Route (the original alignment of US Route 99) which turned north into Tejon Pass to reach San Joaquin Valley via Grapevine Canyon the course of El Camino Viejo continued west into Cuddy Valley.  El Camino Viejo passed through Cuddy Valley along the northern flank of Frazier Mountain and Mount Pinos into San Emigdio Mountains. 

https://www.gribblenation.org/2026/05/cuddy-valley-road.html?m=1

[pderocco]

Google Maps labels Cuddy Valley Road all the way up to the parking lot. OSM calls it Cuddy Valley Road up to Burbank Rd, and then Mount Pinos Road after that. All I see in GSV is that Mil Potrero Hwy ends at a stop sign at Cuddy Valley Rd, so that suggests that the latter does continue up the hill. Is there some other map, or road sign I missed, that calls any part of that road Mount Pinos Road or Highway?

[Max Rockatansky]

The signage is non-existent marking the transition point between Cuddy Valley Road and Mount Pinos Highway.  The USGS website has the designation change at Mil Potrero Highway which matches what I saw on my own GPS during my drive.