Abandoned Burma Road - Santa Anita Canyon

JakubRZ · Post by **JakubRZ** » Sun May 24, 2026 10:42 am

This weekend was a culmination of some advanced scouting and preparations. We set out for Spruce Grove camp on Friday night. The weather and hiking conditions were perfect. We snagged a good campsite, downed a hearty beef stew and turned it in early. The next morning we started back down the trail with the objective of a complete traverse of the abandoned Burma Road along the East side of Santa Anita Canyon. Some historical context - Burma Road was an ugly and controversial construction project that scarred the canyon in order to support the construction of 70 check dams in the Santa Anita canyon area. The construction started in the late 50s and ended in the 60s. Shoutout to Chris Kasten: https://canyoncartography.com/tag/burma-road/

This path is not for the faint of heart. The route is 1.6 miles, starts at 2800' and ends at 2100', but the bushwhack took us 3 hours. Granted we were not in a rush and took frequent breaks to enjoy the wilderness. After that we returned back up to Spruce Grove, had lunch, took a long nap and made it back to Chantry before sundown.

The road grade exists in many places, but progress is constantly interrupted by fallen trees/limps and rocks, large overgrowth, 5+ landslides covering the road completely or water erosion that wiped out the road in 4 notable instances. The most pronounced when crossing the SA North Fork. Here's the report with some more historical background at the end. I hope you enjoy.

01 Camp.jpg

Post by **dima** » Mon May 25, 2026 2:25 pm

Wow, that's cool! I had no idea that was over there. That road shows up clearly in the 3DEP lidar maps, and I just added it on openstreetmap: https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/1521932440

This is marked "abandoned", and won't show up on most renders of the map, to avoid confusion.

Were any of the landslide bypasses steep and sketchy? Did anybody have trouble? That photo isn't poodle-dog. Thanks for the historical context. Yall are ready for the PL&P trail!

JakubRZ · Post by **JakubRZ** » Mon May 25, 2026 3:34 pm

Thanks Dima. Note the roadbed continues past SA North Fork and terminates at the Gabrielino trail somewhere around here: 34.218379, -118.024173

The landslide bypasses are relatively short, but steep and loose. The biggest challenge was pushing through sections where the road grade is gone due to washouts and completely overgrown. This will give you an idea of what those looked like:

Nate U · Post by **Nate U** » Mon May 25, 2026 5:13 pm

I dig it! I need more Santa Anita in my life.

I might give you a holler the next time I'm planning something

JakubRZ · Post by **JakubRZ** » Mon May 25, 2026 9:52 pm

Sounds good Nate

David R · Post by **David R** » Tue May 26, 2026 8:18 am

I did the first part of this from Spruce Camp, there used to be a wildlife camera about 1/4 mile in. I turned around at the first drainage crossing as I was in the middle of another hike.

JakubRZ · Post by **JakubRZ** » Tue May 26, 2026 10:09 am

David R wrote: Tue May 26, 2026 8:18 am I did the first part of this from Spruce Camp, there used to be a wildlife camera about 1/4 mile in. I turned around at the first drainage crossing as I was in the middle of another hike.

David I did not see a wildlife camera or any fresh scat for that matter. We did observe and listen to a large predatory bird circling around North Fork. Either a hawk or falcon. Probably the coolest part of the trek.