SAN DIEGO — Bumping along Proctor Valley Road in Chula Vista in pursuit of my recent hike, I started to have some reservations.
There I was — with my mom and her dog, Milo, in tow — driving toward what appeared to be nowhere. It was beautiful, as the early Thursday morning light tipped over the rolling hills. But much of the surrounding areas were marked with “no trespassing” signs, and we didn’t see any other possible hikers driving in or walking in the distance.
All to say, it was a little unnerving. One local ghost tour operator website says that the road even “looks like something straight out of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”
There are legends of ghost sightings and spooky happenings on the dirt road, like the woman who reportedly wanders it in the dark, crying out for her children. Then there are the stories of phantom headlights that drivers say they see traveling behind them. And of course, it has its own beast, the Proctor Valley Monster.
My mom and I didn’t experience any of this, but it was in the back of my mind as we hopped out of the car, finally at the trail after three miles of the dirt road.
Our 2.5-mile out-and-back hike turned out to be quite pleasant, but I would recommend driving in along Proctor Valley Road from the west, not the east, as we did. This route will be shorter and more direct to the trailhead and parking lot, which is located at the Proctor Valley Natural Resource Area. Search this in Google maps to get there.
The trail begins by heading southeast. It’s marked with a small informational sign, but there aren’t any trail markers otherwise, so this route was a little bit of trial and error. We soon began to head southwest toward the Upper Otay Reservoir.
We started exploring first on the northern edge of the reservoir, traveling along a damp trail that ultimately skirted the water, shaded by eucalyptus trees. We walked this way for a little over half a mile before reaching the end of a peninsula of sorts. This provided a great vantage point to admire the shining reservoir.
We walked along a few other short trails in this area before returning to the crisscrossing trail network just north of the reservoir. Here, we found a trail — including a wooden bridge, which is always a plus — that took us toward the western side of the reservoir. This section of trail was more exposed to the sun, and the reservoir itself was shrouded by the tall vegetation, but it was still a lovely walk.
We continued on this for about half a mile before turning back and retracing our steps to the car. In the parking lot, we met a crew of Chula Vista firefighters who had been clearing some of the nearby vegetation to prepare for fires — a good reminder that wildfire potential in San Diego County’s rugged parts is always there.