The ancient native trail now known as Old Tejon Pass was discovered in 1772 by Spanish explorer Pedro Fages, and used in 1776 by padre Francisco Garces, traveling east of the Anza Colonizing Expedition's main route. It is to the northeast of the present day Tejon Pass, in the Tehachapi Mountains, at the top of the divide between Tejon Creek Canyon in the San Joaquin Valley and Cottonwood Creek Canyon in the Antelope Valley of the western Mojave Desert.