In the mid 1800's a Robin Hood bandit named Tiburcio Vasquez and his gang used the caves and rocks in the formation now named after him, as a hideaway from sheriff's posses and vigilantes who were always on his trail. The desperadoes would rustle cattle, rob stagecoaches, steal cattle and the like, then lose the posses in the intricate maze. The rocks served him well. Eventually, rather than being discovered in hiding, his weakness for women would do him in. Vasquez had an affair with the wife of one of his lieutenants. The angry husband had shot Vasquez and fled the area to inform the sheriff of the hideout. Returning with two posses there was a shootout at the tallest rock. Searching the captured and killed, it was discovered that Vasquez was not among them. But the wounded Vasquez without his hideout couldn't escape for long. He was found in a shack in Cahenga Pass, taken to San Jose where in March of 1875 he stood trial and was hanged.