Day Trip Training Hike: Bridge to Nowhere, ~10 miles

This is another one of my favorite LA-area hikes. It is an approximately 10 mile round trip hike following the San Gabriel River to a beautiful 1930s bridge in the middle of the Angeles National Forest (or “Nowhere” I guess).  I think at one point there was supposed to be a road that was planned to go through the area but it never panned out.

The fun thing about this hike, besides coming upon this structure deep in the wilderness is that it requires several river/creek crossings, which is why I chose to use this for training. The recent rains, combined with the snow melt, make for much higher crossings than I have ever done on this hike. I wanted to practice my water crossing skills and test out using my camp shoes (Crocs swiftwater waves) as water crossing shoes. I also got new, breathable hiking shoes for cheap at the REI garage sale that I wanted to test out on a hike, and also use on a couple water crossings to see how fast they dry out.

Now, I'm not sure how many water crossings there are actually supposed to be on this hike because there are so many false trails. People tend to make their own way down the river and it sees a lot of use from both campers and “river people” (semi permanent residents who pan for gold). As a result there seem to be well trod trails on both sides of the river, and I have definitely led people on unnecessary water crossings before, thinking I see the trail on the other side.

I was a little nervous driving to the trailhead this morning. The stress of planning for the big trip, taking care of administrative “life stuff,” and not having time to train in the past couple weeks have taken their toll. As an added measure, and with time dwindling down, California is seeing a rare superbloom of wildflowers. I am going to have to miss quite a bit of it in order to get everything done.

As I was driving, I was also kind of unsure what the water crossings along the trail would be like and if iIwould have trouble with them. That is why I had a moment of panic when I turned onto East Fork Road and saw a large body of water where I normally see a swath of stones.  I never realized that that section was part of the reservoir system because I would only see, at most, little bits of river flowing through that section.

This was a surprise. Notice the trees are under water.

Not realizing it was part of the reservoir, I thought the river was just incredibly swollen. I mean, there were trees in the middle of it. I couldn't even imagine trying to cross something like that and almost turned my car around. I was also a little concerned when I pulled into the parking lot at the trailhead and only saw a few cars. Luckily, I saw a couple who were just starting the hike. If the water crossings were bad they would be turning around before I would get to them. If they were tricky, we could probably figure them out together.

I heard the first water crossing before I got to it. The squeals could only mean it was either cold or difficult. When I made it there, the couple I had seen earlier were helping each other cross. There were two young women who had just crossed before them. Usually, this is a crossing that you could rock hop across. Today you couldn't even see the rocks.  I put on my camp shoes and crossed facing into the current. The water came up to my mid thigh. The current was pretty strong, especially in the deepest part, but it was definitely manageable.

The first water crossing. No rock hopping today.

The aftermath of the first water crossing.

The trail wound around the left side of the river for a bit until I reached some ruin structures, and it became clear that I needed to cross back over to the right side. I saw the four people who were ahead of me further upstream where the two women had found a spot to cross that was only calf deep. Thanks, ladies!

After that, there was a large stretch where everyone was confused if the trail kept going straight on the right bank or if it crossed over again. I'm glad I'm not the only one who has this issue! Eventually I made my way to the head of the pack. I stuck to the right bank until I hit a sheer rock wall, which indicated to me that we all needed to cross again. The two women were close behind me, but we had lost the couple at some point.

I made it across the water and started following what I thought was the trail. It led me to a washed out rock fall. Thinking it was part of the recent rains, I tried to scoot around it, but it started to feel too loose and dangerous. The women and I decided to cross back to the right bank, work our way down a little and cross back.

After we crossed back to the left bank we tried to pick up the trail again. There were several paths that looked like trail, but the yucca plants were overgrown and pretty painful to pass. The two women weren't appreciating the yucca acupuncture treatments and decided to head back. I knew that if I kept following the river I would be able to get where I needed to go, so I pressed on.

Then I saw the couple from earlier walking comfortable on a ridge above the opposite bank. It was an optical illusion from my angle. It looked like they were walking on a sheer cliff but there must have been a trail. The woman saw me staring and gave me a wave. I yelled back asking if that was a good trail. I'm not sure if they heard me because they just stopped and stared at me. Again, I yelled out the good trail question and gave a thumbs up. I got a thumbs up back from the man. Clearly they were on the correct trail. Damn. I did it again.

Eventually I made my way back to the right bank, where the correct trail was, but it was right before a double water crossing. At this point, I had removed and replaced my socks at an absurd number of water crossings already, so I decided to test out the quick-dry nature of my new hiking shoes and plodded on through.

I met up with the couple again and declared that I would stick close to them since they seemed to be doing a good job of finding the trail.  Of course after I said that they walked past a rock arrow indicating the trail that went up the ridge. From my previous hikes on this trail I knew this was the home stretch. I went up first and gained some distance on them.

The rock arrow.  Sometimes I can find trail markers.

Eventually the bridge appeared. Always a cool experience. Seeing that i started pretty late in the day, it was almost noon, and this was a popular destination, I thought I would see people there. To my surprise, I had it all to myself. I walked across it, took some pictures and soaked it all in. Then, as the couple arrived, I started making my way back.

Bridge to Nowhere selfie moment.

They way back was much more enjoyable. I was able to enjoy the beauty of the area and even stop to take some wildflower pictures. I saw a lot of people heading towards the bridge on my way back. I was able to warn them about my mistakes on the way in. It turns out that I went wrong in that one section by actually treating the crossing as a crossing.  In reality, it was more like you were scooting around the sheer rock wall. I never even really was supposed to have traveled on the opposite bank. It was a cross and then an immediate cross back type of situation. Truthfully, with the exception of the first set of water crossings on the trail, each set is a cross followed closely by a cross back in order to avoid a sheer rock wall. So, with the exception of a section near the start of the trail that goes along the opposite bank, you should be spending almost all your time on the right side of the river heading towards the bridge, and subsequently the left side heading back.

The trip back was truly enjoyable considering I no longer had to worry about finding the trail. The weather was sunny and beautiful, and I also got to see quite a bit of wildlife. In addition to the lizards scurrying around everywhere, there were plenty of wildflowers, butterflies, and even a beautiful gopher snake. What I enjoyed most of all was that I was able to finish a 10 mile hike without being tired or sore. At all. I know things will be different when carrying a pack, but it was definitely encouraging!

Wildflowers.

More wildflowers.

Wildflowers and butterflies.

A gorgeous (and harmless) gopher snake.