Bridge to Nowhere

“Anyone else been there? It's a 6 mile hike up in the San Gabriel Mountains to an abandoned concrete bridge that spans a large and fairly deep gorge..Really, a fun day hike..I guess people bungee off of it quite a bit, but we didn't see anyone taking the plunge...About a 1/4 a mile from the bridge there is an entrance to the old road tunnel which was blasted into the side of the mountain..One end is collapsed and the entrance is about 3 feet tall, but once you get in its a huge cavern, about 150 long and 25 feet tall...it was really pretty cool...scattered around the tunnel were huge cresote timbers...made me think that it'd be fun to camp in there...”

“That sounds like a cool place!

I wish there were places like that around here!

I like caves and there are quit a few here in Indiana and Ky!

Go out and explore your world!!!

8)”

“I'd like to come down from Vincent Gap or from the Big Horn Mine.Need to shuttle a car this way.This would have to be done soon,because water my not last in this drought.this hike would be all down hill-what a change that would be.”

“Huh? Is Vincent Gap & the Bighorn Mine near to the bridge?”

“Vincent Gap is due north of the bridge about 7 miles(as the crow).the San Gabriel river starts it's course down the canyon at the Gap and a trail ruffly follows it.haven't done it yet ,but looks like a day or maybe spend a night some where above the bridge.cliff”

“WS, I know a place similar to that in MT. It is an old railroad tunnel though. Really cool.”

“Uncliff...Sounds sweet...sleep in the cavern if you can...

Newgirl...gotta love stuff like this...millions of dollars spent, for our pure enjoyment.......”

“LOL!”

“I've been out there - 12 stream crossings each way. The day we went out, there was a group bungee jumping off the bridge. Did you see the Swan Rock?”

“No, no Swan Rock for me...must of been given the budget tour...def. got my moneys worth with the stream crossings...Who says FDR's back to work programs were good for nothing...That is one well built structure..no doubt about that..weird”

“I've been there too. No matter what you expect to see, it is still a jaw-dropper. Definitely worth the hike. Lots of stream crossings for sure. Didn't see any bungee jumpers when I went, but saw there mess.

Swan rock is cool.

If I ever run across my photos, I'll scan them and put them up.

I've thought it would be a good one-night backpack to start from Highway 2 and hike south to the trailhead there. Not sure about the trail north of the bridge, though.

uncliff - where do you live?”

“For those who don't know where it is, the Bridge to Nowhere is on the East Fork of the San Gabriel River in the mountains just north of Los Angeles. In the 30's they were building a road through the mountains. After the bridge was constructed, severe rains washed away the road and made it impossible to continue the project. The interesting thing now is that it is hard to see where the road would have gone. I just looks like bridge in the middle of no where...really bizarre.

Snow Nymph will probably check in with details about climbing inside the tunnel. I never saw the opening.”

“I think Huell Howser did an episode about it on "California's Gold" a year or two ago.”

“I never saw the opening, but my friends found it last year. Its been awhile since I hiked it, probably before my son's teen years (over 12 years?). He liked that hike because of the water, so we hiked it a few times. Swan Rock is about 2 miles in, you have to look up to see it. I remember seeing guys panning for gold.”

“Yes, gold panning is popular there. Don't stop and talk to those guys. They think you are trying to find out where their secret spots are. Just walk by and ignore them. Also, I have heard of trailhead vandalism there in the past. Don't leave anything valuable in your car.

I believe Heull Howser did do an episode on that once and I caught part of it one time.”

“If you want to find the cavern, then head past the bridge on the small trail about and 1/8 to a 1/4 mile...The opening is small and you will have to crawl down about 15 feet to get in...Someone has spray painted IN with an arrow at the entrance, so it's kind of hard to miss...”

“Phil-I live in Silver Lakes on old hw66 between Barstow and Victorville.”

“uncliff - Thanks! I'm in Placentia where they had the big train wreck last week--about a mile or two from my house.”

“Phil, My brother lives in Placentia..right off of Van Buren in Mariposa Grove...right up from Orangethorpe..just left there yesterday”

“wsdavies - He was right by the train crash then...almost on top of it!!

I am about 1 or 1.5 miles NW of him.”

“wsdavies - Next time you are in the area, maybe we can say hi!”

“Yea...they said there were like 8 news helicopters circling non-stop for hours...Next time I'm heading down I'll post it on the board...”