Bridge to Nowhere

This past weekend, I visited the famous Bridge to Nowhere, a hiking trail that holds a very iconic place in history, at least for the local area. Located in the San Gabriel Mountains near Azusa, this 10 mile hiking trail has attracted tourists from all over the country. What makes this journey interesting is at the end of this hike, there exists a seemingly random bridge in the middle of all this mountainous terrain. It literally leads nowhere. However, the bridge was built for a purpose. Built in 1936, the bridge was supposed to connect the town of Azusa to the roads leading to the San Gabriel Reservoir. As nearby roads and bridges have been destroyed by disaster and floods, this engineering marvel has somehow remained. Featured in films such as Death Race, Star Trek: Voyager, The Dark Knight Rises, and Machete, the bridge remains as a beloved tourist attraction for those wanting an adventure in the San Gabriel Mountains.

While it has been years since I last hiked here, there exists many fond memories of this hike from back in the old days the old boy scouts crew. It was the first 10 mile hike I ever did in my life and boy, was I proud to have accomplished that at a young age. But among all those positive memories also exist some mixed moments including my first time getting leg cramps, and almost dying. Mixed moments aside, I had the chance to revisit this hike with my crew of college buds this past weekend and make many more positive memories of this place.

There were a few major details I did not quite remember about this hike, one of them being how many rivers we have to cross and how deep each crossing was. My pants got soaked up to the upper thighs and there were times where the river current was strong enough to push me over. I heard that these rivers get even more difficult to cross following rainfall. But overall, it was an incredibly fun hike and much easier than what I remembered.

The bridge in all of its engineering marvel was as cool as I remembered it. Another fund activity that is offered here is the opportunity to bungee jump off. If the fee for this wasn’t $120, I might have gone for it. But not gonna lie, even though I enjoy skydiving, bungee jumping at times feels a bit too close to the ground for my enjoyment.

I mentioned how I almost died on this hike. On the way to the bridge we were able to avoid a very specific area with a very thin footpath. But on the way back, I encountered it. Pictured above is the infamous path. There was enough space for one foot to step after the other, but thin enough that I could not have my two feet side by side. If you fell off, you would eat plenty of shit as it is a long tumble down. The first time I crossed here, I felt my legs cramping in the middle of crossing and saw my life flash before my eyes. Fortunately I made it out alive, but that was a very scarring experience.

On the way back, we decided to take a detour on the suggestion of my friend Edgar. Turns out, there a hidden path to a waterfall, the Devil’s Gulch Waterfall, a fact that does not seem to be known by many hikers. This detour took longer than expected but the result was finding the grotto pictured below.

Overall, the hike that was expected to take 4-5 hours ended up being closer to the 7-8 hour mark. I guess the Devil’s Gulch detour was quite long, but it was worth it. It was a very pleasant experience revisiting a trail that held a special place in my childhood. I miss my boy scout days and feel down thinking about how my troop no longer exists. Even the chance to return and mentor younger scouts was taken from me. But at the very least, I am happy to revisit these places with the friends in my life right now.