The Abandoned World; Explore California - The Bridge To Nowhere

Before we get going on the hike to the bridge, I'll fill you in on a little history to it, as I'm sure like me, you are asking "why was it built?"

Built in 1936 the bridge crosses the East Fork of the San Gabriel River and was originally meant to connect the valley with Wrighwood. But the Great Flood of 1938 meant that construction was abandoned and the bridge would forever sit in the middle of nowhere.

Located in the San Gabriel Mountains in Azusa CA, The Bridge To Nowhere is a popular location for hikers or all ages, and is approximately 10 miles long. There is a free parking lot at the trail head, and you are able to park on the side of the road (if not obstructing traffic).
Be aware there is NO SHADE after the first section on this hike, so a sun hat and lots of water is needed to do this hike in the warmer months (it's in CA so there really isn't a winter season here, well not as the rest of the World knows it)

There is a trail to follow; but maybe we weren't paying attention, maybe we are bad at following directions, whichever it is, we lost the trail in several places and found ourselves wondering back and forth across the river many times.

We didn't mind getting a little wet when the surrounding look like this:

Following the East Folk Trail to the bridge you will leave the forest area and now be out in the desert area, the longer section of the hike where there is no shade from the suns heat at all.

And the trail can get quite sketchy in sections:

We followed the trail to a paved section of road and the Mountain Goats!
They are used to seeing hikers here, and do not approach you, they just stare at you as you pass by:

Once we found the sign and knew we were close:

Now we could see the bridge! There is a group who do Bungee jumps off the bridge, but we had no inclination to do that! Ha Ha!

Instead we took the trail down the side of the bridge to explore underneath, relax in the pools and eat lunch.

The height of the bridge is 120ft:

and the views around it are so beautiful, you forget about the hike back out again.

We cooled off before hiking back out:

Then the mountain goats came to join us, so we left to allow them to drink from the river in peace, and start our journey back to the car.

Again we lost the trail in many sections and got wet feet from all the water crossings we did trying to find the trail once more.

The reason I have stressed how hot it can be on this hike is due to the fact when we left to start this hike it was cloudy and cool. I even remember leaving an extra water bottle in the car and picking up a jacket instead. Now hiking back in the suns heat, we quickly ran out of water and started dreaming of what we would drink when we got back on the road!
Our daydreams started with Jumba Juice but quickly digressed after another hour to possibly drinking from the river!

It was about this time we noticed the mountain goats above us again. We joked that they knew we had gotten lost and had come to lead us out. Our Spirit Animals!

There is a little convenient store on the drive back down the mountain road and we got 3 drinks each! So don't worry, you can restock on drinks on your way out.

Apart from being a little dehydrated by the end of our hike, we both said how we had enjoyed the days outing. And agreed being under the bridge, cooling off in the water really is awesome!

Thanks for reading! Till next time :-D

!steemitworldmap 34.2880694 lat -117.7263558 long ´Bridge To Nowhere, Azusa, California´ D3SCR