Exploring the Bridge to Nowhere

the San Gabriel Mountains home to endless forest snowy peaks sparkling streams and yes of course a number of oddities hi I'm drew and that's Bethany today we're in the middle of the San Gabriel Mountains in search of a majestic arched bridge but this is not a bridge that you or I have ever driven across although at one time that was the plan nowadays it literally connects nothing with nothing come with us as we uncover the unusual story behind the bridge to nowhere right here on tada piata [Music] not people just standing on the street oh that's really maybe I'll go around to find the bridge to nowhere you have to start somewhere and that somewhere is a visa California from either the pen or the tree 10 take a Vista Avenue route 39 north into the mountains about 12 miles in you'll see a small bridge on the right across the river who is that bridge to nowhere no turn right and pasta bridge and you'll be on East Fork Road take that about another five miles to come to a sharp hairpin curve at that place for an left on to Camp Sunita Road and soon you'll see another bridge that crosses the river is that the bridge to nowhere no cross stoppage and follow camp Bonita another half miles to the ends where you will find the bridge to nowhere no the trailhead to the bridge to nowhere all right so there would be some hiking above find a place to park a cloak ah whoo ready hope that doesn't happen while we're hiking ladies and gentlemen the trailhead to the bridge to nowhere entering the Sheep mountain wilderness requires a free permit you can pick up at the Los Angelos for a station off of Route 39 and you also need a parking pass which is only five dollars and that way you just hang it in your car and you're good to go so now we are free to park here and now they can't see me so once you park you're going to continue on foot pass this gate and down this gravel road toward the canyon and the bridge is what a couple miles up five miles five miles that's round trip so nope one way like I said one way there's a very difficult hike so make sure you leave early in the day bring plenty of food and water and some good hiking shoes [Music] along the hike the path tends to run along the east bank of the river but there are a few spots where we'll need to cross to the other side if all else fails we'll just keep following the river and eventually we'll get there all right we're about three and a half miles into our trek and I wanted to point out an unusual landmark if you look up there you'll see a ribbon of corks that kind of weaves itself through the surrounding Rock mm-hm in the shape of a swan and they call that the swan or Swan Rock depending on who you ask what if we saw a Ross it was like an eagle then we'd be on the wrong track Wow The Swan means you're still in the right Canyon so you'll see here that the path is starting to climb out of the candy which means we have about one mile left to go right and I hear it's the most difficult mile because it's all uphill and in the Sun can't wait sorry about water oh good [Music] she's coming right oh yeah I'm coming no leave me here hand up the hill all right fun is that it I sure hope so looks like we made it it's weird because I thought that we would be walking across I thought we'd be coming up from under it yeah the approach is a little unremarkable well guys after many many steps in I mean many water bottles we are here Oh [Music] haha there it is so now we're finally here can you please tell me why anyone would want to build a bridge way out here well fast in the 1920 la Connie's original plan was to build a two-lane highway which would directly connect the Russa in the south the right would in the north construction began in 1829 with most of the hard labor carried out by a workforce of LA County prisoners by 1936 highway construction had reached the very deep gorge known as the Narrows and a bridge was constructed to cross the gap construction on the highway continued until March 1st 1938 on a torrential storm and a massive flood obliterated most of the roadway leading to the bridge the road was never restored due to lack of financial investment further construction was abandoned leaving behind a fully constructed bridge leading nowhere here you can actually see some remains from the highways mix of all part of the roadbed yeah and that's kind of where it fell off during the flood I guess right antonin all went downhill all downhill from here over the last 80 years three other highway routes attempting to cross the San Gabriel Mountains have been either abandoned or partially shut down including the route we came in on today route 39 the bridge sits about 120 feet above the San Gabriel riverbed so when the flood happened on this whole channels is filled with rushing water but since it was so high up it survived to this day pretty cool in recent years the land the bridge sipped on with purchase by of spongy America and if you come out here on the weekend you may see some bungee jumpers along with a number of weary hikers enjoying the rivers many swimming holes these days the sheep mountain wilderness remains largely undisturbed by humans except for this one engineering marvel but is withstood the years the disasters and continues to stand as a monument to mankind's failed attempts to subdue Mother Nature the bridge to nowhere is the perfect example of a failed highway project that ended up finding new life we do hope you guys will come out and see this historical bridge for yourself but please keep in mind is the full day's adventure so bring lots of food plenty of water and be prepared to hike thanks for joining us here on out of the Odysseys we will see you again 0ne water left [Music] okay empty empty empty [Music]

Channel: Oddity Odysseys

Views: 197,776

Rating: 4.8079209 out of 5

Keywords: Bridge to Nowhere, san gabriel mountains, bridges, angeles national forest, urban exploration, california, history, east fork, san gabriel river, bungee america, abandoned, adam the woo, los angeles, hiking, 1936, swan rock, pharaoh, construction, oddities, unusual, camping, explore, secret, places, azusa, wrightwood, route 39, mountain highway, adventure, bungee jumping, drone shot, atlas obscura, jump, hike directions, directions, hiking guy, bungee rope, bungee jumper fail

Id: zA1Bykadfug

Length: 8min 4sec (484 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 08 2017