hiking the east fork san gabriel river
I had expected this to be one of those highly frequented hikes due to the popular bungee jumping spot towards the end of the hike. But, as it turns out, more than half of the hike is on trails that are no longer maintained. There were a few rather precarious spots where rock slides had caused the narrow trail to disappear leaving very little path to step on alongside a straight, slippery slope of the mountain with small rocks and nothing to grab on and high above the ground. I would skip those parts next time for sure. I checked modern hiker's post again when I got back and he described those parts as unnecessarily dangerous and I totally agree. I would much rather walk along the river with the Super Mario like obstacle course with pointy, prickly Spanish Bayonets.
We skipped the mile or so that was after the bridge. Despite being an 8 mile hike, it takes a long time due to all the river crossing that needs to be done over tree bridges and very slippery stones. We found sturdy tree branches to use as sticks for support while crossing the river. And the predominantly rocky path makes it a much harder and painful 8 miles than usual. It really was a fun hike though due all those reasons and next time I would take more trail photos. Though, in all reality the trail is along the river and across it so these photos are a somewhat apt depiction.
