Leaving the trailhead at Heaton Flat and heading up the valley cut by the East Fork of the San Gabriel River.
First destination of the day will be the Bridge to Nowhere. Sounds intriguing...
Beautiful trail along the river. There must be a lot of water flowing through here during a wet Spring.
Modern day gold panning with wetsuit and fancy equipment. Turns out this is a popular spot for panning for gold. The parking lot at the trailhead was full, and…
This guy looks more legit.
The first water crossing of the day. I don't think there's any way to do this trail without getting really wet. I read online that waterproof boots were highly…
The next water crossing. This water is moving pretty fast and many of the rocks you have to step on are submerged at least ankle deep. Good thing my SpeedCross…
One of many makeshift bridges.
Great river scenery for much of the way up the trail.
Sections of awesome single track.
And sections of really technical single track. You know it's good when the trail sign is an arrow pointing straight up.
More great single track.
Entering the Sheep Mountain Wilderness over the bridge built and helicoptered in by the San Gabriel Mountain Trail Builders (SGMTBs).
More great river scenery.
A forest of Yucca. My legs had several bloody pricks by the end of the day.
Hmm, stay at home and work today or this? Good choice.
Another view from the same spot.
I would learn later in the day that there are two trails up this valley. One is not well defined and basically just goes up the river bed, crossing back and…
Starting to leave the valley and enter the gorge called "The Narrows". The trail has been mostly flat up to this point, but is starting to get steeper.
Made it to the Bridge to Nowhere. It's definitely well named. It pretty much runs right into a cliff and stops. I'm not sure why it was originally built, but…