05/24/09 East Fork Zoo - Stupidity is Illegal

EnFuego · Post by **EnFuego** » Thu May 28, 2009 12:32 pm

This past Sunday, over Memorial Day weekend, a friend and I did a quick trip to the Narrows on the East Fork of the San Gabriel. We arrived at the trailhead at about 7:45am and parking was already a nightmare. We had to park about 400 yards down the road. The entire canyon heading up the road was loaded with parked cars. And the sherriff or rangers will make a million bucks that weekend on parking fines. I would say 4 out of 5 vehicles had a ticket on there windshield for not having a parking pass.

Anyway, there was nothing too exciting about the trip itself. But, I was amazed at the amount of people crammed into the flat (camping?) area at the Heaton Flat trailhead. It was wall to wall tents. I have a picture below.

And I saw a new sign. Actually, there are two, about 1/8 mile before the bridge, and one immediately before the bridge. This is a new sign, at least within the last couple months. I love the second sentence in the second paragraph, "IGNORANCE OR STUPIDITY WILL NOT PREVENT ANY PERSON FROM BEING ARRESTED". By the way, in the second sign picture, can you find the mispelled word (and they want to arrest the stupid

)

Oh, there was one other thing I saw that was pretty cool. Near the bridge, I came across a pretty large lizard that was jsut beginning to eat a scorpion. I was less than 5 feet away, watching him chow down - pretty cool.

East Fork Zoo:

New sign:

Richard N. · Post by **Richard N.** » Thu May 28, 2009 1:06 pm

What do you expect for a holiday weekend. 99% are not even cleaning up after themselves. The pigs!!!

friendowl · Post by **friendowl** » Thu May 28, 2009 1:58 pm

hell yeah it was packed......people were taking out most of the trash...
good times..east fork is a great place

mtnfox · Post by **mtnfox** » Thu May 28, 2009 3:13 pm

I guess they need a proofreader, eh? Those signs evidently were put up by Bungee America since that's their phone number. Regardless whether you agree with them using this bridge or their methods of doing it, I highly recommend bungee jumping - it's a rush like no other. And man, that's a lot of tents, even for a holiday weekend!

lilbitmo · Post by **lilbitmo** » Thu May 28, 2009 3:19 pm

What's the point of camping, it's not wilderness when you are that close to civilazation and that many people - how the hell do you get any sleep, most of those folks were up all night partying if I had to guess.

It looks more like the "Homeless Tent City's" you see in third world countries, and the ones in Louisiana after the last Hurricane?

What happened to the picture of the Lizard eating the scorpion?

EnFuego · Post by **EnFuego** » Thu May 28, 2009 4:19 pm

mtnfox wrote:Regardless whether you agree with them using this bridge or their methods of doing it, I highly recommend bungee jumping - it's a rush like no other. And man, that's a lot of tents, even for a holiday weekend!

I don't mind them using the bridge, not all, especially since they give us access to cross over it. I have not bungee jumped with these folks, but yes, it's a rush.

lilbitmo wrote:What happened to the picture of the Lizard eating the scorpion?

Here's a picture I took towards the end of his meal. You can't see it (I don't think) but when I took this picture, there was a little scorpion tale sticking out of the mouth.

Here I was trying to get a close up of the tail sticking out of the lizard's mouth without scaring him away, but my camera angle was off

AW~ · Post by **AW~** » Thu May 28, 2009 5:19 pm

I am thinking most of those tents are day use and just a place to hang out....I would be surprised if those new signs last the year...they had a sign before and all thats left now is the corroded stand.

Trash: The only reason its not a complete garbage heap is because of the forest service and volunteers..period. Last year, while waiting for my ride back I got a look at the steep slopes downhill from the parking lot...all trash ridden and tough to get to without handlines and such...this is not visible to the casual visitor who takes to the trail right away.

Hwy39 may look clear of trash, but get out of the car and get down over the side and it can be downright dangerous in terms of broken glass,trash,etc.

Mike P · Post by **Mike P** » Thu May 28, 2009 7:43 pm

Ah... yes, a California Whiptail. Very nice! Normally, you can't get that close to them. It must have been busy with supper.

Richard N. · Post by **Richard N.** » Thu May 28, 2009 9:23 pm

You are correct, all the trash is over the sides.

Check this out and get involved to help keep the canyon clean.
Maybe the low life will get a clue.
Then again, I wouldn't count on it.
Last year we hauled out over 4 tons of trash.

OPERATION SUPER CANYON SWEEP-2009

SATURDAY, JUNE 13th, 2009
8 A.M. TO 3 P.M.

SAN GABRIEL, OHV AREA, SAN GABRIEL CANYON ROAD,
HWY 39, JUST NORTH OF THE EAST FORK BRIDGE AND
NORTH OF AZUSA

WE WILL BE CLEANING UP THE SAN GABRIEL CANYON.
WEST FORK, NORTH FORK & EAST FORK

PLEASE PLAN ON JOINING US WE NEED LOTS OF VOLUNTEERS.

WE NEED YOU JUNE 13TH!

PLP IS A 501 [C] (3) NON-PROFIT CORPORATION, ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE!
ID # 95-4690961 & 2028091

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TO VOLUNTEER AND FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CALL:

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3700 Santa Carlotta St., La Crescenta, Ca. 91214
TERRY KAISER AT 818-262-0315 HDConcerns@ca.rr.com
BBB #13191248

Post by **Taco** » Thu May 28, 2009 10:41 pm

I took a walk down EF the other day and took photos of a few open BBQ's... I don't mind anyone camping down there, to each his own, but the amount of garbage is amazing.

mtnfox · Post by **mtnfox** » Thu May 28, 2009 11:00 pm

EnFuego wrote: I don't mind them using the bridge, not all, especially since they give us access to cross over it. I have not bungee jumped with these folks, but yes, it's a rush.

I just know there's been some disagreement on the use of the bridge for bungee jumping - didn't want to start a discussion over right/wrong.

Excellent lizard photos!