Tracking Down MORE Lost Falls - East Fork This Time

TRs for the San Gabriel Mountains.
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CrazyHermit
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Post by CrazyHermit »

There are hundreds of lost secrets in this mountain range. My next adventure began when I found an old photo from 1909 in the Los Angeles Herald. It was in the Fishing Section (fishing was big in that day in the East Fork) They use to stock the stream and there were some pretty big trout in it. The paper gave the name of the falls, which would give its location away, and since some taggers have already found it I won't mention that publicly. But if you want to know, just shoot me a private message. It is ridiculously easy to get to.

Williams-Falls3.jpg

The caption under the photo read "Scaling the cliffs at ????? Falls, East Fork, San Gabriel River. Again I don't want to mention the name because it will give the location away. I had to look closely for who was actually scaling the cliff, but I circled four guys in the second half of the photo. There may be a fifth guy next to the boulder in the lower left.

And here's what it looks like today.

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Unfortunately the scumbags have found it, and tagged it up. If you've ever been to Bridge to Nowhere you've driven right past this.

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Clue Number 1. ^^^

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Clue Number 2. ^^^

Those two clues are a lot more than I had, and it took some time but I found it eventually.

You can get above these falls by climbing up the left side. Things have gotten easier over the last 111 years. At the top there's a noticeable wall built into the rock. Originally it had a miner's flume hooked up to it.

BONUS FALLS - SAME CANYON

After getting past the first I wanted to see if there were any more, and sure enough there was a double dipper further back.

Here's the first tier. It looks like this is a spring fed canyon, so this probably flows year round.

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You can get above this one by climbing up the right side. Somebody has left a flimsy rope up there.

Here's what it looks like between the upper and lower falls.

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And here's what it looks like above both tiers. You gotta be careful when you walk across the moss.

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After this I went further up the canyon but I didn't find anything beyond that point. So far I've found six spectacular and virtually unknown falls in the East Fork.
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Taco
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Post by Taco »

I do believe it flows year round. I check it out often on my bike rides up there and it has always had at least a trickle of water. Been meaning to go down the whole thing from the top (canyoneering), as it looks pretty. AW, you’ve done this one before, I reckon? If anyone is interested in going, I would be willing to go in two weeks time.
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CrazyHermit
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Post by CrazyHermit »

If you're planning on going from the top down you'll run into some pretty thick blackberry jungles above those two falls. It's doable, but it will be slow sailing.
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AW~
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Post by AW~ »

Yes...the only part with anything is in between the 2 falls...although it could be done if one had to, by traveling the ridge of the east fork from the road.
Anyways its a good training area for canyoners....at one point it was closed due to impact, but the owner agreed to open it up with one parking space('someone' put a giant boulder in it I think the last time I saw it lol). The downstream part is private property so the way is to go is up the hill and then down to the creek. Pretty much its been forsaken so the owner can defend the property downstream. People go downstream and cause trouble with the guests...pretty much out of control during the summer.
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Taco
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Post by Taco »

I’ve been torn up by blackberries before. I’ll bring a machete, but I’ll still get bloody. Cascade Canyon was the worst I’ve ever experienced with them.

Thanks AW
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CrazyHermit
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Post by CrazyHermit »

Just put up a video of five East Fork waterfalls. Enjoy.

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Sean
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Post by Sean »

That's awesome, thanks for sharing. The mice in the mine are super cute.
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Gene
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Post by Gene »

Another winner, thank you for sharing the video.
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walker
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Post by walker »

Love the music and the smiling hillbilly inserts! Ghosts of the canyon smiling at the situations we put ourselves into?

Very artfully done, I really love how you include all the little details that catch the eye, salamanders crawling, fish swimming, textures of the rock, mysterious approaches through the bushes - makes you feel like you're along for the whole journey.
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CrazyHermit
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Post by CrazyHermit »

Thanks much. I'm trying to teach myself how to edit these videos but it's a slow going at my age.
Those smiling hillbilly inserts are from the movie Deliverance. If you've never seen it, it's really old but a classic. I think it won an Academy Award.
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