EISPIRATEN

Somebody abandoned the Heaton-Shoemaker Connector road many, many years ago. Quite overgrown, it can still be seen from the Heaton Flat Trail.



Approximately 400 feet south of the Heaton Flat Trailhead, a use path drops from the fire road down into the broad East Fork wash. This is where the old connector started, crossed the river, and climbed gently up the slope, before switchbacking a couple times to Shoemaker Road.



On the topo map, the connector appears unfinished. But aerial photos indicate that workers actually completed most or all of it.

Hoping to find a shortcut to the first switchback, I crossed the river at the East Fork Trailhead and attempted to ascend a minor gully.





The steep gully became more and more annoying with unstable holds. One could probably continue struggling upward, but I was searching for an easier way and thus turned back 100 feet from the connector.

Again at the river, on the west bank, I followed an old trail upstream to the next gully, which actually had a faint use trail leading up a steep but more moderate and stable slope. This route led fairly directly to the spur ridge separating the two gullies. Here was a nice vista point (marked on my map with a camera symbol), and an old telephone pole still stood among the brush.



A bit of bushwhacking took me to the connector's first switchback (2300'), located about 100 feet up the spur.



Brush now owns the road, but a use trail weaves around most of the thick stuff. I only ascended to the second switchback (2360') due to time. A little gully served as a shortcut descending from the second switchback to a point (2200') lower down on the road.





I then followed the road a bit more before losing it around 2100', probably from lack of attention, though the route does become more obscure closer to the streambed. Ultimately I pushed through another little gully and made it to the East Fork, where I washed my filthy face.

I did that trail/road/thing with an intense hangover once. Did it from the top down.

There's a weird trail looking thing up Shoemaker Cyn Rd from where this connector meets. Goes through brush. Visible from far away. Dunno if it burned in this last fire, though.

There's also a mystery trail or road on the north side of what I call Doe Peak (north of Doe Flat). I've seen it from a lot of angles, including below, but it doesn't look like it reaches into Bichota Cyn. No idea on that one.

Taco wrote: ↑There's also a mystery trail or road on the north side of what I call Doe Peak (north of Doe Flat). I've seen it from a lot of angles, including below, but it doesn't look like it reaches into Bichota Cyn. No idea on that one.

Are you talking about the trail depicted above Doe Flat in this map?



That trail is on the 1934 Camp Bonita topo and seems to connect Iron Fork with Graveyard Canyon on an extensive, contouring high route. I also noticed that trail while exploring the Doe Flat area, but I've never tried to follow it.

Nice 1 Sean... That Road and Bridge to Nowhere is always a dose of intriguing East Fork history...

Just cracked open John Robinson's The San Gabriels book for a quick refresher --- yup, surprise surprise, it was the flood of '38 that essentially stopped that road/project...

Took a very fun Google Earth look at that road and was reminded of the tunnels - one appears to be over 600 feet long, while the other was around 1,000 feet... looks like the road fell short of the Bridge to Nowhere by around 3 miles....

So they built the Bridge [to Nowhere] before the road was even close to that point ??

Robinson says the road was intended to zig zag up Blue Ridge and ultimately reach Big Pines...

Cool perspective shot of the road here, Sean...

outwhere wrote: ↑So they built the Bridge [to Nowhere] before the road was even close to that point ?

The original road went all the way to the bridge. Shortly after they finished the bridge a major flood wiped out most of the road, which was built too low in the canyon.

The tunnels on Shoemaker are from a separate attempt decades later to reach Wrightwood. Shoemaker was intended to be CA-39 and would have run higher up in the canyon to prevent another disaster. But they instead decided to use San Gabriel Canyon Road for the highway.

I'm such an idiot....

Thanks for clearing my head Sean...

I guess I always made the duh-sumption that the [later] road was the original/only road that ever got washed out...

So the original road that got washed out in the '38 flood was built on the bottom of the canyon right by the river ??????

All this time, my washed out-brain thought this 'higher' road was the ONLY road that was ever attempted and it was also abandoned because of the '38 flood.

And once I re-read your [very clear] TR, the light finally turned on A funky little road it is, isn't it. Cool find!

Pulled this off Google Earth - is this the spot?



Well, at least my ignorance did me some good.... now I'm curious to learn more about this 'river route', particularly how much was documented. Anyone seen much detail about these roads?

Interesting stuff, but waay too much brush.

HJ

outwhere wrote: ↑So the original road that got washed out in the '38 flood was built on the bottom of the canyon right by the river?

The original road was sometimes 50 feet or less above the stream. In the 1934 Camp Bonita topo it's depicted up to right before Rattlesnake Canyon. The map is a little hard to read, so I've color-coded the road with yellow dashes and the river with a blue line.



Your aerial map is correct in showing the location of the Heaton-Shoemaker connector.

Sean, I think you're right. I might have to go check it out.

I returned for a second helping of the connector road, this time starting from Shoemaker and working my way down to Heaton, then back up again. I figured out where I lost the road the first time (at a large washout), and I found the use trail that most directly takes you from Heaton to the road. It starts immediately across from the Heaton Flat TH.



At a steady clip, I was able to make it from Heaton to Shoemaker in 25 minutes, including the river crossing.

Also of note, the last 50 yards or so of the road were left unfinished. This stretch is covered by a decent use trail.



Afterward I hiked the entire length of Shoemaker, until the trail starts petering out around the East Ridge route to Rattlesnake. Here are some pictures of the tunnels for Outwhere.

First tunnel built in 1961. Approximately 1/4 mile in length.








Second tunnel built in 1964. Approximately 1/10 mile in length.

nice work...its like if only there were some orange tape to help a hiker navigate that place, but that might only result in trash being put there.

Sean wrote: ↑

outwhere wrote: ↑So the original road that got washed out in the '38 flood was built on the bottom of the canyon right by the river?

The original road was sometimes 50 feet or less above the stream. In the 1934 Camp Bonita topo it's depicted up to right before Rattlesnake Canyon. The map is a little hard to read, so I've color-coded the road with yellow dashes and the river with a blue line.

Very cool update Sean... thanks for this map too... it sparked my memory of the chunks of road on the east side of the river. Rivers, especially rivers in the mountains, sure add an interesting/beautiful dimension... they're so nice, i don't even mind the wet feet

Was hoping to find more info about this east fork road - and whamo, there ya go, happily stummbled into this...

Enter Shoemaker Canyon Road.

Summit Post by Travis

http://www.summitpost.org/rattlesnake-p ... ory/275276

Travis included/credits this Switchfoot link for some cool Shoemaker history !!
By Switchfoot - March 03, 2007

http://everything2.com/?node_id=1868467

There are many ridiculous things from the Cold War, backyard bomb shelters, duck and cover drills that would "protect" schoolchildren from a nuclear bomb attack, and then there are those that could have only been conceived from paranoia and government pork.


In the paranoia of the 1950s with the "looming threat" of a possible nuclear attack by the Soviet Union or its allies, concerns were raised to the lack of escape routes from Los Angeles. As a result, potential escape corridors were evaluated, one of those that was approved was a road in the San Gabriel Mountains that went through the East Fork of the San Gabriel River. The road would wind through the East Fork and connect with the Angeles Crest Highway near the small mountain community of Wrightwood, just 15 miles away from Interstate 15 and the Mojave Desert.

The idea of a road through the East Fork was not original, an earlier attempt had been made to make the community of Wrightwood more accessible to the people of the Los Angeles Basin in the 1930s. At the time, the San Gabriel Mountains were full of campers, hikers, fishers enjoying themselves and dozens of camps welcomed visitors who wanted to spend a rustic weekend. Today, much of the same is true, driving down the East Fork on a Friday afternoon one encounters people fishing on the side of the road or near their car sitting on the side of the road enjoying the lush canyon scenery, but there's still no road that grants direct access to Wrightwood through the East Fork for good reason—it's too difficult.

The East Fork contains some of the most rugged terrain in Southern California—hikes such as those to Iron Mountain and Rattlesnake Peak routinely rank among some of the most strenuous and difficult hikes in the San Gabriels—the river itself is also subject to violent flash flooding during storms. Unsurprisingly, the initial attempt to carve a road in the 1930s (which largely kept close to the riverbed) was obliterated in a large storm and the project abandoned, due to concerns about the stability of the area. Today all that is left is some crumbling evidence of the road bed and a beautiful 1930s-era concrete arch bridge that crosses the East Fork at the Narrows—the deepest gorge in Southern California—almost 5 miles away from the nearest road.

Despite the unforgiving terrain and past history, engineers decided to forge ahead using convict labor from the California Men's Institution in Chino, earning the road the nickname, "Convict Road". To avoid the potential washouts that consumed the earlier road, the new road was constructed high above the East Fork itself. The road starts at the lower end of the canyon at an elevation of approximately 1700" and was intended to join with the Angeles Crest Highway at Vincent Gap with an elevation of 6629". The terrain is so bad that in the 15 years of construction, from 1954 to 1969, workers only managed to complete 4.5 miles of work to an elevation of 2700".

By 1969, the lack of progress, budget constraints, and growing ecological concerns regarding the project lead to its demise and work was halted. Despite the abandonment of a road through the East Fork, it appears that the project had become absorbed into the vast California highway system as part of Highway 39. When Shoemaker Canyon Road was abandoned, the connection with Angeles Crest Highway was rerouted to Islip Saddle, more than 8 miles away from the original junction at Vincent Gap. The road opened in 1961, but the 6.2 mile section from Crystal Lake (a small camping area and lake) to Angeles Crest Highway has been closed since 1978 due to unremitting landslides. CalTrans seems to have an interest in restoring the section, but has been thwarted due to lack of funds.

Today, not much has changed. There is still no effective eastern access to the back ranges of the San Gabriels and Shoemaker Canyon Road remains little more than an odd historical footnote in the San Gabriels. It has become a popular day hike for people interested in local history or the simple curiosity of exploring a "Road to Nowhere".
Getting There

If you feel compelled to visit this odd, unfinished, and ill-advised piece of civil engineering…

Proceed north on Azusa Avenue (Highway 39) from the Interstate 210 or Interstate 10 exits
Continue on Azusa Avenue/San Gabriel Canyon Road for approximately 12 miles until one reaches the junction with East Fork Road.
Cross the bridge and proceed for about 3.3 miles until the junction with Shoemaker Canyon Road (there may be a small brown sign that says "Shoemaker Road").
Drive the 2 miles that are paved up to the locked gate and park in the dirt area around the gate.

What's Left?

Aside from the two miles of paved, drivable road? Past the locked gate is an additional 2.5 miles of graded roadway and even two tunnels that were constructed: the first is about 1,000" long, constructed in 1961; the second is shorter at about 700" constructed in 1964. Upon emerging from the the last tunnel the roadbed suddenly stops. A footpath continues for a short distance afterwards, but all reports seem to indicate that the poorly maintained trail is hardly worth the bushwhacking necessary to navigate it.
Works Referenced

"Convict Road, The". wejc.com. 27 November 2006. .

Faigin, Daniel P. "State Route 39". cahighways.org. 2006. .

"Shoemaker Canyon Road, East Fork of the San Gabriel River" LocalHikes.com 26 November 2005. .

Simpson, Daniel E. "Shoemaker Canyon Road" Dan's Hiking Pages. 13 March 2005. .

While I was hiking Shoemaker, a couple actually asked me where the road went, and I replied, "Nowhere!" Man, that made my day right there.