East and West Fork San Gabriel River

A tributary is a river that merges with a larger river.  A fork is when a river splits into to parts.  In this case, the San Gabriel River splits where the San Gabriel River section of the San Gabriel Fault Zone creates a large, east-west trending valley through the San Gabriel Mountains.  The East Fork of the San Gabriel River travels east along the canyon, and the West Fork to the west (convenient, right?).  The West Fork splits into the North Fork (Stop #1) before continuing on.

The Bridge to Nowhere

If you've been following along, you know about the floods that happened in the Southern California area in the 1930s.  East Fork Road was originally intended to go through the mountains to Wrightwood.  However, the heavy rains of 1938 washed out the road, and construction was abandoned.

How to get there:  Start by traveling east on East Fork Road for about 6 miles until you reach the trailhead parking lot.  This is a popular place, so it's usually pretty crowded.  It's a five-plus-mile hike (one way), with a 2113 ft elevation gain and six river crossings, so, depending on the time of year, you'll either get kinda wet or really wet.  The concrete arch bridge soars 120 feet above the canyon, making for a spectacular sight.  Beware of dogs and bungee-jumpers.

SoCalHiker has a good review of this hike:  https://socalhiker.net/hike-the-bridge-to-nowhere/