Yesterday my friend Emyly and I decided to take a hike down to The Bridge to Nowhere. It is located over the San Gabriel River. We were ecstatic as it is supposed to be a challenging hike with numerous river crossings. I expected to get wet and tired, but I didn't mind. I was ready for the adventure. We left around 830am and started driving to Azusa... We got to the trailhead at around 10:30 but didn't beging our hike until 11:00. It looked amazingly beautiful....
So we start our hike down the trailhead...
About 3/4 of a mile in we realize the waters were awfully high and the current was quite rough. There was this wall of rock with rope tied around it to climb yourself through on the right.... It was pretty hard, but we did it, and made it to the other side. Feeling proud of ourselves we continued up until we reached a small water fall. We went and admired it and took a couple pictures... It was small, but cute.
We then continued or trek. We stopped at the first true river crossing.
I quickly got in the water while holding on to a rope that was there. Within seconds I was submerged in water. I'm short, so the water reached me almost up to my chest. The current was very strong... and the water was icy cold now! So needless to say, I jumped out of the water after realizing we needed to find another way across. So a couple feet away we saw a couple crossing the river on top of a log while holding on to a smaller rope. It looked so dangerous. Well, a couple seconds later the man fell in the water and was struggling to fight the current. He however, was able to hold on to a rock and pull himself out. Then followed his partner. She was doing pretty good, but eventually fell into the water herself. She wasn't so lucky. She went under water for a couple minutes and eventually came up, but the current was out of control. My friend and I lowered the rope we had for her and she clinged to eat for dear life. Two other guys quickly jumped in the water to pull her out. It was so scary to watch. As she's getting out of the water she realizes that her shorts are gone. Emyly gave her hers. Needless to say, they turned around and left. While Emyly and I contemplated ways of getting across we ended up having to go back because as much as we wanted to do this we knew we would be risking getting seriously hurt if we went ahead. So after a good 1/2 hour we turned around. I admit, I did feel bummed, but better safe than sorry. So up we went through that cable on the wall. . . this is where we ran into a couple of guys. One of them said "Hi" in the sweetest voice. I remember thinking "he's happy" but I also remember wanting to tell him that the waters were just too rough to try to cross... but I didn't. I didn't tell him. So after the greet he and his friend went on their way as did we. We got across the wall and back to safer grounds and we begin chatting with some people when suddenly I hear someone say "Is that guy ok?, is that just a backpack" I remember looking and realizing it was the guy we just saw. I said "that's not a backpack that's a person... that's a person!" Everyone jumped in and tried to get him, but he was in too deep. He was head up, but looked unconscious. Emyly and I ran for help, but nothing could be done. He was gone. I told her that we should go and try to get a cell signal, but as we're up on the road we see helicopters and rescue teams coming...We hoped they were able to get him, but the river is quite long and at the speed it was going who knows were he ended up at. As of this moment, they haven't found him. He's been missing for 24 hours already. It's such a tragedy. I've searched online and all I find is info that he's 21 yrs. old. I believe his name was Joe Le. May God bless his family and friends. I can't imagine not knowing where my loved one is at. That would be horrible.
Lesson learned: Mother nature is no joke. Better safe than sorry. And always tell people where you're going. Always.
