East Fork Road

East Fork Road, located in the San Gabriel Mountains above the city of Azusa, California, is a road that gives access off of State Route 39 into East Fork and other small townships. Along East Fork Road there are extensive fire fighting facilities which are staged to combat the many fires that break out among the foothills above Azusa, Glendora, and San Dimas every year.

The road begins by passing over the West Fork of the San Gabriel River, and follows the East Fork, crossing a number of small streams. The terminus is Heaton Flat, which has a campsite, a ranger station, and trails that lead upstream and to the summit of Iron Mountain, 6000' above.

Popular gold panning sites can be reached from the road. ["Gold Fever", David Walker. Photo District News. (Eastern ed.). New York: Oct 2007. Vol. 27, Iss. 10; pg. 16, 4 pgs] The road passes the site of "Eldoradoville", a mining town with three stores and six saloons that was established in 1859 and washed away in a flood on January 18 1862. [ [http://www.explorehistoricalif.com/feb2005.html "The Great Floods of the San Gabriel Mountains"] by Cecile Page Vargo, "Explore Historic California", February 2005]

East Fork Road was initially planned as an outlet from the Los Angeles Area to State Route 2, and includes a "Bridge to Nowhere" that was abandoned after a flood; a later plan included two never-used tunnels on the aborted Shoemaker Canyon Road. ["HIKING: SAN GABRIEL MOUNTAINS; Unfinished Road Makes Great Footpath;" JOHN McKINNEY. Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, Calif.: Oct 8, 2000. pg. 15. ]

In January 2005 a flood washed out two bridges which stranded 200 campers and residents for days. ["200 stranded residents to get food delivery" Marianne Love. Pasadena Star - News. Pasadena, Calif.: Jan 13, 2005]

References

External links

*San Diego Reader, [http://www.sdreader.com/php/roamshow.php?id=20060831 Shoemaker Canyon Road in the San Gabriel Mountains] (includes history and a map)