“The Bridge to Nowhere” Hike Part 2 (The Halloween Series)

(GPS: N34 16.260 W117 44.815)

As you can see we continued to cross the river at different points:
We never did see the Swan Canyon part because I forgot to look, but along the walls you can notice different types of veins in the rock. There is a part somewhere along this hike where you can see something that looks like a Swan with the different type of rocks. Here is the best I can do to show the type of rock.
At this point is near where the gps cords are at this riverbed area. We are later in the year so the water is down quite a ways. If you look to the right you see the final ascent on a trail over the canyon.

We ran across a PACK of hikers along the way and I was glad to see some uphill at this point. I knew we would lose them in the uphill since we do that all the time. I’ll explain more about these hikers later. We were still pretty fast, but there were certain areas that we had to slow down because of their slow crossings. It was not that big a deal, but we like to go as fast as possible on these hikes.
This is looking back down the canyon from where we came:
Okay, we finally made it in about 2 hours which is pretty good time. Normally it is supposed to take somewhere from 3 ½ to 4 hours to get there, but I suspect the people that do that are trying to avoid getting wet and are not people that hike high elevations very much. The difference in this hike is it is just crossing the river about 10 times and walking on sand and rocks for about 5 miles. Here is what we came to see after we crossed it to the “Nowhere” side:
This is the Bridge to Nowhere. It was made in 1936. This whole drainage trail we hiked was supposed to be a road that was intended for another way out of Los Angeles into the Palmdale area. The problem was that in 1938 a massive rainstorm hit with 12 inches in less than a day. All the rain buildup led to a major flood in the canyon knocking at all the construction work and road in the canyon. However, the height of this bridge was just enough to avoid being destroyed.

This is still on the “Nowhere” side looking back. This bridge is really out of place here. It is not used for anything because the road was wiped out. Hikers do use the road and the trail does continue on, but to where I am not sure since I did not bother going more than few hundred feet further.
This is looking down.

“The Bridge to Nowhere” Hike Part 1 (The Halloween Series)

(GPS: N 34 14.210 W 117 45.920)

This is a hike I have wanted to do for a long time. It sounds spooky and some unusual things have happened here. This hike is great, but notorious for a few reasons which will come out in the next few entries. What better time of the year than to do this in October. Note: the gps cords above are just for the trail-head; the next two in each entry are further on into the hike until the end.

I wanted to do this hike early in the morning, but unfortunately my brother and I could not get an earlier start than 9:00 am. So, we headed up Azuza Canyon into the mountains on a winding road past two reservoirs. We then crossed the East Ford Road to the Sheep Mountain trail-head.

This side story is a little too complicated to go into here, but over the summer there was something that came out called “Lonelygirl15”. It is still going on about a girl who posts video’s of herself on youtube. It came out it was a fictional story, but one of the videos were filmed down below this picture in the pools.
The video they used of that area:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q_y0HdJ4x8

Interesting enough, a side story of Lonelygirl15 called “Cassieiswatching” also filmed a scene in her video near where we went. Items were left in sort of a geocache/dead drop scavenger hunt. A little more on the creepy side of things…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IcYUifgEfw

From what I could tell I could have found the items rather easily, but I don’t just drop everything and drive out to places to get things like that.

Funny thing is people around the world were really creeped out over all of this because of the “Cassie” videos and the names of the locations like Caves to Nowhere, Tunnel to Nowhere, and Bridge to Nowhere. However, for those who live in Southern California there is nothing to be scared about other than an abundance of rattlesnakes. These areas are not creepy in the way people were thinking since these are rather well traveled areas.

This is only within the first five minutes of the hike. You can see what used to be a bridge that crossed the river here. Notice the connector on the other side. This area marks the first river crossing one must do on this trail.
There are actually many river crossings one must do and as you do them you see many pools of water that look nice for swimming or wading.
Here is another example of the water. Sometimes you encounter water that is a lot faster and deeper. Although we tried to avoid the water it got to the point we did not care too much and would just wade through. I do not think it ever got higher than three feet at areas we crossed. At some points it was higher, but we avoided those.

As we went further back and forth across the river we found another old bridge that had been wiped out:
At some points we were able to avoid water for while. We just followed the canyon
But, in some areas we had to straddle the walls over the water like this.
More to come in my next entry of this interesting, but kind of spooky hike tomorrow.

The Whaley House Part 2 (The Halloween Series)

(GPS: N 32 45.150 W 117 11.670)

(Note: these pictures are from the last 1990's. Since that time a new organization has taken over and the insides of the house are much different. I enjoyed the Whaley House at the time I did this, but the changes and new policies I do not agree with and cannot with good conscience recommend spending your money on touring this house as it now is.)

I mentioned a few of the ghosts that supposedly haunt the place. I mentioned them all the last time, but the main ones are Mr. Thomas and Anne Whaley, "Yankee Jim", and the Washburn Girl are the alleged spirits that one encounters the most there. Of course, there are others people have claimed to see. All sorts of noises have been heard.

Okay, so now I went upstairs. There were a few rooms up there, but they have a glass window that blocks you from entering the rooms.
The one above just looks spooky because there is no head there. Lol! Wouldn't it be great if you were there and a spirit of a head just happened to attach itself!
An interesting period uniform.
There were lots of old painting in the house as well as China.
This last picture I always make sure people look at. What is that mysterious shadow on the left side. Looks like a ghost! Well, I guess. Really, since they have all those windows in place that is just a reflection of my brother. I thought I would be honest rather than say, "what is that?" and leave it blank here.

Edit: I noted the Washburn Girl as an alleged ghost in this house. While some girl may have told someone this story at the house, the alleged history of her running into a low clothesline in the backyard is untrue. This is the problem one encounters when real history is confused with ghost history someone hears about. Do these ghosts get their facts mixed up, or do they just like to tell fiction sometimes. ;)

Anyways, tomorrow will be my grand finale on Halloween with my special Halloween Hike I did. Stay tuned...

The Whaley House Part 1 (The Halloween Series)

(GPS: N 32 45.150 W 117 11.670)

(Note: these pictures are from the late 1990's. Since that time a new organization has taken over and the insides of the house are much different. I enjoyed the Whaley House at the time I did this, but the changes and new policies I do not agree with and cannot with good conscience recommend spending your money on touring this house as it now is.)

Another really fun, but spooky place to visit is the Whaley House. In the 1960’s the U.S. Department of Commerce gave the house “officially haunted” status. Some claim it may be the most haunted house in the U.S.

In 1852, a man named “Yankee Jim” Robinson was hung at the site for attempting to steal a boat. Unfortunately, it was not a quick and painless death as it is reported it took 45 minutes for him to be strangled to death. Stories have come out that he now haunts the house. His heavy boot steps have been heard, people feel the tightness of a rope around their neck between the parlor and the music room, as well as his ghost being seen.

In 1857, Thomas Whaley and family, moved to the property and the house was built. Unfortunately, the youngest child, Thomas Jr. died of scarlet fever at 17 months. Stories have come out of people hearing a child crying from his room upstairs where he died.
I had to tweak the above picture to brighten it since it was really dark. It is rare for me to shoot inside of a house and I can't remember if they had rules on flash photography or not. Anyways, the above is the Andrew Jackson sofa which, naturally, belonged to Andrew Jackson when he was alive. It is here that tv entertainer Regis Philbin "saw" Anna Whaley (husband of Thomas) sitting there at 2:30 am.
The above is the Gone with the Wind piano taken from the movie of course. There are stories of the music box (to the right) playing and the piano playing in this room by themselves.
I believe the above is the dining room.
What is interesting is that the house was used as the San Diego Courthouse. When you enter the house it is to the left past the dining room. There are a lot of old 19th century trinkets in this room. I remember seeing some Civil War items. The arm above is just my brothers and nothing to freak out about. However, there are stories of sounds of lots of people moving around in here. There is a picture on the net where a person claims to have seen something that looks like a ghost.
Still in the courtroom. What is interesting here is that little face you can see in the middle right side of the picture. That would be this:
Ignoring the shadow of me shooting the picture, this is a mask of Abraham Lincoln. The Whaley House owns 1 of 6 of them. Cool, but kind of creepy! Originally, when I wrote this entry I was under the impression this was a "death mask" because that was what I was told, but I have since learned that this is a myth. Please click this LINK about the history of the two masks Lincoln had done.

Tomorrow I will show what the upstairs looks like at the Whaley House.

The Grasseaters (The Halloween Series)

(AKA as Societas Fraterna)
(GPS: N33 53.445 W117 52.525)

Since we are close to Halloween I thought I would have a few entries that are a little on the “creepy” side. In fact, some of the action took not too far from where I live most of the year.

In the year 1876, George Hinde thought he was being led by “spirits” to a new paradise. He purchased 24 acres on the corner of what is now Placentia Ave. and Palm Drive. He built a two story, fourteen room mansion. This was no ordinary mansion though because the plan was unique to the area. It had a tower on top of it. It is said that all the rooms were circular to keep bad spirits hiding from the corners, but it was reported that only the tower’s rooms were circular. Here is how it looked:In 1878, a Dr. Louis Schlesinger arrived and joined up with Hinde. They intended to create a great society called Societas Fraterna. Their beliefs consisted of a diet of fruits and vegetables that were eaten raw. Cooking was not allowed because it destroyed the spiritual essence and nutrition of the food. This is why they were known as the Grasseaters. People came from long distances to purchase the fruits and vegetables they raised. Dr. Schlesinger also believed that marriage was unnecessary and they were accused of practicing “free love”.
The community was not pleased with the local spiritualist cult. In May, 1879 a report got out that a baby starved to death because the only food given to the child was the diet of a scraped apple. The baby did not die, but was in a weak state. After much controversy and a court case the charges against the society were dropped since there had been no intent to murder. Still Dr. Schlesinger agreed to modify their way of life.

Schlesinger eventually moved a way a few years after this incident. The society continued even after Hinde and family died until the early 1920’s. In 1931, the house was knocked down and the property sold. John Nenno purchased some of the land and his house still stands today:

The area where the Hinde house would have been is just across the street from the Nenno House. Just across the street in the upper middle of this picture.
The only trace left in Placentia that we have of these people is this plaque which shows the oldest Macadamia tree in California. This is where the gps cords point to in this little residential area south of where the original house was at. The used the macadamia trees to produce nuts for their diet.

Of course, these things are the only material things left of these people. I forgot to mention that it was revealed that they buried their dead in the backyard of their land. Skeletons were dug up on the property before they tore it down. They did have séances at this house. Dr. Schlesinger did believe he could converse with the dead. An investigation took place over a missing man, Ross Weiderhold, a former society resident who went back to get his brother. His brother had already died in Long Beach, but Ross was never seen or heard of again. And, there are folk tales of ghosts, and the Placentia Ghost in the area which originates with these stories.

The best source of information on this cult is the book Placentia: A Pleasant Place by Virginia L. Carpenter.

Cloud's Rest Hike (Part 3)

(GPS: N 37° 46.065 W 119° 29.355)

One thing I had read about before we actually hiked up there is that there was a "domesticated" chipmunk living up there. That was from the year before. When we got there we were quickly greeted by the following fellow. We called him Paco the bandit. He gets right next to hikers expecting food or will hop right on your backpack to get what he is after. I have never seen any wild animal as friendly as this. The funny thing is that I even heard and saw a picture about him doing the same thing this year.

This is looking more to the northeast.
This is looking more to the north.
This is looking more to the north west.
I never felt in danger, and it would be hard to mess up, but imagine stumbling along a rock around here.
It is a long drop down.
Looking to the West. Half-Dome is such a great view from here.

A zoom in on the main feature. As I mentioned in an earlier entry, this was not that difficult of a hike since it is all trail to the top. One day I hope to look at they area I stood here from Half-Dome.

Cloud's Rest Hike (Part 2)

(GPS: N 37° 46.065 W 119° 29.355)

Here is another shot getting closer to the top of Cloud's Rest. The hiking trail is to the right as you come around.

This is close to the final ascent. I liked how all of these slab rocks were all leveled out on each other. As I was coming down I thought it looked like a loaf of break from a different angle.
I liked this area because of the way the slabs stacked on each other. When we were going down it looked like a loaf of bread from a different angle.

The final ascent. One concern I read about is on a windy day one has to worry about staying close to the middle since the drop off of 1000's of feet on the sides. At some points you have about 15 feet to across to work with. Since we had been on more dangerous climbs we were not too concerned about these dramatic drop offs with little room. This was a piece of cake compared to those.

This is looking back down from where we started near the summit.

This is on the summit looking toward the east. The highest area is Sawtooth Ridge with Matterhorn Peak being the highest point.

More of the summit looking east. There is lots of room to roam around on at this summit. Lots of bees too buzzing around.

Okay, now we are looking at the really awesome Half-Dome and Yosemite Valley below.

More from the summit in my next post.

Cloud's Rest Hike (Part 1)

(GPS: N 37° 46.065 W 119° 29.355)

Cloud's Rest is an easy hike with some great views. All throughout the year I like to click the live cam to see how Cloud's Rest and Half-Dome are doing. Cloud's Rest is the high point just behind Half-Dome in that live cam.

This hike was done on August 8, 2005. My brother and I had just done Matterhorn Peak hike a week before and wanted to go into the heart of Yosemite for this one. This is not really a tough hike in that it is all trail to the top in a few hours. We started near the end of Tenaya Lake at around 7:00 am. The beginning of the hike was about a mile or two of flat walking.

We were able to see Cloud's Rest at the very beginning. It is the highest point in the center.

Then it was uphill on what felt like a stairway. The rocks they have put into the ground there were very much like walking up a stairway. The only annoying problem with this hike is after you gain a thousand feet you then descend about five hundred feet. In the next picture one can see the tip of Cloud's Rest on left and Half-Dome in the center in the background.
Here is a zoom shot of both peaks.
At one point were were meandering back and forth through this pond.
We encountered a handful of people in the morning. More so on the way back. At this point in the next picture we saw we were very close to the top. We just had to traverse the forest. The trail led us to the right. Next time I will show the views from the top.

Lone Pine Film Festival 2006 (and Blog Updates)

I just got back from the Lone Pine Film Festival for this year. This three day event showed movies made in the Lone Pine area (Alabama Hills), had guest speakers, guest panels, vendors, arts and crafts, a chili cook off, and what I naturally enjoy the most, of course, the tour of the movie locations. I have enough material to write about until next years festival.

I really felt overwhelmed with everything that happened there. I was there for two days and drove back and forth each day to get there (from about an hour and half away from Grandma's). I feel I really know the area well now. Not everything, but I took so many pictures and have so many stories that I do not know what I will do.

However, I do not want to "overdose" this blog with just stuff about Alabama Hills. I have enough as it is. I want to show some "creepy" stuff this month since this is Halloween time. I will continue to show some of my Sierra trip as well. I eventually need to talk about my trip to Death Valley and the Mystery of the SA-16. I also need to write about some of my peak hikes from recent years. Then there are other cool locations around Southern California that I want to go to. So, every other week or so I might post some more Alabama Hills pictures, but there are other things I want to move on to as well. I am behind on the website, but that takes a little more time for me to do than this. Stay tuned...