Who turned on the San Gabriel River?

July 21, 2009 at 3:25 pm in San Gabriel Valley, Seasonal

Rapids and flood control break.

Not that I care, as it’s just a side bar to the river running for a change. Most of this year the river has been bone dry but miraculously it appeared today. Nice to have it running during one of our hottest days in the SGV so far this summer. So nice I HAD to go for a walk and just soak in the sounds of the rushing water.

The San Gabriel River, unlike the LA River, maintains a natural bed along with berms and stuff for flood control. The natural bed allows for the recharging for the local aquifers as well as flood control as needed during significant storms.

The San Gabriel River Bike Trail runs along the river from Azusa Canyon to the sea. For you bicyclists who are early risers you can park at the Foothill Ave “Lario Park” entrance as early as 6AM to take in the glories of this river while it is full and running. If you are a hiker, added bonus is that there are trails that will take you to waters’ edge with thickets where you can just hang and enjoy the solitude. Note: the Lario Park entrance closes at 6:30PM sharp with a lock by the LA Sheriff Dept.

There are a few more pics after the jump from my little meander this afternoon.

Duarte's Encanto Park Bridge will also take you to the San Gabriel River Trail.

Rapids after one of the flood control berms.

Shady thickets to enjoy the river are there, you just have to look for them.

All the pics are by me. All will get bigger with a clickaroo.

7 Comments »

http://la.metblogs.com Lucinda Michele

Positively idyllic!!!
Burns!

I’ve lived near this place virtually all my life. Why have I never been? I’ll go now.
lamapnerd

Did you know that the bridge in that picture, once known as “the Great Bridge” or “Puente Largo”, was built for the Pacific Electric Railway in 1907? It was considered an engineering marvel in its time.

That’s why the chain-link fence. As a railroad bridge, it was built without guard rails.

You can read more about it in the Electric Railway History Association’s article about the PE Monrovia-Glendora line, at http://www.erha.org/penmg.htm
http://frazgomeanders.blogspot.com frazgo

Thanks lamapnerd, I knew the trivia and was saving it for another post ;)
Most excellent link…relevant as I live in Monrovia these days.
evan

And where it goes back to a natural river bottom in Long Beach/Seal Beach, it’s beautiful as well:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/evang/tags/sangabrielriver/
http://bikinginla.wordpress.com/2009/07/22/keeping-bad-drivers-off-the-roads/ Keeping bad drivers off the roads « BikingInLA

[...] slow down drivers. Metblogs suggests exploring the San Gabriel River Bike Trail while there’s actually water flowing through the riverbed. As part of their continued efforts to Amsterdam L.A., Flying Pigeon presents [...]
http://frazgomeanders.blogspot.com frazgo

evan, thanks for the link it should give more of the readers with bikes a reason to make the entire journey as its equally nice at the south end as at the north.

Who turned on the San Gabriel River?

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