(Click on any photographs below for an enlarged view)

    The Convict Road, or Shoemaker Canyon Road as it is officially named, was an attempt made in the 1950's and 1960's to build a highway up the East Fork of the San Gabriel River.  The cliffs in this canyon are the steepest in Southern California, which has some of the steepest cliffs in the world.  This highway was meant to connect the lower canyon region, at 1700 feet elevation, to the Angeles Crest Highway, State 2, at Vincent Gap, at 6629 feet elevation.  This terminus is very close to Wrightwood from which the Mojave Desert is easily accessible.

    There originally was a road up the East Fork of the San Gabriel River in the early 1930's built low and close to the river.  There was quite a thriving community living in the canyon at that time including  vacationers, prospectors, fishermen, outdoorsmen, and a some even some thieves.  In 1938 there was a tremendous storm and the resulting flood wiped-out most of the highway as well as most of the buildings in the canyon.  The damage to the highway was so severe that the engineers didn't rebuild it.  The famous "Bridge to Nowhere" was part of this original highway though I'm not sure it was actually ever used for traffic.  All activity in the upper canyon later came to a close and this area was pretty much forgotten after the floods of 1938.

    In the 1950's there was renewed interest in building a road up the East Fork of the San Gabriel River to add another evacuation path to the dearth of exits out of Los Angeles.  This new highway would be useful for cases of  mass evacuation to the desert due to nuclear attack etc.  It was decided to use convict labor from Chino Prison to build the highway hence the name the Convict Road though the highway is actually named Shoemaker Canyon Road.  The engineers decided that the only way to keep the road from being washed-out during severe storms was to build it high on the west canyon wall.  The terrain was so daunting and dangerous, that in 15 years only 4.5 miles of road bed were completed, from elevations 1700 to 2700 feet; the end goal was 6629 feet.  Since the progress was so slow and the price so high, the project was finally cancelled in 1969.  Ecological concerns also influenced the choice to terminate the project as the projected route would lead it through the Sheep Mountain Wilderness.

    The first third of the Convict Road, Shoemaker Canyon Road, is paved and easily accessible to any automobile.  After that point the road becomes dirt and is closed to motor vehicle traffic.  There are two large tunnels a couple of miles up the dirt road.  The first tunnel, pictured above, is about 1000 feet long and the second one about 700 feet long.  These tunnels are both in excellent condition as is the road bed itself.  There are several land-slides along the route thought none particularly severe.  The good condition of the road is a testament to its designers and builders.  This is some of the worst terrain in the world to build a road through.  The road bed ends right after the end of the second tunnel and one is left very high up on the west cliff of Shoemaker Canyon.

    This hike is about 5 miles round-trip and a fairly easy.  I highly recommend this trip as just viewing the tunnels is impressive enough to justify the entire journey.

    Starting up the trail there are two large mountains apparent.  Mount San Antonio, also known as Old Baldy, shown in the picture on the left,  and Iron Mountain directly up the canyon.

    This is a typical road cut and by no means the largest.  The convicts cut-out slots in the ridges and used the material to fill the small canyons between them.  It is a lot of work though the result is a much straighter road.  This road was probably designed to used at about 40 MPH in most places as were the other roads in the area.

    This is the entrance to the first tunnel about 1 3/4 miles up the dirt road.  The tunnel is dated 1961 is about 1000 feet long.  This tunnel is far longer than it looks and  it takes quite a while to walk through it.  It had just rained when I walked through it and water was leaking into the tunnel from the roof seems.  About half of it is lined with steel and the other half is just raw rock in many separate segments throughout the tunnel.

    This is a view back down the canyon.  The East Fork of the San Gabriel River is deep in the canyon below.  Occasionally you can see the river as you are walking up the road.

    This is another example of a road cut.  The entire length of the road bed seems to be nothing but huge cuts and fills.  A lot of earth was moved during construction.

            This is the entrance to the second tunnel about 3/4 of a mile past the first tunnel.  This tunnel is 700 feet long and dated 1964.  It is of the same construction as the first tunnel and in similar shape.

    This picture gives a little more detail of the second tunnel's construction.

    At this point the road bed ends.  There is a trail beyond this point though every review of this hike I've read recommends proceeding no further due to the discomfort of walking through thorny bushes.

    This is a view of the second tunnel on the return trip showing the accumulation of water.  Note that a particularly wet storm had just passed.  The water could easily be avoided by walking near the wall of the tunnel and was no problem.

Map to Shoemaker Canyon Road.  Exit on Azusa Avenue, State 39, from I-210 and drive up the East Fork of the San Gabriel River.  Shoemaker Canyon Road starts just after Follow's Camp.

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Last modified: June 01, 2010 14:07