Eaton Canyon’s upper waterfall route to close Aug. 1 UPDATE

UPDATE:  KTLA has cellphone footage of a woman who was injured Wednesday, July 30, 2014, (that’s yesterday) attempting to climb down the upper waterfall trail.

The unofficial trail to Eaton Canyon’s second waterfall will be closed Friday, Aug. 1 2014, according to a release from the National Forest Service.

Climbers risking the trail, called Razorback or Acrophobia Ridge, can be cited and fined as much as $5,000 and/or be sentenced to six months in jail, according to the forest service.

The area has been the site of multiple injuries and deaths in recent years as ill-prepared hikers take the narrow, crumbling granite trail from the canyon’s easily-accessible first waterfall.  Access will remain open to the lower falls, according to the forest service.

“The trails to the waterfall are user-created, and not authorized or maintained by the Forest Service,” according to a press release.  “Most particularly, the climb to the Upper Falls is steep and dangerous with hikers frequently getting lost or falling off the narrow ridges into the canyon … In 2012 there were over 60 rescues in that area alone, and there have been five deaths since 2011.  In particular, hikers ignore warning signs and climb the canyon’s crumbling walls in search of the second waterfall, enticed by social media videos that encourage and challenge people to risk their own lives and those of emergency responders.”

The press release said that, despite recent efforts to publicize the dangers of the climb, there has been  “an ever-increasing rise in medical emergencies and rescues in and around the area located on the border of Pasadena and Altadena …  Last year, thousands of taxpayer dollars were spent on emergency responses to this area alone.”

The closure order affects about an 84-acre area of the upper canyon.

New signs, warning of the dangers, have been installed and officials of the multiple jurisdictions involved in Eaton Canyon said that they will “enhance its public awareness campaign.”  Enforcing the closure will be a joint effort between Forest Service law enforcement and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.