I recommended Bungee America for the adrenaline junkies and Angeles National Forest for the nature enthusiasts. Bungee America is a company founded by bungee jump stunt master, Ron Jones. What's so unique about this company is the location of the jump. The jump takes place off a bridge named "The Bridge to Nowhere." This bridge is hidden five miles deep into Angeles National Forest. The normal 30 second bungee experience is stretched out into a day long adventure that includes a five mile hike through the forest, up the San Gabriel mountains, to the bridge, and finally ending with the five mile hike back to your car.
The hike itself is incredible, but definitely a work out. It takes approximately two and a half hours to get to the bridge. Within those two hours you cross the river several times, sometimes getting as high as waste deep in the river. The heat and the sun play a huge factor so stock up on water, in fact, I would highly advise you to bring along a camelback filled with ice cold water along with a few bottles of water to refill it with.
Upon arrival to the bridge, your nerves and anxiousness will take control over your body. Instantly the first thing people do is peer over the side of the bridge to see how far the drop is. It's a great view with the same river that you battled with hours before, running underneath the bridge. The most terrifying part of the actual bungee jump experience (at least for me) was the training and 20 minute lecture on proper techniques. A lecture that included the words, "no matter how many times we check, double check, and triple check you, if you don't follow directions and jump the wrong way you could end your life today." Not quite the comforting words a first time jumper would like to hear. Needless to say, by the time you get strapped into your harness, have the cords locked onto you, and get on the foot wide platform that sits on the railing of the concrete bridge, the adrenaline and anticipation is already bursting out of you. At that point, the countdown from five to one seems to drag on forever before you're finally able to jump off, free fall ten stories down and sling back up eight stories only to get that free fall feeling again seconds later over and over again.
If leaving your life in the hands of a stranger with some elastic rope doesn't seem like a good time for you, don't let that discourage you from this amazingly beautiful hike. Nature is a beautiful thing, embrace it and take a day to soak in all of the beauty nature has to offer.
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