"Brackish" means a mixture of salt and fresh waters, as in an estuary - like where a stream meets the sea. It doesn't mean "stagnant". Not trying to be rude - just a correction of terms used to help prevent confusion. Very nice video otherwise. Thank you for posting

Big Tujunga Dam Big Tujunga Dam is a 244-foot-high concrete arch dam in Los Angeles County, California, spanning Big Tujunga Canyon northeast of Sunland, in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. Completed in 1931, it provides flood control and groundwater recharge for the San Fernando Valley. Wikipedia Opened: 1931 Height: 208′ Very Interesting, Thanks !

This dam was redone 15 years ago from its original design. At that time, it had a butterfly valve and a pin valve. This new renovation makes it taller and more automated than the previous design. Strickly flood control only!

This water doesn’t mysteriously disappear, it goes to a groundwater recharge “Groundwater recharge or deep drainage or deep percolation is a hydrologic process, where water moves downward from surface water to groundwater. Recharge is the primary method through which water enters an aquifer”; nonetheless, your video is interesting enough to make me want to look into this process, so thanks for this video 🙂

Fascinating! I've observed this dam several times from the road and it's great to see the front of the dam as well as the tour of the canyon. Thanks for posting.

You can access the BIG T river from a fire road farther up from the lookout. I've been on that road numerous times over the years, the water that flows down into that reservoir is actually COLD most of the year. People would go down to some large rocks and swim a bit in the summer. When I went down the fire road it was mostly in the fall with a deer permit, you can't hunt in Big T canyon itself but you can follow the fire road up to past the river and there you can legally hunt. They have mule deer that cache themselves up in the hills and come down to the river to drink (you won't see them in the daytime). If you were to follow the river it comes from the back country quite some miles and drains the little creeks which feed the river. Hiking is not advisable off of the fire roads because of the many 'rock chutes' which are on hillsides. One step onto one of those and you're off for a fast fall into the canyon! Rock chutes are from drainage that takes place during rainy weather when water makes slick channels down to the bottom of the hills. There are Coyotes, Skunks, Opossums and small critters whose tracks you can see on the fire road, incl. deer. Critters will drink that green water if they have to but they prefer the river water before it reaches the dam. That dam was built to handle floodwaters from winter/spring storms that previously used to flow down towards Hansen Dam. There are several pools up in the hills that you can hike to get to, but again watch those rock chutes.

Whoa, your drone has incredible range! What a hidden gem this location was.

Nice video! As a frequent Southwest flyer out of Ontario Airport, I have seen this dam from the plane - soon after takeoff to the west and turning north. I like looking out the window and trying identify specific features on the ground.

I read up on it and apparently the main purpose of the dam was to create a flood break so the city didn't flood back in the 1930s. Here's the official except from the company responsible: "The Big Tujunga Dam is located at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains and was constructed in the early 1930’s to control floods and to conserve water. In 2004, the California Division of Safety of Dams imposed a seismic restriction on the dam, that reduced the long-term storage to 1,484 acre-feet from the current 5,960 acre-feet. Shimmick improved the safety of the dam by cleaning the foundation, placing mass concrete, modifying the spillway, removing and replacing the dam crest and appurtenant structures, stabilizing the canyon walls with consolidation drilling, grouting, and rock bolts, and establishing a new dam control system. Shimmick self-performed the majority of the work on the project including the foundation excavation, batching and placing of 90,000 cubic yards of mass concrete with post cooling, construction of valve house and control house, installation of large diameter outlet pipes and valves from 24 to 72 inches, and the electrical power and control."

Water comes from hidden springs to the reservoir and after the spill away it's piped underground to a processing plant about 10 miles souths.

That's a good looking dam. Robust design, interesting video. I live in the southern USA and it's surprising how many old out of the way dams and reservoirs are out there that the common public doesn't know about. Good fishing in a lot of them because of that.

That reservoir has to be almost continuously (relatively) dredged because of all the sediment that flows into it, especially from the wildfires that frequent the Big Tujunga Canyon watershed. They have a giant dredge disposal site just a mile or so away downstream from the dam. As to the use of the water that is captured, eventually it replenishes the groundwater supply in the San Fernando Valley. Big Tujunga Canyon and its outflow can be traced through a series of washes and channels through Pacoima, Panorama City, Van Nuys, North Hollywood where it eventually joined with the Los Angeles River in Studio City.

Not brackish its green from phytoplankton. The outflow used to go down to Hansen dam. I think past the famous pig farm. It used to be a nice beautiful creek on the outflow that I would catch frogs in. There used to be trout below dam. I saw them as I snarled the stream. It is a little mysterious. I always wanted to sneak into lake but got too old for that in the 60s

Practical Engineering has a lot of good videos about aquifers, groundwater and wells. Wells in aquifers can be used in reverse with water being pumped into them to be pumped back out later it's longer term than a reservoir. This process can also filter the water to some extent a larger amount of murky water requires less processing to become usable.

Many years ago I was a Dam Operator, I even spent a few day at this dam, and most others in LA County, mostly at San Gabriel Dam. The "creepy stuff", 4:47 in the water we used to call Wheaties, like the serial. They are small bits of wood, bark and other organic materials washed down during storms. The larger floating debris are caught by log booms, telephone poled chained together and stretched across the lake. The smaller bits get past the booms and accumulate is still side canyons or wherever the wind blows them. Nice video, it was great to virtually revisit Big Tujunga Dam. It looked different before upgrades to handle larger storm flows. This video has a time lapse of the extensive modifications: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/aJeoo8JymbG0mJ8.html

My oldest brother who retired worked for LA DWP said many of these dams are build for flood control and the water released adds to the underground water table. Some of the water districts around the area pump water from wells.

I live in the inland Northwest. We have lots of rivers, lakes, and dams, but I don't know of any that don't continue downstream. So interesting!

I really enjoyed the vibe of this video. Great flying and yeah, I can see how you would be disoriented with that landscape. You made a great comment about trying to get out of the water. Those sheer walls would be a nightmare!

Correct the name is Tujunga, it is a flood control dam and is used to replenish ground water which is why there is no down stream flow. It is over 90 years old, has been updated/strengthened a couple times due to concerns of earthquakes. City water department is the actual owner, entering the property definately will not work out to your benefit.

Fascinating! I live no more than 10 minutes from the dam and never questioned why it was there, what the water source is or why the wash along Mt. Gleason Road in Tujunga was always dry. Thanks so much for the video.

This was so interesting and I appreciate the time you took to do so.Thanks for posting.

Brackish water is a broad term used to describe water that is more saline than freshwater but less saline than true marine environments. Often these are transitional areas between fresh and marine waters. An estuary, which is the part of a river that meets the sea, is the best known example of brackish water.

I grew up there, and had no idea it was there! Thanks for sharing!

I worked on this retrofit as a reinforcing Ironworker, installed all the rebar for the new dam face and the new spillway and valve house that is attached to dam face. Nothing' creepy' about this structure or the reservoir, there are hundreds of these throughout California. A concrete batch plant was constructed on site and all the aggregate for the concrete was trucked up, around 80000 cubic yards of concrete were hoisted by crane in a very big 'bucket' and deposited where needed. The new valves in the valve house are huge and came from Switzerland. The top 8 feet of the old dam was cut off and lifted to the ground to make way for the new spillway. Several dams in the area were actually prototypes for the Hoover Dam, construction methods and practices for example. When the general contractor, Shimmick, was cutting the top of the dam off they exposed 2x4s that were left in the concrete from the 1930s and they were in pristine condition, the rebar used at that time was square and 40 grade quality, very soft. This thing is built like a shit brick house, with state-of-the-art valves and control mechanisms with up to date monitoring controls, money well spent in my opinion.

Nice! Thanks for sharing..

It's a cool video, I'm not a fan of music in these types of videos but I would have preferred music to this fellows "creepy" comments, nothing creepy or mysterious about this dam.

Brackish water is when salt water and fresh water mix, like where a river meets the ocean.

Awesome vid.I love it.Ive always loved going to this reservoir. 90's.Thank you for the memories!

You act so surprised. I think you need to get a map out and look at all these little Lakes all around Los Angeles used for flood control by the Metropolitan Water District. Check out Pacoima Dam in Sylmar. They do drain it empty quite often to do clean up of the wood and junk I drove a 40 ft and dump years ago and took a couple loads out of there. By the damn you can see a road going down into the water and they have to rebuild it each time to go down there with bulldozers loaders and also the truckers go down there. They also bring in a portable scale house to measure the weight in and out. I always remember going there because the scale has operator was looking out the other window as I pulled up onto the scale when he turned around and walked over to my side we both were in shock because it was my brother who worked for the Metropolitan water district at the time LOL well anyway we had a good chuckle over it

You're correct about nobody hearing about that dam. Thanks for the information ill do a little reserch on it. Also, great drone flying.

I definitely can relate to your initial thoughts on the dam. About a decade back, while riding motorcycles with my friends, I noticed the dam up there. I was intrigued and spent some time checking it out. The view from the road down to the dam is pretty cool.

Wonderful interesting video! Thanks! Can you please tell me the model of your drone?? I want to buy one to use with FPV goggles. I'd appreciate it. Len

Really cool video. Definitely a mysterious spot. We're conditioned to just see & know where a Dam's water goes. I was stumped at first. I appreciate the comments that told me about how this dam works. However, I'm glad I didn't know til after I watched the video. 👏

I grew up in Tujunga. We spent all out time in that caynon. There has always been water all the way through LVT and beyond. I also lived at Vogel Flats From 1995 to 2006, Would come home after work and was able to fish in the creek. I would love to see more of the Canyon.

This is the most entertaining video I've seen in a good while, in a suspenseful, horror flick kind of way. I kept thinking if someone falls in there, they ain't coming out.

Great video! That top part of the dam looks like a catastrophic overflow. Ive never seen anything like that. You’re right, it is creepy.

Great video 👍 keep doing this types of videos

Nice video and thank you for sharing! One thing though, what is creepy about this reservoir? It's an off color with some algae but I can't see anything creepy about it. Hats off to the guy who dove it...lots of respect sir👏!!!!!

I have never in my life seen this before, and I lived right next to it. Thanks for the sick drone footage dude

The water doesn’t “go nowhere” it replenishes ground water. The reservoir is for drinking water and the damn also provides flood protection for 3 communities. Also, there are some nice rainbow trout in there. Are you sure you’re from California? I’m not and yet I still knew this just from traveling.

That creepy feeling is what keeps me going to this day!That's a special feeling.Now adays,youre never alone? Theres always tons of people everywhere you go? Back then ,to go for a ride up to there and beyond was the best of my week.How I miss that feeling? Now I'm stressed all the time in a world full of stupidness and uncertainty. Bless you friend .

What is so creepy about a reservoir in a mountain canyon?

I nearly mistook this video for a photogrammetry recreation of your drone flight with some realistic VFX but no, you just have a really good drone! I didn't even know this area existed nearby.

Thank you for sharing, very interesting

It's got a wikipedia. Fascinating, thanks for sharing.... I live in the uk and we have some beautiful old dams built in the 1800s, me and my gf went and explored abbeystead reservoir and dam near me ths other day.

This is an interesting dam, it has been designed to survive being overtopped. I haven't seen a dam like this designed to do that before.

Nice sky view of the dam, I've been there many times my step father was one of the dam operator engineer.

Because of the small storage capacity of the reservoir relative to the size of its watershed, frequent dredging is required to remove sediment from behind the dam. Most of the sediment is compacted and stored at the Maple Canyon Sediment Placement Site located less than 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the dam. The 2009 Station Fire, which burned some 87% of the Big Tujunga watershed, caused more than 2 million cubic yards (1.5 million m3) of sediment to flow into the reservoir, all of which subsequently had to be removed.

This guy didn’t do any, Any research on this dam whatsoever. I did. Just now. “Big Tujunga Dam is a 244-foot-high concrete arch dam in Los Angeles County, California. Spanning Big Tujunga Canyon northeast of Sunland, in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. Completed in 1931, it provides flood control and groundwater recharge for the San Fernando Valley. Its reservoir is called Big Tujunga Reservoir, and collects runoff from a watershed of 82 square miles (210 km2). Although it is located inside the Angeles National Forest, public access to the lake is forbidden. The water is usually kept at a low level, in order to protect against winter floods. The name of the dam is derived from a Tongva village name. The dam was completed in 1931 by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, at a cost of $1.2 million ($21.4 million in 2021 dollars). It was originally planned as one of several flood control dams inside Big Tujunga Canyon and was thus referred to as Big Tujunga Dam No. 1 until the larger Hansen Dam was completed in 1940. At the mouth of the canyon, eliminating the need for the other dams. During the Los Angeles flood of 1938, the dam was able to stop a huge debris flow of boulders and uprooted trees, sparing much of Sunland, Tujunga and Glendale from destruction. In 1976, the dam was recognized as in danger of failure from earthquakes (the San Andreas Fault runs nearby) and the reservoir's level was temporarily restricted to about 25% of capacity. In 2008 the Los Angeles County Flood Control District began a project to rehabilitate the aging structure. Approximately 75,000 cu yd (57,000 m3) of concrete was added to the dam, transforming it from a thin-arch to a thick-arch design. A new spillway was built and the original one was expanded, increasing the floodwater capacity from 23,000 cu ft/s (650 m3/s) to more than 90,000 cu ft/s (2,500 m3/s). In addition, a 24-inch (610 mm) valve was installed at the dam base to pass low flows for habitat conservation. The seismic retrofit project was completed in July 2011 at a cost of $100 million. Upgrading one of California’s largest dams to protect against seismic and flood concerns. www.stantec.com/en/projects/united-states-projects/s/seismic-hydraulic-rehabilitation-big-tujunga-dam (This website has many many excellent large pictures plus, videos. )

I am always amazed by how much water is hidden underground in the western states. The old mines in many cases flood after being shut down due to the pumps being shut off, and so many towns have installed pipes in the mines to get water for the area. In this case, the water is impounded to keep the water table higher, and to supply a limited amount for other use, otherwise, it would just flow underground down the 'dry' riverbed and be lost.

Oh, wow - that dam's in GTAV - my base is on that lake :D

What a spectacular video! I live nearby and have travelled around in that area but have never seen this. My wife and I will go over and check it out.

Great video. The views are amazing from the drone. It does look creepy and the water looks unappealing. The water may be green from floating algae and also high in minerals without being brackish though. There is fresh water (low salt) brackish (somewhat salty) and saltwater (very salty) such as the ocean.

Great video and production values. According to County information the dam was built for flood control initially. Now it’s used for drinking water and groundwater replenishment. It also protect citizens downstream from flooding.

I was born, raised and lived in Glendale Ca., been all through Angeles National Forest and have known about Big Tujunga Dam for as long as I can remember. I never thought it to be creepy at all...

Here are some facts about the dam: Construction of the dam began in 1931 and was completed in 1936. It was built by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) to provide water storage for the city of Los Angeles. The dam stands 244 feet tall and 740 feet wide at its crest, and can hold up to 5,960 acre-feet of water. The dam is located in the Big Tujunga Canyon, which is a tributary of the Los Angeles River. It is situated in a remote and rugged area, which made construction difficult. The dam is made of concrete and features an arched design that allows it to withstand the weight of the water behind it. It is considered to be one of the most beautiful dams in California. The Big Tujunga Canyon Dam played an important role in the development of Los Angeles. It helped to provide a reliable source of water to the growing city and allowed for the expansion of the city's infrastructure.

I wouldn't want to dive in, But I bet it has some really deep parts

Mystery? Just 5 minutes of searching and you'd know it's a flood control dam, how it works, and why it was built.

Cool video! Thank you for making it. It's amazing what you find in the outback when you go looking

Cool drone video, the narration begs for explanation, which was mostly provided already. I'm jumping in after 1,090 comments to add a few details to the conversation. I'm familiar with the dam from serving as the state dam safety design engineer for the seismic remediation and new spillway. The project won national awards from the dam industry due to the size, complexity, and challenging construction involved. The dam belongs to LA County Public Works, the state permits the design after an independent engineering analysis, and oversees every aspect of the construction. The arch was thickened on the downstream side from the bottom to the top to improve seismic performance, and a second spillway was added along the crest of the arch to pass the Probably Maximum Flood (PMF). Its called a flip bucket spillway, which shoots the spillway flow downstream away from the dam to avoid eroding and undermining the dam foundation. The structure on the left side (looking downstream) is called a thrust block, which transfers the enormous forces from the arch into the abutment. Thrust blocks are used when the foundation conditions are less than desirable. The rock in this canyon is typical of SoCal where thousands of historic earthquakes have cracked and shattered the bedrock. That left side of the canyon needed dozens of rock anchors and erosion protection, which is the sprayed concrete you see on the slope, commonly called gunnite. Hope some find this extra info interesting, maybe someone already covered all this, I didn't read all the comments.

I find it hard to belive this water is brackish however I did enjoy this video 👍🏼

Awsome footage from your sky cam. Yes indeed that is one creepy, narrow dam. It is freaky to imagine if a person fell in and how would they know which way is up to surface and yes, having steep shore cliffs, most people would panic and have a horrible consequence. Thank you for your video!

I've used that road many times over the years and this is the first time I've seen the damn and how much water there is down there. Thanks.

Mysterious dam is so mysterious...because mysteriously mysterious...and creepy.

Just because the river bed downstream looks dry, doesn't mean there isn't water underneath the stream bed. It is more than likely why they built a golf course in the bed. They can tap into the water with shallow wells.

Have you visited the ruins of the St Francis dam? That story always fascinated me.

Great Video Gene, you should do more, the Narration was great the length of the video was perfect so yeah good luck hopefully we see more…😂 I did have one question what kind of drone is that, that you have… I’ve been thinking about buying one and wasn’t sure where to even start, yours seems REALY nice and did a great job. Thanks

Well made, great views, and now cannot stop thinking about falling in once you mentioned it. Thanks for taking the time to make and post it.

I liked your video, but it would have been much better if you gave us the history of the damn. This is a ground water recharge damn which means it's replenishing the LA aquifer.

This is awesome and creepy. The scariest thought would be to be dropped on that tiny island at 2am with no moon out.

This is "creepy" to people who find vanilla ice cream a bit too spicy.

I enjoyed your video! I moved my RV out there and been living good!

Great filming 👍 Some drone skills there 👌

Brackish water has salt in it. For example, where a rivers water mixes with ocean water. The more inland you go, the less brackish (salinity) the water is. Has nothing to do with color, pollution, etc.

Good video. , What drone are you using?

Thank you for the great video and your comments! I wish more videos would be made showing out of the way places. There is a giant wooden pipeline in Vermont that goes for miles.

I have seen Big Tujunga Canyon Dam at times when I traveled up Big Tujunga Canyon Road and stopped at the lookout. It water looks brackish because we have a long drought with very little rain. If we get a decently rainy winter in Southern California the water should look more clear and also water will be flowing down the Tujunga Wash after the dam.

I stumbled across this video and was left wondering about the type of drone you used and how long the battery lasts. I was starting to get nervous about power remaining as you flew to the source of the dam.

thank you for sharing!

Thank you youtube for not disappointing me...lots of insecure jerks who must comment about how smart they are and cut on other people. This is a great video...great drone footage and great narration.

Whats the mystery ace, Big Tujunga dam. Water comes down from Mill creek Summit to Hidden Springs. Goes through Monkey Canyon to the dam.

Awesome capture though😎

There are videos of people climbing up and jumping off those cliffs into narrow ravines. Scary!

Big Tujunga Dam is a 244-foot-high (74 m) concrete arch dam in Los Angeles County, California, spanning Big Tujunga Canyon northeast of Sunland, in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. Completed in 1931, it provides flood control and groundwater recharge for the San Fernando Valley.

I grew up in Sunland/ Tujunga. The Dam Might not be full now and creeks running , but it has a history of flooding all the way to Hansen dam. My 2 friends were dam keepers there. Fishing is good. Public Not allowed in there but kids in the 70s used to dive in the spill way area was very deep then. It was a lot of fun n always water down stream into Sunland. We had swimming holes. Things have changed but if rains come that golf course will be history . I have seen water from side to side in that creek bed. Washed out bridge into the river wood ranch area on the hill in Sunland. Helicopters flew people back n forth over very treacherous waters. Bridges on foothill Blvd the waters by the golf course were all the way up to those bridges. So yes it floods! Quite often when I was a kid in the 60s.

Not to be a dick but you should really look into underground waterway/rivers. They can be pretty nutty sometimes but that’s likely what’s happening with the outflow.

The possible caves with tailing piles at 6:34 & 8:03 are the most interesting parts of this video!

What kind of drone are you using I’m looking took get one. Thanks for this footage looks awesome.

It's a secret base for a Bond villan Mwahaha

Super creepy, inaccessible, non-functional damn.. Except it's fully functioning, accessible by roads, and clearly not creepy. Haunted maybe?

Nice video, looks amazing!

The helipad …landed there countless times in a helicopter. Trained our (government) pilots and that’s one of the “mountain spots” we use for training regularly. Then we’d fly north following the reservoir in those canyons. South of the dam are two bridges, which we also flew under for the advanced mountain training course, which included S&R flight training for our pilots.

Thanks 🤠 and enjoy your Day Cheers 🍻🍻🤠✊✊

My friends used to fly their hang gliders over this Dam all the time. They would launch from the top of Kagel Mountain, just north of this dam, and they would land next to the creek bed for Big Tajunga Wash in Sylmar, Ca. They are among the pioneers in the sport and have been flying hang gliders since the early 1970s. I would be their driver to take them to the top of the mountain and pick them up in the landing zone.

Awesome subject! Up here in Rhode Island we have no dams. Very cool.

Nice Catch ... keep it up watching you from Nv

DUDE, It's more than 20 minutes from downtown L.A. It's mainly for flood control. Most of the time there is so little water flowing down the creek that it's underground in the rocky, sandy creek bed. It's only when there is a lot of rain and or snow melt happening in the watershed area that you can see water flowing on the surface. The creek winds down into the Hanson Dam flood control basin where high levels of runoff water is then detained and released in a carefully metered way through a concrete wash down to the Los Angeles River and eventually to the ocean. Along the way some of the water is spread out in settling ponds to raise the water table and conserve water for metropolitain use.

What model drone are you using in this video? Great job..

I was the Dam Operator there for 37 years this dam is fully operational there is water in the stream under the trees it drys up miles below the Dam it is a flood Control and water conservation Dam.What your doing with your drone is totally illegal!