by "AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
Published 04/25/2017 at 00:30
by "AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
Published 04/25/2017 at 00:30
Tags: Vance creek bridge
; Miata
; Mazda
; Roadtrip
STARS: 13
Put up no trespassing signs. Dig a 15 ft deep trench around the entrance. Hang barbed wire. Wrap razor wire. Remove the railroad beams. Do whatever you like, but as long as the frame remains, I will never stop going to Vance Creek Bridge. Let me tell you why.
I’m currently camped out in Washington State’s Olympic National Forest, less than a mile from not only the tallest railway bridge in the country, but the second tallest as well. Getting here was quite the journey, so don’t think too poorly of me if I insist on telling the story from the beginning.
If you haven’t read the first installment, click below! Or don’t, if you’re one of those monsters who reads the last page of a novel before going through the whole book.
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The premise of this little adventure started out quite simple. Drive to Vance Creek Bridge—stopping by Olympia on the way—and spend a night below the stars. Oh, and below the incessant rain. In Seattle one must never forget to mention the rain when writing, as that is known to push the next dry day back another 24 hours.
The drive over to Olympia was fairly uneventful, however I did make a quick stop to relieve my boredom...
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As to the capital building itself, well, I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking. Miata shown for scale.
This is the second time I’ve been here, and the scale of the building still blows me away. The place was absolutely teeming with patrol cars. As I drove around the building looking for good photo spots—or even visitor parking, which was nonexistent at the time—I felt a hundred pairs of eyes, following along with me. I eventually just said fuck it—parked in the middle of the road—car on, cops looking my way—and jumped out, proceeding to shoot like every shot might be my last. Which is a poetic way of saying, sorry for the amateur photos!
Long story short, I was approached by no less than six officers who chatted with me about the car, my trip, and a life served protecting our state capitol. They even took a few pictures, although understandably requested to be left out of anything that I shot. Chill guys.
With that out of the way it was time to get back on I-5, and find my way to the bridges. Vance Creek Bridge. High Steel Bridge. Where do I even start? Nothing I say will get the sheer majesty of these monuments across to you, no picture taken could show the effect it has on even the most jaded of travellers. So I suppose I’ll start with some background.
Both bridges were built in the early 1900's to allow loggers to get to the prime wood of the time. High Steel Bridge is one lane, with railings on either side, and for all its beauty—check out the header image—it’s greatly overshadowed by it’s controversial brother.
Vance Creek Bridge has no railings, and cannot be driven across, as it’s nothing more than wooden beams laid across a metal frame, with rusted out railroad tracks laid out on top. For years, a battle has been fought between the logging company that owns the bridge, and the public that sees it as a national landmark. The logging company is liable for anyone who falls off, and as such goes to great lengths to keep people away. The took it up a notch this last year, when they dismantled the bridge entrance, hung barbed wire, and removed a good 75 feet of walkway, leaving nothing but the frame. Below are before and after images.
While I completely understand the logging companies predicament, what they’ve done here has made the situation so much worse. People have continued to show up. And they continue to get on the bridge however they can. The only difference now being there is no longer a safe way to do so. Ironically, the chance of injury or death has been increased tenfold... It’s an unfortunate situation for all parties, especially since Washington state has shown interest in turning the Bridge into a National Park.
But this is not a sight you would be greeted with at a National Park. Rope, discarded railway beams, and tarps made for an incredibly sketchy way past the multilayered flesh-tearing instruments laid out around the bridge. However, after a three hour drive we weren’t about to turn back.
We made it up to the top, surprisingly without a scratch. But the hard part was just coming up. Now we had to go from the bridge entrance, to the slatted section, crossing 75 ft of bare frame in the process.
Once again, we made it across. One quick picture to win a bet and our cameras were put away. This was something to experience, not to see on a small screen. I truly hope to someday see a headline proclaiming Vance Creek Bridge open to the public. But until that day, I’ll take solace in the fact that no obstacle is insurmountable. When you live for the challenge, every additional barrier is just more motivation to keep going. You may not agree with me, and and I completely respect that. But I am in no way apologetic.
This is a beautiful world. Go out and see for yourself.
"Highlander-Datsuns are Forever" (jamesbowland)
04/24/2017 at 19:03, STARS: 2
400 feet? Yeah, hell nope.
"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
04/24/2017 at 19:08, STARS: 0
Occasionally rock climbers would come out and set up hammocks hanging 50 ft below the bridge. Absolutely insane.
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
04/24/2017 at 19:20, STARS: 0
Those better be some lululemon pants you’re doing your yoga girl “look at me do yoga shit on top of this landmark” pose in.
"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
04/24/2017 at 19:24, STARS: 3
Uhm. I only wear organically sourced joggers made in the Himalayas by impoverished earth shamans. Want to buy some healing crystals?
And for better or worse, my yoga exploits pay the bills haha
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
04/24/2017 at 19:27, STARS: 0
Fun fact: this is my wife’s favorite youtube channel. (He shows up at the 4-minute mark, but don’t skip ahead right away or you’ll miss the chicken!)
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"wkiernan" (wkiernan)
04/24/2017 at 19:32, STARS: 2
THAT IS SUCH AN OSHA VIOLATION!!!
"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
04/24/2017 at 19:34, STARS: 0
I watched a minute and a half, then skipped ahead...
Yikes. I hope this isn’t one of those things you have to watch together
"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
04/24/2017 at 19:37, STARS: 4
First L&I tells me I need harnesses for roof work, now OSHA’s on my case... Maybe the real key to getting easy money is trademarking a cool acronym
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
04/24/2017 at 19:37, STARS: 1
Generally no but occasionally I watch it with her and laugh at the stoner philosophizing.
“This is the thing about Uranus. Super individualistic! Uranus is the most extreme and how do I say, fixed, you know Uranus locked all of his children inside the Earth. I mean, Saturn cut his BALLS off! Ok, he was TOUGH, ROUGH, The SKY GOD, ORANUS, even before Saturn, before time, this is like we are really opening ourself up, our psyche up!”
She doesn’t exactly take it seriously. ;)
"CaptDale - is secretly British" (captdale)
04/24/2017 at 19:48, STARS: 0
Sounds like a down rights good time!
"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
04/24/2017 at 19:52, STARS: 1
It was a blast! Although with all this highway driving, I have to admit the Miata is a bit rough to live with at times. Never thought I’d be dreaming about driving a Buick or S-class!
"CaptDale - is secretly British" (captdale)
04/24/2017 at 19:59, STARS: 2
That is just delusions of the boring road getting to you
"HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles" (hondasfordsvolvo)
04/24/2017 at 21:46, STARS: 5
The irony of spray painting “save this (insert historic landmark)” on said landmark is pretty obvious.
"adamftw" (adamftw)
04/25/2017 at 06:44, STARS: 1
Eh. This is the kind of bullshit that gets stuff REALLY closed down. Like torn down, closed to all people and put up a rock with a bronze sign sort of closed down. I understand the whole “I’m still gonna go there” mindset (because I do that to) but posting pictures of yourself, telling everyone the location, and sharing dumb yoga poses of the place on instagram REALLY fucks it up for everyone. It isn’t happening just to this place, but LOTS of places across the country. All the previously “unknown” spots are now easy public knowledge thanks to geotagging, and thanks to the whole #explore #adventure #vanlife thing these places are getting overrun. I’m not even out west or anything where it’s closing my own access- I have pretty much nothing where I am so I know what it can be like- but I feel for the local “old guys” who’ve been doing it for a lot longer than many.
Sorry, I can’t like this.
"S65" (granthp)
04/25/2017 at 07:45, STARS: 1
So pretty up there
"diplodicus" (diplodicus)
04/25/2017 at 08:11, STARS: 0
Fuck crawling across those beams. I wouldn’t really want to be on the slatted section either. I somehow convince myself on roofs and shit without railings that I’ll just fall, might be those two times I fell off a roof. For some reason if you ask me to climb a tree just as high I have no problem with the height though.
"TorqueToYield" (torquetoyield)
04/25/2017 at 08:12, STARS: 0
lol. it’s now ruined because it’s posted on Oppo! The horror! It has a friggin facebook page and yelp entry, I’m pretty sure all the exposure he’ll get on oppo will really bring the crowds...
"adamftw" (adamftw)
04/25/2017 at 08:17, STARS: 0
Literally the first hit on Google when you search “Vance Creek Bridge” is an article on how social media exposure is causing problems.
"HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles" (hondasfordsvolvo)
04/25/2017 at 08:52, STARS: 1
My dad works in manufacturing, he’s been a plant manager and made everything from. Popcicle sticks, to guns, so mufflers.
He calls OSHA Oh Shit. Because no matter how hard you try, when they come in at some point you’re going to say “oh shit”
"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
04/25/2017 at 21:59, STARS: 0
I agree in part, but in this particular case, the public exposure is the only thing that’s kept them from tearing the bridge down in the first place. As soon as the local community found out the logging company was planning to take it down, they boycotted the company and spread the message themselves. It’s a big company, but at the end of the day the money they would have lost removing the bridge, plus lost sales form bad publicity, and a terrible image to the locals who worked nearby wasn’t worth it.
Mason County is trying to get the company to sell the land, but for that to happen they need public backing.
"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
04/25/2017 at 22:02, STARS: 0
I can do this shit all day, absolutely live for it. I’ve hung off the bridge holding a rope.
But water? I will not jump off anything into water if it’s higher than 6 ft. Those tall Olympic diving boards? Fuck no. Cliff diving. Nooooooope. Absolutely terrifies me
"diplodicus" (diplodicus)
04/26/2017 at 08:06, STARS: 0
See I would be ok with the rope because I can hold it. I just don’t trust my legs to balance.
I’ve never done the olympic boards or any cliffs but I’ve jumped off of locks into water. I don’t have any issue with that, but I don’t do flips anymore. I fucked that up once and belly smacked from like 25-30ft, it didn’t go well. I didn’t even go under. The entire front of my body looked like it was sunburnt.