Maybird bridge collapsed under last year's deep snowpack. In all fairness, that bridge has got to be over 40 years old, it was there when I was in high-school, the late 1970’s, and I’m not aware that it has ever been rebuilt. When I was about 15, in 1977, I was hiking here in the spring with my Dad and brother Mark, the snow was about 10 feet deep and there was a deep trench due to the rushing stream eroding the snowpack from below. There were two hikers on the opposite side trying to get across, but it was a dicy, scary situation. If they fell into the trench into the rushing water they’d never get out, they’d likely drown when the water pulled them under the snow. My Dad found a dead-fall Douglas Fir and broke off the narrow top 20 feet off the trunk. My Dad yelled over to the hikers to throw their packs and gear over, which they did, and Mark and I rushed to grab it before it fell back into the watery trench. Once all their gear was safely over my Dad extended the tree trunk for them to grab, to use as a hand rail as they jumped over the trench, then use as a hand-hold while they dug into snowbank for secure purchase. Once over they said they had been camping in Hogum Fork. Three days earlier on their ascent, there was no trench and no open water, they simply hiked right over stream, hearing the rushing water deep under the snow.
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