Fortunately the solution was standing right beside the fast-flowing mountain stream.
And it was big, too.
Fixing the problem required toppling several tons of Douglas-fir in dangerously steep terrain and then wrestling the obstinate mass into place.
All this in a spot where winter is the longest season.
Little wonder that constructing a new bridge across BC Creek, along the Chief Joseph Mountain trail, spanned parts of two years.
The single-log bridge, with hefty rails on each side, was finished Saturday, May 22.
Its completion gives hikers an easier, and safer, route to one of the grandest vistas in the Wallowas, from the shoulder of Chief Joseph Mountain.
The devil is in the details. The devil is also in hard realities. Veteran Mike McCarter, president of Move Oregonâs Border, wrote an opinion piece in local papers supporting MOB, which wants to force 850,000 Oregonians to become Idahoans and force 75% of the land in Oregon into Idaho.
This fellow veteran looks at just eight of a thousand devilish details and realities that would result from MOBâs plan.
1. Snowplows. Those plows that keep our highways and freeways open are owned by Oregon. Will Oregon donate millions of dollars of plows to another state? Is Idaho going to spend millions to buy plows and pay drivers to service nearly all the snow country of Oregon, which is now largely paid for by western Oregon gas taxes? Who will keep our highways clear? MOB volunteers?
Mar 8, 2021
The first signs of spring are here and Oregon State Parks staff are busy preparing campgrounds for a more “normal” 2021 Spring Break and summer camping season.
“Our visitors and staff have weathered a rough 12 months,” said Lisa Sumption, director of the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD). “None of us imagined this time last year that we would face a more than two-month shutdown of Oregon State Parks and then reopen under pandemic and safety precautions, followed by last September’s wildfires that damaged our local communities and several state parks. This February’s ice storm also brought down trees and limbs and damaged some facilities in northern Willamette Valley and Columbia River Gorge parks.