The Bridge

I've finally gotten around to posting a new entry.  Though I haven't taken a lot of pictures lately, I do have some that I want to share.  They are all of different story lines, so it may take a couple of entries to post them.

I decided to start with a few of the trail that I normally hike.  Depending on my mood, the intensity of the heat, the number of people on the trail, and how much time I have, I sometimes hike the trail 3 times around.

There is a short loop and a long loop.  It's ideal when I can do both, and go around two times.  Back in March we had a lot of rain, and the rain actually moved a foot bridge on the short loop.  The movement wasn't too serious but it did move it enough where you'd have to step up to get on the bridge.  I was managing just fine with that, until they decided to "close" the bridge and it looked like this.

As you can see there are some "caution" tapes that have been torn off.  I want to make clear, I DIDN'T DO THAT!!  But, apparently, other hikers did.  I always duck under the tape and did just fine.  I also want to say, I didn't jump up and down on the bridge either...I wasn't taking any chances.  😊There is a slight dip in the center of the bridge, but I think that was there before the bridge was moved.

So every day I'd plod over to the short trail to see if I had to duck under the tape, or if the tape was torn down.  It made my hike much more adventurous.  Then one day, I heard some hammering and I was so excited that they were actually working on the bridge!!  Yahoo!!  Two months later they are finally repairing it.   So, I stayed away so as not to get in the way of the workers.  I hiked the long loop 3 times that day.

The next day I returned and was anxious to see how the "new and improved" bridge would look like.  To my dismay, this is what I found!!!

What??!!  Are you kidding me??!!  All the time and effort they spent blocking the bridge even more, they could have spent repairing it!!!  No side rails!!!  This old lady can't jump over or crawl under that mess!!  I'm sure someone will give it a go....but not me!  Two months and they still haven't made it accessible.  I'm really bummed.

I still hike the short trail when I have time, but I have to approach differently.  I walk the top of the trail down to the bridge and then turn around and go the other direction...hence, it is no longer the short loop, since I walk it twice.

This is the road block they have at both ends of the short loop.  I just walk around it.  I'm such a rebel!