The Bridge Crew
Posted by sccadmin on Tuesday, October 5th, 2010.By Maria Osborne
For anyone with no engineering experience, the first look at seven pages of blueprints for a 36 foot long bridge can be daunting, to say the least.
“…and you will be attempting to construct the whole thing with hand tools because the bridge is located in a wilderness area!” These were some of the words I took in when first being briefed on the bridge Crew #21 would be tackling in the next five weeks. The infamous bridge was to be constructed on the Santa Barbara trail, in the Carson National Forest and less than a mile into the Pecos Wilderness.
When the crew arrived at the Forest Service Office in Penasco, New Mexico we were greeted by a very excited ranger, “We are SO stoked to finally get this bridge built! Let’s go look at it- she’s beautiful”. With that, the whole crew piled back into the big red van and headed to the maintenance yard, where four massive bridge stringers sat, waiting for us. The bridge was indeed beautiful… and big. “
A ton and a half, each of those stringers,” the ranger proudly announced. I looked at my co-leader and raised an eyebrow. We had 15 short days to: take those stringers apart, label every single plate and bolt, help a pack team pack the stringers and at least another 5 tons of decking material two and a half miles into the backcountry, and then put the whole thing back together exactly as it sat before us…only over a river.
The next two weeks were spent completing a menagerie of interesting and new tasks. One day was consumed by leading some very stubborn pack mules up and down the trail. One day was spent wadding around in the river. Another day dedicated to mortaring rocks into the abutment. Everyday required chasing havoc wrecking cows out of our campsite. Everyday you could find at least one person joyfully crushing rocks for hours on end. Many frustrating hours each free moment were spent brooding over the blueprints. One more day of leading the mules (this time most of us just gave up on the pack animals and carried the wood ourselves…). Far too many days exchanging worried looks as the old bridge sank lower and lower as the new bridge was assembled on top. Another day dedicated to carrying 60 lbs. bags of mortar down the trail…
On our drive home, I looked back, exhausted, at my crew to say some encouraging words- but they were all asleep.
After five days of much needed rest and relaxation the crew is headed back down to New Mexico, excited to put the finishing touches and the “Bridge Ninjas Crew” (as we dubbed ourselves) seal of approval on the beautiful new addition to the Carson National Forest.
Before:
After:
