July 9, 2020 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
©
Shelton Mason County Journal. All rights reserved. Upgrade to access Premium Tools
PAGE 39 (39 of 40 available) PREVIOUS NEXT Jumbo Image Save To Scrapbook Set Notifiers PDF JPG
July 9, 2020 |
|
Website © 2025. All content copyrighted. Copyright Information Terms Of Use | Privacy Policy | Request Content Removal | About / FAQ | Get Acrobat Reader ![]() |
ON THE TRAIL
By MARK
WOYTOWICH
ow lucky to be,
a child growing
up in the upper
Skokomish Valley. Of
course there’s the Olym—
pic Mountain Ice Cream
plant, hidden away on
one of the most color—
fully named lanes you
will ever come across
— there are quite a few
great names up here ——
and the Richert Farm
produce stand, so kids
can balance that bel- .
lyful of salted caramel
swirl with some fresh
veggies from their
neighbor’s farm.
Heirloom apple trees
line the Skokomish Val-
ley Road in places, some
dropping fruit around
mailboxes at the end
of farmers’ driveways,
with some apples roll-
ing into the road where
car tires make apple
sauce. Cows, horses
and llamas roam the
fields, eagles and buz-
zards fly above and
not strange at all to the
locals salmon in the
fall swim across the
road when the South
Fork Skokomish River
runs over its banks.
Come every July
with its hot weather
and dropping stream
levels, the children
growing up here prob-
ably begin to behave a
bit like salmon them-
selves, exploring Vance
Creek and the wide,
sprawling, sediment-
laden bends of the
Skokomish, crossing
the knee-deep, clear
waters as they forge
upstream in search of
cliffs and swimming
holes, and in the case of
Vance Creek, to Where
they can look up at the
Vance Creek Bridge
spanning 347 feet above
them.
No doubt some chil-
dren from the 19605 are
still around as adults
today, a bit creaky in
the knees, gray stubble
on their necks and
chins, and they can tell
you stories of looking
up at the Vance Creek
Bridge as one of those
final loads of logs came
shuddering across the
steel beams, hauled
off to the Simpson mill
until logging operations
ceased in the 1970s.
Old-timers’ stories
about the bridge (and
her nearby sister, the
High Steel Bridge) are
plentiful, colorful and
Painting a new p
strain the bounds of
credibility. Personally,
I believe most to be
true. I especially love
the one told to me by
Dale Hubbard, owner
of KMAS 1030 AM Ra-
dio before selling it to
iFiberOne. He said he
and his friends used to
rig up go-karts to fit the
rails and ride across the
bridge on them.
As if the two high-
est railway bridges
in the United States
aren’t enough to keep
you entertained in your
Skokomish Valley back-
yard, I learned recently
from another gray-whis-
kered Valley resident
that a fairly large wa-
terfall is tucked some—
where up there as well.
Indeed, I have the
scratches, sore muscles
and fir needle tips
down my collar from
my efforts to find the
falls. They are huge
and high, spilling into
staggered tiers of shim—
mering pools separated
by chutes of flowing
cataracts.
But I’m going to save
all of that for later.
Right now, we need
to focus on the Vance
Creek Bridge.
FINALLY, FAMILY
FUN
I never thought I’d
be recommending the
Vance Creek Bridge
as old-fashioned fam-
ily fun, but my most
recent visit, over the
July 4th holiday, has
me changing my rating
from “Jaws” to “Finding
Nemo.”
Employees of Green
Diamond Resource Go,
owners of the bridge
and surrounding land,
have gone out of their
way to make the bridge
accessible. In addition
to policing and main—
taining a large parking
area, they’ve regraded
the entire walkway to
the bridge (about 0.7
miles), replacing cul-
verts and eliminating
that last wet gulley you
had to climb in and out
of.
It’s now a wide,
smooth, super-groomed
walkway, allowing
COVID-prOper distance
between those com-
ing and going from the
bridge. The walkway is
lined with thousands of
wildflowers: white-pet-
aled daisies as tall as
your chest; yellow dan-
delion and buttercup;
white, pink and purple
foxglove cones; and
for the herb collector,
stands of yellow-petaled
St. John’s Wort, which
draw big, fat bumble-
bees, drunk on pollen.
. Thanks to a moist
early summer, both
sides of the walkway
icture o
n-
fVa ngc reek
Thursday, July 9, 2020 Shelton-Mason County Journal — Page A—39 ~
Bfidgel
i
Think of graffiti as coronavirus in a can, a spray can. Along with litter,
spray painting is a human-
‘ sourced assault on natural, historical and recreational treasures in
Mason County. These youths,
who did not spray graffiti, were nevertheless trespassing on the Vance
Creek Bridge, a criminal
offense carrying a $150 fine. Journal photo by Mark Woytowich
are sprouting long, low
vines of native black-
berry. Many thousands
of red, juicy jewels are
about a week away from
darkening to edible.
Get here soon and you
can eat your way to the
bridge.
A short spur trail
leads to a “gorge-ous”
View of the bridge. (Re-
turn the same way; do
not meander off on the
amateur trails along
the bluffs.)
NEW PAINT JOB?
Finally we approach
the bridge. I had been
worried that officials at
Green Diamond were
employing a strategy of
“a thousand cuts” as a
way of slowly disman—
tling the bridge. After
all, around 2015 the
company had pulled up
the first 100 feet or so of
railroad ties as a means
of discouraging climbers
from crossing the span.
I was worried there
would be no railroad
hasn’t changed. Ample
railroad ties and weird,
twisted steel rails still
beckon the viewer. It’s
still the same dreamy and all those years
ties left next time I vis- greenish hulk of steel since, with teens and
ited. holding out its tempting young adults who’ve
Well, that status palm, its gangplank of crossed those timbers
with racing hearts, with
mixed fear and wonder,
spaced timbers leading
off to memories going
back as far as 1929
when it was first built
see TRAIL, page A-40
ALLYN Case Inlet
our
SHELTON |Oakland Bay
your. local lines
For the week of JULY 9 through JULY 15,2020
HIGH (FEET) LOW (FEET) SUN MOON
lO
‘1 m-mmmmmm
‘2 9m fl ‘
wmmmmmwmmmmmn
‘4 mmmmmmm
wmmmmmwmmmmmn
DATE HIGH (FEET) [OW (FEET) SUN MOON
UNION [Hood Canal
AM F‘M A M PM
mmmmmmmmmmmm
mmmmmmmmnmmm
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
DATE HIGH (FEET) LOW (FEET) a SUN MOON
Tide tables
may contain enors. Not intended for
navigational use.
Tidal Information Courtesy US Halbosscom
AM PM A 3‘?) PM
smwnmmmmmmmmm
mummwmmmmnmmm
“mmnwmmmmmmwm
wmmmmmmmmmmmn
WNEHWMMMMEEMM
MEI-mummmmmmn
wmwmmwwmmnmmn
Weekly Tide Tables Sponsored by-
Vourm Camplm 0mm Recreation 5m sma ms
(360) 426-0933
have been linnsuibed and