Covered Bridges in Oregon

We read in a "tourist" magazine that there were three covered bridges in Lane County, Oregon which is where we are, so today we took off in search of them. I have to tell you that today was one of a few really nice days since we've been on the Oregon coast - the sky was clear and the sun bright. The temperatures were in the 60's, which for here is great! I can hardly wait for 70's and 80's again though as I feel like my fingers and toes haven't been warm for over a week!

OK, back to the bridges. We took off this morning determined that we would see all three and following the less than specific directions like "watch for big red barn almost on road" we found them.

The first bridge - Deadwood Creek Covered Bridge - this bridge was built in 1932 and is 105 feet in length. When you look at the picture, you'll notice that the bridge floor is banked. This is the first wooden bridge that I've seen built this way. The reason in the tourist magazine is "built with banked wooden floorboards to keep vehicles from sliding as the entered rapidly along the curve". I question the entering rapidly into a one lane bridge! Oh well, it certainly made it different from any other covered bridge I've seen.

Deadwood Creek Covered Bridge and Siuslaw River....



Next we were in search of Nelson Mountain/Lake Creek Covered Bridge. This is the one that included in the directions "watch for an enormous old red barn on the right, practically in the road". Gotta love the directions. No problem though, we found it after avoiding running into the enormous old red barn that was practically in the road - haha. This bridge was built in 1928, and then was rebuilt in 1984 after sustaining damage from flooding and log trucks. It's different because it now has a concrete floor.

Nelson Mountain/Lake Creek Covered Bridge....



On to the third bridge, Wildcat Creek Covered Bridge which was built in 1925 and is 75 feel in length. We were directed to turn on Stagecoach Road for a drive that will take us "back in time" where we would be able to "sense the ghosts of stagecoaches past". Whatever! I was driving and I'll tell you, I would not do this drive again in the dully. A small car, yes, a big truck - NO! The road was paved for about the first five miles then turned to gravel, but that's not bad. We followed a creek and the railroad tracks which we must have crisscrossed at least 6 times. When the road turned to gravel, it also became narrow, but the best was yet to come. About 2 - 3 miles further into this journey we climbed above the creek and railroad tracks on a road that was, in spots, just wide enough for our dully. I'm talking looking down on the right side about 30 - 50 feet straight down and no guard rails, no shoulder, and on the left side was sheer cliff. I just knew I was going to meet a log truck or worse! This went on for about 15 more miles with some spots with highway warning signs where the road had washed out on the right side - scary. Well, we managed to get almost to the bridge and sure enough, here comes a truck right at me. Thank goodness it was a regular size pickup and he was at a wider spot in the road. He literally was hugging the rock wall and I think my right rear outside tire was off the pavement as we passed with just enough room to place a sheet of paper between us. But on we went, now very determined to find this darn bridge, no matter what! Finally it came into view in all it's splendor - well, there it was anyway. We parked the truck and got our pictures. I looked past the bridge and don't you know it, there was the major highway from Florence - grrrr. Nothing was mentioned in the article that you could reach this bridge from the highway. Well, guess what? We opted to get on the highway to come back to Florence, instead of retracing our tire tracks. To bad though, as during the drive to the bridge, we passed so many different wildflowers that I was going to take pictures of on the return trip, along with small waterfalls that were running down the cliffs. It really was a beautiful country, make that a deep country, drive and one that I'll remember for a long time to come.

Wildcat Creek Covered Bridge....



Side view of Wildcat Creek Covered Bridge.....



Look at the size of these tree roots......





You can access all the pictures at : http://picasaweb.google.com/SchultzTravelPhotos/2007_05_28CoveredBridgesOfLaneCoWA

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