Tag Archive for 'homemade bridge'

Crossing the river

My friends decided to build a bridge because

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a cottonwood fell across the river right in front of their house.  It was close enough to where they wanted to cross that it seemed like a reasonable idea.

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This is the view from upriver, looking downstream.  Of course, it wasn’t this perfect by accident.  The tree trunk was moved to the best place and is being stabilized before a handrail gets attached.  Christy and Steve moved the cottonwood trunk into place with a comealong. (This comealong sells for $12.09, so it’s definitely the cheapest way to move big weights.  

4 Ton Hand Puller / Comealong

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This is the view from downstream, looking up.  The structure holding the near end of the trunk is artfully obscured by the red twig dogwood. 

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This end of the tree is forked, and they built a structure of notched logs to support it. 

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This is the only homemade bridge I can recall seeing.  Most every bridge we cross has state sanction… but not this.  I saw Christy scamper across it, but I’m holding out for a handrail until the water is warmer

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and the dog wanted me to mention that she has no intention of ever using the bridge.  Ever.