FR 56 Bridge Washed Out

Hey I just wanted to post some info on FR 56. We were just up there this weekend visiting Otter Falls and Nordrum Lake. The combination of heavy snows this winter, and a hot streak the last couple weeks here in WA caused the river to swell and take 1/3 of the last cement bridge with it.

Trail head is still accessible, however, you must either be willing to get wet and wade the river, OR shimmy down a fallen tree which goes all the way to shore. We took the tree method. The tree itself has no limbs or "stubs" sticking out, bark is smooth, making for an easy descent. Heck, a fellow hiker had hisolder dog out there, and he made it down without any help at all.

I'll also have pics of Otter Falls and our entire trip up soon!

Bridge

Wow, is that a major used bridge? Looks like the flooding must have been a lot!

Ya theres still huge amounts of snow up there too. Could melt off even more with more damaging results. The bridge has medium traffic over it. It WAS the bridge that lead to the Goldmeyer Hot Springs as well. Kind of disappointing because I wanted to go up there this year. On the plus side, you can still use the Middlefork Trailhead to reach Goldmeyer, but it tacked on an extra 4 miles to the hike. If anyone hears of plans to repair the bridge, please post!