The Bridge to Nowhere
We had just sat down after hiking seven miles over hill and dale, carrying our packs filled with our tents, sleeping bags and pads, spare clothes, water, and a couple of meals. We were exhausted. We were all sprawled out on the beach next to a stream that flowed into the ocean. Just then, Kyle, Daniel, and I wondered if we could construct a bridge to cross the stream. We looked for a large log that would do the job, but couldn’t find one long enough to span the fifteen foot wide stream. We noticed that there were several enormous logs on the other side. We just needed to find a way to get there. It was low tide, so down on the beach the stream became much wider, but only about a foot deep. We began collecting and hurling large rocks into the water to use as stepping stones. All of us, thinking we had good balance, got soaked from the knees down, with the exception of Kyle, who fell almost completely in. The combination of small logs and large rocks eventually got us across the river. Once across, we began scouting for a log both long enough to span the stream, and strong enough to withstand the weight of a few people. The only problem was that it was too heavy to carry. We quickly found a solution to that problem though. We all would lift one side and rotate the log 180 degrees, until finally, it was lying adjacent to the stream. We then threw the upstream end into the water and let the current swing it around to the other side, where we had helper that lifted it onto the opposite shore. After Kyle took the maiden voyage across we noticed that the tide would soon overtake the bridge and it would drift away. Daniel, Kyle and I concluded that if we surrounded the ends with rocks it would keep the bridge from floating away on high tide. Once the rocks were in place the bridge was complete. That is how the bridge to nowhere was built. —-Doug
