In 1980, a flood/avalanche/big event caused the Lookout Creek bridge, one of the forest service road's bridges, to come off of it's footings and descend approximately a quarter-mile downhill to the bottom of the valley to settle in the streambed of the Cascade river.  It was finally removed from the streambed in the fall of 2003.

As an interesting aside, according to the Skagit County bridge inspector, the girders used to make the bridge were salvaged from another ill-fated bridge- the first Tacoma Narrows Bridge, Galloping Gertie.

The bridge came to rest in an unfortunate location- near the end of a very long, continuous, and complicated bigwater Class V rapid, with it's upstream end acting as an active strainer.  To make things worse, the opening of the bridge was located such that pickets on both sides of the river made the strainer something one needed to actively avoid.

Perhaps as a result, Bridge drop has become one of the most lethal rapids in the northwest.

Documenting this hazard was the initial reason for creating this website.  The pictures that follow were used to document the hazard:

The bridge, as viewed from river level	A higher-detail picture of the bridge, as viewed from river level	Perspectives from upstream, looking down to the bridge.	Detail of the downstream edge	broader view of the right side
Looking upstream	The rubble of the deck, on river right	View of the wreckage from upstream, taken from atop the large mossy rock.	a 'reasonable' interpretation of what the water would be doing if the bridge was not straining water.	A more accurate observation of what's going on in this rapid.
A boater's eye view of the upstream aspect of the bridge.	The author, for scale	Nick, for scale	The girders are substantial. Again, our subject is 6' and these were darn big girders.	View from the bank of a low-water day (well below normal paddling levels) upstream, into 'Starts with a Bang'.
View from downstream of the bridge structure.	The memorial to Mike Barker. It hangs up on the road by the lookout above the drop.	A memorial for Eric Adler. It hangs on river left.