If you're not quite ready to let the holidays slip into the past, quick, drive to Westfir this morning and join the party on Oregon's longest covered bridge.
While visiting the
last week, I saw a sign alerting travelers that the bridge would be closed Saturday, Jan. 4, for a holiday event. I don't know what they plan to do, but it looks like it should be a fun time.
The bridge has been outfitted for the holidays, sporting candy cane decorations, penguins, reindeers and lights. Its side windows frame wintry scenes. The bridge is already painted red, so it doesn't take much to make it look festive this time of year.
The bridge is the longest covered span in Oregon, at 180 feet. It is also one of the most scenic. I've been making the rounds of Oregon's 55 or so covered bridges. With three to go, I still haven't see one that is any better.
Owned and managed by
, the bridge is also known as Westfir (the community where it is located) and the North Fork of the Middle Fork bridge (the river it crosses). The name Office works for me, because it was built in the 1940s to connect the office of a local timber company with its lumber yard.
The fork of the Willamette River that the bridge spans comes out of Waldo Lake, which makes it one of Oregon's most pristine rivers, a designated Oregon Scenic Waterway. When you drive across the bridge, the road ends at a Willamette National Forest trailhead, where a 25-mile trail up the North Fork begins.
The bridge is located off Oregon 58, the scenic Willamette Pass Highway. While driving southeast of Eugene, look for the marked turn before you enter (from the west) the congestion around Oakridge. The office of the Middle Fork Ranger District is on the south side of the highway, directly across from the turnoff, near milepost 31. Follow signs two miles westerly upstream to find the bridge.
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An unusual feature of the bridge is that the walkway is separated from the roadway, with separate entrances. It may also be unusual to have a bridge close for a holiday party, especially a party a few days after the holidays.
-- Terry Richard