A dilapidated bridge in a North Country wilderness area is officially slated for removal this fall. Officials in the White Mountain National Forest Service finalized their decision on the Thoreau Falls Bridge this week.
The old wooden bridge in the Pemigewasset Wilderness has been closed to hikers since last fall. It spans a rocky creek bed that sometimes floods.
District ranger Brooke Brown has now officially decided the bridge doesn't belong in federal wilderness, which is meant to be primeval and undisturbed.
"It's a different experience that one goes to a designated wilderness [for], and that's within line of it being a little different, more challenging."
The Forest Service built the bridge in 1962, before the federal wilderness program began.
Work on removing the bridge begins this fall. In its place, Brown says they'll post signs telling hikers to cross the water at their own risk.
Read the statement here:
