IS THE VANCE CREEK BRIDGE CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC?
The Quest For The Ultimate Selfie
Every year, thousands of people flock to the Vance Creek Bridge in search of the ultimate selfie and you probably are no exception. I created this page to give you a basic rundown for visiting the Vance Creek Bridge. If you are like me, you may have gotten conflicting messages about the Vance Creek Bridge. When I first learned of the Vance Creek Bridge, I too desired to take a photo of myself standing on the bridge. The only problem was the fact that I was told that the bridge was shutdown. Once I heard that it was shut down, my interest went no further than that day until I noticed pictures continually popping up of people standing on the Vance Creek Bridge. That naturally lead me to the question, “Is the Vance Creek Bridge closed to the public?” The quick answer is, “Yes and no”. Yes, it is closed to the public if you want to climb onto the bridge and no, if you simply want to go see the bridge. You cannot climb up and take selfies on the bridge, but that doesn’t seem to stop youngsters from posting pics of themselves on the bridge. In spite of not being able to climb up on the bridge, it is perfectly legal to go and view it. Just seeing the bridge is worth the hour and a half drive from Seattle, in my opinion. In this article, I will tell you exactly how to get there and where to go. I’ll also have some pertinent details for those that want to climb the bridge.
HIKING TO THE VANCE CREEK BRIDGE
The hike to the Vance Creek Bridge is not long. From the trail head to the bridge, it’s roughly about a 15-minute walk if you go there directly. The trail to the bridge is well marked and pretty straight forward. While walking, there’s not much to see along the trail. It’s pretty much a dirt road with some trees along the side, but the bridge more than makes up for the lack of scenery along the way. The hike is by no means strenuous. There is very little elevation gain along the way. When you see the bridge directly in front, you will know that you’ve come to the end of the trail.
Along the way to the Vance Creek Bridge, you will come to an intersection. At the intersection, there is a sign posted that says, “Side view”, along with an arrow. This trail will take you to an opening where you can get a good look at the bridge from the side. The trail to the side view is well marked and will take you through a nice canopy of trees. It’s roughly about a 10-to-15-minute walk from main trail to the bridge. The side view also doesn’t seem to be as frequented as the main view of the bridge. When I went, I only encountered two people along the trail. There is another trail that seems to skirt the edge of the canyon. I didn’t follow it, but it could quite possibly lead you to the bridge. As for me, I backed tracked to the main trail and then proceeded the Vance Creek Bridge.
For those of you wondering if you can hike down to the bottom of the Vance Creek Bridge. Unfortunately, I never looked for a trail that lead down to the bottom, but I assume that there is one because I have seen pictures posted of people taking pictures of the bridge from the bottom.
VIEWING THE VANCE CREEK BRIDGE
There are no shortages of great vantage points when it comes to viewing the Vance Creek Bridge. In addition to the side view and the head on view of the bridge, there are multiple trails around the bridge. Be sure to allow enough time to explore these trails in order to get the perfect shot of the bridge. In the meantime, I’ll give you a basic overview of the two main viewing points, the side and main view of the Vance Creek Bridge.
Side View Of the Vance Creek Bridge
The side view is a great option for those that want to get a photo of the total span of the bridge. From here, you can see the bright green bridge along with its beautiful arc. This is the spot for those of you who are eager to use your wide-angle lens to capture the entire bridge. Furthermore, the side view is ideal place for those looking to launch their drone to get some amazing areal footage.
At the Vance Creek Bridge
Once at the bridge, there are plenty of great views. The trail to the bridge ends about the same level as the top of the bridge which gives you a great vantage point of the beams and an unobstructed view of anyone who chose to climb the bridge. When I went, I arrived just in time to see a guy and his girlfriend balancing themselves on the beams while they made their way back from the bridge.
Even if you don’t opt to climb the bridge, this is a great place to hang out and people watch. I spent roughly an hour watching youngsters try to figure out how they were going to climb on top of the bridge. That in itself was entertaining.
CLIMBING THE VANCE CREEK BRIDGE
For those looking for the ultimate experience, you absolutely must climb to the top of the bridge. There is nothing more exhilarating than an activity that puts your life at risk. No doubt, climbing the Vance Creek Bridge is dangerous, but I found it ironic that I didn’t find any recorded Vance Creek Bridge deaths of people falling of the bridge. Granted, I didn’t do an in-depth search of reported deaths, but I was surprised by the low number of incidences. Regardless, I believe it’s just a matter of time before someone does die on the bridge because make no mistake about it, the bridge is dangerous.
Climbing the bridge takes a level of determination. First, you need to figure out how you are going to scale the massive bridge. At the front of the bridge, there is a massive support structure made of concrete. 95% of this support is surrounded by barb wire. Although, I found it strange that they placed the barb wire in the front and on the sides of the support; however, the back of the support had nothing. It didn’t seem like they made a whole hearted effort to keep people off the bridge.
People normally take one of two routes. The first is to climb the bridge’s metal support beams. These beams seem relatively easy to climb. I saw plenty of people climb them without a problem. It seemed like the ones who stopped climbing did so only because they got freaked out when they realized how high they were from the ground. The second route is to climb the bridge at the back part of the concrete support that I mentioned earlier. The back has no barb wire, so if you opt to mount the bridge here, the back is the ideal place to do it. When I arrived, someone had managed to lasso a very frail looking rope around a metal bar that was attached to the concrete. I saw a few people climb it, but I’m not so certain that the rope would have supported my weight had I attempted to climb with it. Honestly, It is my opinion that the easiest way to climb this concrete support is to bring a ladder. You could quite easily lay it against the support and climb up quite easily. The hard part would be transporting the ladder from the trail head to the bridge. Regardless of what way you decided to climb this bridge, I recommend you bring a decent rope or a ladder for facilitating your climb.
Once you’ve managed to get to the top of the bridge, you will next have to negotiated balancing yourself across the bridge beams. The owners of the bridge removed a great deal of the wooden planks so you will have to balance yourself across the 12-inch-wide beams. People normally do that one of two ways. Those with excellent balance simply walk across these beams with ease. As for everyone else, they usually find themselves on their hands and knees crawling across the beams. If I ever decide to walk on this bridge, I will undoubtedly find myself crawling on my hands and knees because I have the worst balance.
I’m not sure of the distance you have to walk on these beams before you get to the wooden planks on the bridge, but I would say that it’s roughly 1000 feet you need to balance yourself on this bridge. Once you get to the wooden planks, things get a lot easier. However, these wood planks are over 100 years old and look like they would buckle when stepped on. Although walking becomes easier at that point, definitely walk with caution to avoid any close calls. If I ever decide to climb the bridge I will walk completely across the bridge. It looks like it would be an awesome experience.
One final mentioned about walking on the Vance Creek Bridge. I have read on the internet that a number of people have been issued a citation for trespassing. Please keep that in mind if you do decide to take the risk. The day I went, there was no one out there enforcing the no trespassing policy, but that’s not to say that there won’t ever be anyone out there. Two girls that walked on the bridge got a citation that cost them $150. If you want to learn about the girl’s experience, a quick search on YouTube will bring up their video, but that’s something to keep in mind.
GETTING TO THE VANCE CREEK BRIDGE
Getting to Vance Creek Bridge can be a bit tricky. I drove in from Seattle. At the start of my trip, I typed “Vance Creek Viaduct Trailhead” into Google Maps and it came right up. I had no problems navigating there right up to the point I was about 1/8th of a mile from the trailhead and then the signal dropped out. I then found myself struggling to decide where to go next. With no signal, I drove roughly five miles pass the trailhead and stopped where I saw a bunch of cars parked. I got out hoping I was at the bridge. I wasn’t. Fortunately, I came across a couple that I befriended. They knew exactly where the bridge was and guided me were to go. I mention this so you won’t be shocked if you lose your GPS signal right before you arrive at your destination. I’m going to tell you exactly what to do when that happens.
Driving in from Seattle, take Interstate 5 South towards Olympia/Portland. Take exit 104 for US-101 N. towards Aberdeen/Port Angeles. Continue for 21 miles and then turn left onto W. Skokomish Valley Rd. Continue straight onto Govey Rd. Then make a slight left onto NF-2199/NF-2341. Continue for 1.2 miles to Vance Creek Viaduct Trail. Just before you get to the trail head, you may lose your GPS signal. At least that’s what happened for me and my hiking buddy. Losing your GPS signal will serve as an indication that you have essentially arrived. Just before we lost our GPS signal, the paved road turned to a dirt. When we lost the signal, we were approaching a fork in the road. The road that lead to the left was closed off and had a sign that said no trespassing. Take the road to the right of the fork and keep driving. As you drive, keep an eye out for some parked cars and a closed off service road. That will be the trail head for the Vance Creek Bridge. There is no sign announcing your arrival, but that’s it. To be sure you are in the right place, check the gate closing off the service road. There is a place for bulletins to be posted. Someone has spray painted a few colorful words on it. When You see that, you know that you’ve arrived. See the picture below.
