Vandal strikes Iditarod Trail Bridge

By Ken Smith
Turnagain Times

First it was the hand tram over the Winner Creek trail, now a foot bridge on the Iditarod Trail has been vandalized. Whether it’s the work of the same person or coincidence is uncertain.
The bridge crosses California Creek close to the junction where the creek flows into Glacier Creek near the railroad tracks. The trail connects Girdwood Old Townsite with the New Townsite, a portion of the National Historic Iditarod Trail that passes through land managed by the Heritage Land Bank and owned by the municipality. Most of the trail is on Chugach National Forest land.
The bridge vandalism was reported on Oct. 2 to the Girdwood Trails Committee about the same time the hand tram was sabotaged. A support beam was obviously cut by a chainsaw, collapsing the bridge; however, it remained intact enough to not wash away in the current, hovering about a foot above the water.
A week after the vandalism occurred, the bridge was repaired by Girdwood Old Townsite resident George Von der Heide and several friends, who jacked it up and placed two sections of steel tubing on each side replacing the underside supports. They then wrapped a cable around each log that was supporting it.
“I’ve probably been the primary maintainer of this section of trail between the Old Townsite and Cotton Wood Lane,” 62-year-old Von der Heide said. “I’ve lived here for almost 40 years now, and of course I use this trail for skiing, hiking and mountain biking. It was about three weeks ago that I noticed the bridge had been cut. Lolly Moss and her husband, Ed, and my girlfriend, Kristen, helped me get the material and with their assistance put those two pipe splints on the bridge.”
As for the motivation behind the vandalism, Von der Heide suspects that it’s someone who resents a rule banning motorized vehicles on the trail.
“Apparently what the deal is on this Iditarod Trail is that there’s no place in the entire Girdwood valley where it’s permissible or legal to ride unauthorized motorized vehicles,” Von der Heide said, “and the only ones allowed on our trails are for maintenance. They tried putting signs up in the past identifying the trail as part of the Iditarod Trail system and that this trail was closed to motorized vehicles, and it was almost immediately torn down. My guess is that this was just more resentment somebody has regarding the non-motorized part of this thing. It’s some person that wants the motorized thing to continue, and they’re upset that all the trails are closed to all motorized vehicles, and that’s the key to this whole thing and the reason somebody is vandalizing it.”
Von der Heide explained that Girdwood resident Joe Hanson built the original bridge about 20 years ago to access the area for firewood, but a few years ago he got fed up with theft and people throwing garbage and walking across his property to fish the creeks, so he removed the bridge.
The bridge was then rebuilt two or three years ago by resident Cliff Larson, who also lives in the Old Townsite. Larson rebuilt it with the help of a Boy Scout troupe, and acquired money from the Girdwood Trails Committee for lumber.
Although Von der Heide feels the new splint is a good fix and may last another ten years, he believes a more permanent bridge made of steel or pressure treated lumber would be the preferred material as the main support on the bridge, an alternative the trails committee is considering.