By Zach Johns
Aug. 20, 2012

TWO HARBORS - On Sept. 8, nearly three months after a devastating flood swept away the Superior Hiking Trail’s Encampment River bridge, a team of nearly 30 volunteers were able to replace the span. The Encampment bridge, which had been rebuilt three times before due to ice jams and floods, was the last bit of major clean-up left after ten inches of rain hit the area on June 20.

The storm that hit the Duluth area made national news.  Of course, most of the coverage focused on the homes and businesses damaged during the storm, but area hikers were immediately concerned with the condition of the Superior Hiking Trail - one of the most popular trails in the Midwest.

In the days after the flood, Superior Hiking Trail staff, maintenance supervisors and volunteers mobilized to asses the damage along the nearly 300-mile trail. The good news was that everything north of Gooseberry Falls State Park received very minor damage. South of Gooseberry, however, was another story. The Two Harbors and Duluth area saw extensive damage to the trail. Bridges were lost at Crow Creek, Wilson Creek and many tributaries.

In the weeks that followed, teams of volunteers, including a Minnesota Conservation Corps Summer Youth Crew, built three new bridges and pulled the others back into place, repairing them as needed. The largest bridges that were lost were on the Encampment and Sucker Rivers. The Sucker River bridge is an impressive A-frame design and took a monumental effort to rebuild a crib and lift the bridge back into place.

The Encampment bridge took a bit longer to replace as it was redesigned to be supported only at the ends of the bridge without a crib in the middle. The hope is the new design will help it withstand floods and ice jams in the future. The loss of the Encampment bridge was difficult for local hikers as being surrounded by private land, there was no easy way to get around it. Hikers were forced on an extra seven mile road walk - not pleasant for hikers who would rather be deep in the woods.  

Two weekends ago the redesigned bridge was ready to go. Lumber and hardware was carried-in, volunteers were recruited (including a group of United States Marines) and the bridge was finally reconstructed. After a morning of pounding bolts, more than sixty hands picked-up the enormous span and raised the downstream side of the bridge gently upon both riverbanks. A cheer rang through the gorge as many volunteers who had thought “How in the world are we going to do this?” realized the trail was once again open.

The recovery from this 500-year flood event is still far from over. Although the vast majority of the trail is now open, there is still a lot of work to do, particularly in the West Duluth area and in Jay Cooke State Park. The Superior Hiking Trail Association will be working closely with the Minnesota DNR in the coming months as the entire Jay Cooke segment was decimated. But with the volunteer spirit exhibited since the flood, hikers have little doubt the work will get done.  

For the latest updates, see the Superior Hiking Trail Association’s web site at www.shta.org.