Snow at Mosby Creek Trailhead

/ Colette Kimball

Cottage Grove – like the rest of the Willamette Valley – is blanketed in an 8 inch layer of snow. It is beautiful and clear out, and the white snow mixed with the bright blue sky is a beautiful sight. To enjoy it as much as possible, we headed out to Mosby Creek Trailhead yesterday to enjoy the snow, the sights, and to stretch our legs.

Mosby Creek Covered Bridge in the snow.

Mosby Creek Covered Bridge in the snow.

The packed snow in the parking lot crunched underfoot as we got out of the car and let the dogs out. Another intrepid couple was also out enjoying the snow with their dog, but they were the only other people we saw there. Even though it has been extremely cold (for us), I was a bit surprised by how little the Row River Trail had been used. There were some footprints, for sure, and a set of ski tracks but I was surprised not to see any fat tire bike marks in the snow.

Row River Trail in snow.

Row River Trail blanketed in an 8″ layer of snow.

This trailhead  is one of my favorites because there is so much to see just from the parking lot. I can’t tell you how many photographs I’ve taken of the Mosby Creek Covered Bridge over the years, but this is the first time I’ve been able to get pictures of the bridge in snow and spanning over a partially frozen Mosby Creek.

Mosby Covered Bridge and a partially frozen Mosby Creek.

Mosby Creek and Mosby Creek Covered Bridge viewed from the Row River Trail.

The steel railroad bridge (famous for its appearance in the movie “Stand By Me”) was also pretty in the snow, with the bright blue sky as back drop.

Snow covers the steel railroad bridge over Mosby Creek.

Steel railroad bridge over Mosby Creek.

In all, we weren’t out long. We humans were plenty bundled up, but our dogs’ paws aren’t used to such extreme temperatures and it wasn’t long before they needed to get back to warmth of the car. It is starting to warm up today, still below freezing but the bitter nip is gone from the air, and the dogs are much happier to be playing in the snow.

Snow covers the Row River Trail

Enjoying a dog walk along a snow covered Row River Trail.

 

26 thoughts on “Snow at Mosby Creek Trailhead”

  1. Beautiful photos of our big snow, Colette. I’m ready for a warm-up after the cold nights and days. Roads in the city are still a mess. But we’re headed for Chamber Music Amici concert at the nearby Wildish Theater. Hope more than a few people show up tonight.

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    • Hi Mel. It is confusing. There are two bridges near Walden which look very similar. This one, which is on Layng Road, and the Stewart Covered Bridge which is on Garoutte Road.

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  4. Found them on Google Maps. I barely remember the one on Garoutte Rd, but I’ve been over the Layng Rd bridge often as a kid and in high school…favorite way to Dorena Dam.

    There used to be another covered bridge about 2 1/2 miles farther out where Blue Mountain School Rd branches off from Mosby Creek Rd. I’m not sure when it was taken down or why. Anyway, I’ve snapped a Google Maps shot that shows where it was (hope it works): http://goo.gl/maps/dKUcU

    Directly to the left after the bridge is the lane to the house and property of my grandfather, Albert Lancaster. My mom told me the old house, where she was born, had been torn down, so the one there now looks to be in the same spot but not the same house. As a kid, I used to help him haul hay from a field on top of the nearby mountain.

    Another site (and sight) that’s unfortunately missing was just up the hill a bit ( @ 1/4 mile) on Blue Mountain School Rd. This was the home and property of Harry Castle, my grandmother’s (Gladis) 2nd husband We just called him “granddad” and the real one (across the bridge) was “grandpa”; what did we know anyway! It was built a long time ago (I think by Castle) and instead of clapboard, it had vertical boards and looked like something one might see in an old movie. It was there for a long time, but I didn’t think to take a photo until a visit in 1993 at which point it had been so totally changed that it didn’t resemble the old place at all. (If it were still there today, it might even be a tourist attraction.) My aunt (deceased) painted the house way before it was changed, but I have no idea if the painting even exists now.

    Up the river near Blue Mountain School, they put up a rope bridge across Mosby Creek for the kids to take a shortcut to school. My mom was cook at the school and I used to cross the bridge once in awhile for fun. I can’t imagine that sort of bridge being allowed today!

    Well, I guess seeing 8″ of snow around there has made me a bit nostalgic today. Hope this hasn’t completely wasted your time.

    I’m following you on twitter. If the memories get too much for me, I’ll quit. 🙂

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      • I read your article mentioning the Brumbaugh Bridge. The location south of the Stewart Bridge seems like the right location, but the story you gave is quite different from the one Russel, my brother, recalls (below). I don’t remember either scenario. Anyway, the view looking through the Brumbaugh briidges pics you show seems about right: a field on the left and timber beyond.

        Our granddad Castle used to tell stories about the “old places” in that area, but I didn’t care and didn’t pay much attention–too bad.

        BTW, there were some small lumber mills near Mosby Creek Rd. One was on Quaglia Rd where we lived. They must have been serving the housing boom after WWII.

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  5. THE OLD BRIDGE, WHICH WAS NEXT TO THE LANE OF MY GRANDFATHER, BERT LANCASTER, COLLAPSED UNDER THE WEIGHT OF A LOGGING TRUCK (I WOULD ESTIMATE IT WAS AROUND THE EARLY 50’s. WE WENT UP TO LOOK AT THE BRIDGE WITH THE LOGGING TRUCK STILL IN THE BRIDGE, WHICH WAS NOW BUCKLED INTO MOSBY CREEK AT ITS CENTER. THE COUNTY REBUILT THE STRUCTURE USING A CONCRETE DESIGN. MY BROTHER, MEL McGUIRE, MAY NOT REMEMBER A SIMILAR ‘SWINGING BRIDGE’ LOCATED WITHIN THE CITY LIMITS OF COTTAGE GROVE SPANNING THE COAST FORK OF THE WILLAMETTE RIVER JUST SOUTH OF MAIN STREET. IT IS STILL THERE AND IS USED TODAY.

    THE CURRIN BRIDGE, LOCATED SOUTH OF TOWN ON THE ROW RIVER ROAD, CROSSES THE ROW RIVER A COUPLE OF MILES BELOW THE DORENA RESERVOIR. I BUILT A SCALE MODEL OF THE BRIDGE WHICH WAS USED TO REPRESENT COTTAGE GROVE AT THE VANCOUVER, BC, WORLDS FAIR AROUND 1986?. THE MODEL CAN BE SEEN AT THE COTTAGE GROVE CITY OFFICES NEXT TO THE RIVER AT THE WEST END OF TOWN.
    REPLY?

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    • Thanks for stopping by Russel! We had so many covered bridges around here that it is hard to keep track of them all now that they are gone.
      The Currin Bridge was beautiful in the snow too!
      Colette

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  7. My brother, Russel, and I talked by phone this morning and he’s pretty sure of the log truck wrecking the Brumbaugh Bridge (The bridge near the old Bert Lancaster place.) He remembers the car ride too because we took a odd way over the local hills to get there (I remember the ride but not the truck). He also believes that mom had a photo or negative of a pic taken with the truck still in the bridge. The problem is that mom saved lots and lots of pics and negatives and he’d have to look through them to find it. He just might do it though. (I live in California, so, of course, I can’t do it.)

    We talked about a number of historical things and he wanted me to call Phylis, an very elderly relative–which I did. Phylis is in the local historical society and said that the bridges have had multiple names over the years. What you call the Stewart Bridge, she remembers as the Garoutte Bridge (named after the road). She also mentioned a book about CG Sawmills where the author documented about 100 mills in the area.

    I gave her your URL so maybe she’ll check out this blog later; she’s sworn off the internet completely until she gets a project finished!

    Phylis also mentioned an archive of CG Sentinels (forgot the media) going way back. It’s not online, but is available; she uses it a lot. They are only missing 1948 because someone loaned these out and the borrower never returned them.

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    • Hi Mel, what great memories! Yes, the multiple names for the bridges gets confusing. I use the names that they are called now, but they have changed over the years.

      If you ever find the picture of the log truck in the bridge, I hope you’ll share it with me so I can put it here on the website. I’ve used the resources at the Cottage Grove Historical Society many times. I read there that the Dorena Covered Bridge was having log trucks cross it at a rate of 12 to 20 an hour before it was bypassed! That’s a lot of weight and a lot of impact on any bridge, especially an older covered bridge. I’ll ask there about the archive of the Sentinels (thanks for the tip!) as I’ve got some questions I am trying to figure out about a different bridge.

      Colette

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    • I don’t think so Katy. This isn’t a log truck and the collapsed bridge isn’t a covered bridge. Russel may come on and have something to say.

      When I spoke to Phyllis yesterday, she may have been talking about two truck problems; I’m not sure. Using Apple Maps on my iPad last evening, I did find a very short east-west road segment linking Mosby Creek Rd and Blue Mountain School Rd at a point about half way between the old Lancaster place (by what I think has been called the Brumbaugh Bridge here) and the Blue Mountain School. The road is shown crossing Mosby Creek and is named (on both Google Maps and Apple Maps) the “Lancaster Bridge Rd.” But, it’s only shown in map view and hybrid view, not in satellite view. In Google Maps, the “Lancaster Bridge Rd” over-lay visual is rather screwed up but it seems ok on Apple Maps–it’s just that the the bridge doesn’t now exist. I got the impression that Phyllis was also talking about this bridge in connection with a truck problem. So, maybe you have a photo of the demise of the Lancaster Bridge. Continuing south again, the next point where the Mosby Creek Rd crosses the river is about 2 miles south. In satellite view, it looks like a concrete bridge–anyway, not covered.

      It makes sense to me that any truck wrecking a bridge around there would have gotten a story in the CG Sentinel–with a photo.

      Phyllis did say that her father roofed a lot of these covered bridges. He was a WWI vet.

      Interesting photos. Thanks!

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  9. Colette,
    From your “The ones we lost” article, I on went to the Ben Maxwell Collection linked under the Brumbaugh Bridge photo. The pic had commenting available, so I asked where the bridge was. I don’t expect much in return, but I thought it was worth a try.

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      • After his phone calls, Russel is sure that the Brumbaugh Bridge was the one near the old Lancaster place and near where the Blue Mountain School Rd cuts off from Mosby Creek Rd. I.e, up-river from the Stewart Bridge.

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  11. Russel has made some phone calls and nailed down more info, but has yet to find someone who remembers the truck damaged Brumbauch Bridge.

    What’s showing on the Maps programs as the “Lancaster Bridge Rd” has a weird story too–and it’s consistent with what Phyllis told me.

    He also has some info on Katy’s truck damaged bridge.

    I’ll let him speak for himself later.

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