An impressive sight

One year ago today I found myself standing in a wild and rugged landscape as I beheld something that was both incredible and fearsome. I had journeyed to the center of the mountain state, West Virginia, just to see this very thing in person. A little more than a year ago I was unaware of its existence, until one day my husband made mention of it. He recounted a school field trip to visit the area, which in those days was just a construction site. A magnificent and imposing structure was being built there in what was then (and still is to a degree) the middle of nowhere. My husband and his classmates were invited to tour the site, which included a ride in a cable car across the New River Gorge. Not all were brave enough to get a bird’s eye view of the area, but my husband was among those who made the crossing. This was back in the early seventies, when construction had just begun.

Almost fifty years later there I was, about to make that very same crossing, except that I would be doing so on foot. The monstrous umber hued bridge that was nothing more than a pile of disassembled steel decades ago awaited me as it loomed high over the steep gorge. I had reserved a spot on a guided tour that would take participants on foot all the way across the mighty New River Gorge Bridge. The path we would take was the 3000 foot long maintenance walkway beneath the behemoth’s deck, ensconced within its deck truss. At the center of the bridge, we would be 850 feet above the New River, where we could enjoy the expansive view. While this was a fantastic experience, it was unfortunately tempered with thoughts of what had happened the day before. That disturbing event was made all the more sinister because of the dark history of West Virginia’s main attraction. I suppose it almost goes without saying that since its opening day, the New River Gorge Bridge has been the site of many deaths. While only four BASE jumpers have ever died after parachuting off of the bridge, there are many more uncounted hidden casualties. I’ve seen estimates that anywhere from a half dozen to 15 or more people perish there every year. The national park that underlies and surrounds the bridge has made the list of the deadliest national park since its inception. I am assuming they are/were also counting the casualties of the bridge, as this park surely could be no more dangerous than any others where people engage in rock climbing, hiking, rafting and other potentially dangerous activities. So, here we have a national park spanned in part by a deadly metal monster… There are no grizzly bears in New River Gorge National Park, but an equally lethal bridge resides there. Instead of recovering the bodies of people mauled to death by large predators, park rangers here must retrieve the bloodied, battered and splattered remains of the metal monster’s victims. Today I cannot help but wonder not only what became of the man on the overpass, but also how many have met a gruesome end by leaping from the New River Gorge Bridge in the past 365 days….

Speaking of deadly bridges, on this very day I got this article in my news feed.

Could the metal monster of the Chesapeake Bay have enabled another kill?

https://wjla.com/news/local/body-pulled-from-chesapeake-bay-bridge-waterways-waters-maryland-natural-resources-police-npr-recovered-from-waters-anne-arundel-county-fire-department-mdta

While such deaths are, for the most part, kept hidden, ever so often a story will be published with only a few tantalizing details. There is that old saying of needing to read between the lines, and it very much applies here. Could this be a boating accident? Perhaps, but the fact that the state highway administration is involved in the investigation is a red flag. That agency only has jurisdiction over the bridge and not the waters below. It is a known fact that lives are lost in this location on a fairly regular basis. Likely Maryland’s largest bridge doesn’t approach the annual body count of West Virginia’s enormous steel structure, but it still facilitates the loss of at least some lives. On occasion, a story detailing a rescue also comes to light, where a victim is either prevented from making the leap or survives and is pulled from the water. I suppose that when I walk the Bay Bridge again this fall, I will have the occasion to wonder how many lives have been claimed during the previous trip around the sun….