STILLWATER COUNTY — Three years ago, a historic 1,000-year-flood wiped out trails, roads and bridges, altering the lifestyle for hikers and campers regularly staying within the Custer Gallatin National Forest in southern Montana.
On Thursday, a rebuilt bridge opened on the Woodbine Trailhead, allowing hikers and campers to safely pass over Woodbine Creek while on the 1.4-mile hike.
See more details about the new bridge in the video below:
The trail reopening welcomed both newcomers and regulars to the park.
MTN spoke with Southern California resident Roslyn Ginnis, who was exploring the park for the first time. She said the new bridge was as beautiful as the view.
"The bridge is so beautiful. I love bridges anyway. And the trail is very well maintained where they recently cut some trees down, but it was a lot of fun," said Ginnis.
MTN also interviewed Montana native, Cheyenne Doty, who says she loves to hike and camp every summer in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness. Doty said while she's never hiked the Woodbine Trailhead, she was impressed by the new bridge.
"It was beautiful, definitely brand new. So, it was a well-built bridge... I'm happy they finally were able to get it rebuilt. There's a lot of bridges that were destroyed when the flooding happened," said Doty.
According to the campground's host, the original bridge was closer to the creek, made from wood and completely flat.
The new bridge is made from metal and sits significantly higher above the water, with a slight arch in the middle.
The campground host, who asked not to be named, said she hopes the changes to the new bridge prevent similar flooding problems like in the past.
The bridge itself only took about a week to install.
Contractors had the bridge prebuilt before installing. According to the campground's host, the crew arrived on June 8 and left on Thursday.
