Glacier Bridge

Glacier Bridge is a tall road bridge over the Nisqually River, five miles east of Longmire on the drive toward Paradise. It is an easy roadside pause for the Nisqually Valley; use one of the parking areas on either side, and don't stop or park on the bridge.

From the span, the river winds through a broad valley of forested slopes and rocky bars, with the Nisqually Glacier farther up-valley. The glacier once reached this crossing but has retreated. On a clear day, look up the valley for it; cloud can hide the ice. For a photo, keep the bridge in the frame with the river corridor behind it, so the view reads as a crossing and not just another glacier scene.

The first bridge here was a 90-foot, ten-panel wooden Howe truss built in 1908 as part of the road toward the glacier. Floods repeatedly wrecked the crossing: a concrete arch opened in 1926 was swept downstream in 1932, a later bridge was badly damaged in 1934, and the 1955 flood destroyed another span. The present high-level bridge was built between 1958 and 1961 and opened to traffic in 1960, placing the road higher above the river to reduce flood damage.

Nisqually Glacier once reached the bridge site. Historical measurements recorded 1,651 metres of net retreat between 1857 and 1979; that is a comparison for that period, not a current retreat rate. The glacier's retreat is why the ice now sits farther up the valley while the river still cuts through the crossing below.