Police have arrested a man they say set fire to a staircase and structure where the Snoqualmie Valley Trail crosses the Snoqualmie River near SE Reinig Rd.
The fire started shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday, and fire crews were able to put it out within about ten minutes, Living Snoqualmie reports (also includes photos). The bridge is owned by King County, which reports that it will be closed until further notice:
King County Parks has closed the Snoqualmie Valley Trail bridge near Reinig Rd in Snoqualmie due to damage from a fire … May 27. We’re still investigating the situation, please stay tuned for updates.
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In the meantime, Biking Bis has this advice for getting around the closure:
Bicyclists can avoid the bridge by using a path through the Three Forks Off-Leash Dog Park or exiting the trail at the Mount Si Golf Course.
The county recently finished replacing a different bridge on the trail south of Tuesday’s fire. The damaged bridge is very cool, so here’s hoping there is no serious damage to the core structure.
Here’s the bridge via Google Maps:
Comments
2 responses to “Snoqualmie Valley Trail bridge burns, police arrest suspected arsonist”
Nice aerial photo, Tom! I’ve hauled my bike up these stairs before and ridden over this bridge once in the summer a couple years ago. Turns out this spot is incredibly popular for the youth of the area during hot summer days for swimming. I never bothered with it again. While it’s true you can catch this trail from this point all the way to Rattlesnake Lake and pick up the John Wayne Trail head, it’s a hassle to carry your bike up these steps, wade through the crowds, and a drag to ride the gravel trail out to the I-90 crossing. I found it much simpler and enjoyable to ride over the adjacent one lane bridge into the backside of Snoqualmie and ride the road by the Mt. Si golf course into North Bend.
So while I’m glad they caught the a-hole responsible for this, I don’t think these actions will greatly impact the biking community. If you are insistent on riding the gravel trail, you can cross it by crossing the river on the one lane bridge I spoke earlier about, and pick it up by cutting through the main entrance of the golf course.
[…] it passes through Mt Si Golf Course (King County is currently working on a trail bridge that was burned in an arson last year. You may be able to take that bridge defending on work schedules, but the detour […]