Bye, Bye Blacktail - Sara Griffith, GY

We have completed our final hitch on the Blacktail bridge and I must confess I feel a mixture of sadness and excitement. Over the past two months, our MCC crew has grown close to the Yellowstone NPS trail crew. They are great dedicated people that I truly enjoyed working with and will miss. But, at the same time, I feel a sort of relief that we are changing locations. Maybe my feet are just feeling the need to wander.

During this hitch, we poured new concrete for both of the sway cables on the south side. The cables are anchored on the side of a slope on either side on the bridge. To transport the mixed concrete to the pour site, we rigged up a high-line and zipped buckets of it down the hill. The system worked surprisingly well most of the time.

We excavated around the sway cables on the north side and then chipped away the old concrete with Hilti jackhammers. Forms were then built and put into position to pour new concrete around the cables.

In order to jack up the north side of the bridge, a support system was created. Two C-channels were used to brace the I-beams of the towers. The C-channels were sandwiched around the I-beams and then secured in place with bolts. In order to make the holes in the steel, a magnetic drill press was used. When the magnet is activated, the drill can be attached sideways to the steel beam. A pretty cool trick, so long as the magnet stays engaged. Under the C-channels, support towers were placed as well as an "x" shaped brace. The bridge was successfully raised about half an inch, enough space to replace the concrete under the towers. New rebar was cut, shaped and tied into place for the concrete under the towers. The front "u" shaped concrete structure was also poured.

For my last night at the Blacktail bridge site, I sat on the bank of the Yellowstone river. My feet in the water, I allowed myself to marvel at the place we were leaving and all the work that had been accomplished.

For a final thought, I've decided to quote the lyrics from a song called "High Hopes" by Paolo Nutini. It seems fitting to me.

"Oh, I've got lucky in life. I've had plenty to eat. And I saw this world as one big pool of opportunity."