Dewey Bridge

We last visited The Old Dewey Bridge in October 2005 as part of the NVUM program.  What's NVUM?  It means "National Visitor Usage Monitoring" and it was started up by the Forest Service perhaps 25 years ago.  We signed on to NVUM in January 2002 as "Secret Shoppers".  NVUM was (and remains) a very valid statistical sampling of forest usage by the public.  In order for the NVUM to be valid, the feds needed "secret shoppers" who would participate in the process while posing as ordinary tourists. Sometime in 2005, the BLM requested to partner with the Forest Service for a trial run of NVUM.  Our Supervisor asked us to go to Moab to provide the "secret shopper" function.  We were considered to be The Best "secret shoppers" then volunteering for the process.  In any event, one of the sample sites was Dewey Bridge.

Dewey Bridge had by then been closed to vehicles and was a pedestrian bridge...and a VERY popular one at that.  Lots of people drove out to Dewey Bridge specifically and only to saunter on foot across the beautiful Colorado River.  NVUM statistics were based on what's called "exit interviews."  The interviewers would set up tables with signs and messaging to let people know they would be polled about their experience at any given site.  It was pretty EZPZ for the interviewers to set up at this site as all the exiting traffic was funneled through one tight spot.
Our job as "secret shoppers" was to pose as tourists--ordinary tourists--and then casually walk or drive away from an interview site so that we could be quizzed by the paid Staff.  In the case of Dewey Bridge we went out there at the appointed time but the interviewers weren't there yet.  So, we had to wait and WAIT for them to arrive and get set up and begin conducting interviews.  In this case, it seemed like the interviewers showed up almost two hours late.  Of course, that would have been a highlight of our report.  Being late was a HUGE NO-NO!  

Well, in the meantime, we HAD to hang out at Dewey Bridge for what seemed like a very long time.  Looking back, that was a genuine gift.  If the interviewers had been on time, we would have walked out onto the bridge, looked around and then left for our exit interview.  We might have been there 20 minutes.  As it was we were there for almost two hours, soaking up the ambiance and details of Dewey Bridge.

Of course, no one could have known that the Dewey Bridge Days were numbered and it would soon be almost totally destroyed by a 7-year-old playing with matches.  At the time of our visit, we assumed Dewey Bridge would be around forever as the timeless relic that it was.  Back in the 80's we had actually driven Dewey Bridge many times going to and from the Westwater run.  We loved that creaky old bridge. 
As much as we loved Dewey Bridge we had never taken time to stop and really LOOK at the bridge and study its details.  So that's what our Secret Shopper visit did for us in October 2005.  It FORCED us to STAY at the bridge site like seemingly forever.  Since we had nothing else to do we really took time to inspect all of its various details including the piers, anchors and fittings.  The bridge was an engineering marvel all unto itself.  I would have never realized all of those details if not for our October 2005 visit there.  Of course, we and untold thousands of other people were heartbroken to learn it had been destroyed...especially by a 7-year-old.
Our Dewey Bridge Story should be a cautionary tale to anyone who loves Old Stuff.  Don't wait for circumstances to FORCE you to spend quality time with Old Stuff.  Go visit your favorite Old Stuff soon and often and really try to burn the details into your brain (pun intended).  You just never know when your favorite Old Stuff will disappear, vaporize or be put off limits.  It happens all the time and Dewey Bridge is just one flaming example.

We will be forever grateful to our NVUM Supervisor Suska Kocis for dispatching us to Moab for this assignment.  We volunteered for Suska for five seasons.  She sent us to at least 25 states and 50 National Forests from the West Coast to the Appalachians and from Indiana to Florida.  We visited places we never dreamed we would see and logged countless adventures as a result of NVUM.  THANKS, Suska! 

PS--Forgot to mention.  We took zillions of photos that day of the little details of the bridge. Someday I hope to find those photos.

 Here are some links about Dewey Bridge and the adjacent Campground:

https://www.canyoncountryzephyr.com/2018/06/04/a-history-of-dewey-utah-by-herm-hoops/

https://youtu.be/lO3Fl0Uu5Sc?feature=shared

https://www.moabhappenings.com/Archives/historic0805DeweyBridge.htm

https://noehill.com/ut_grand/nat1984002179.asp

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/History-in-flames-3207476.php

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