Cut River Bridge Troll
When I travel between downstate and home, I spend a fair amount of time driving along US 2, the road that runs along the south border of the Upper Peninsula. And, on US 2 about halfway between Brevort and Epoufett, there is the Cut River Bridge. On August 3. 2025, I was coming back home from the trip downstate where, among other things, I picked up my new camera from John, and so I stopped at the bridge to try it out.
The Cut River makes a rather precipitous gorge (147 feet deep), and so it was necessary to build a fairly substantial bridge to span it. The Cut_River_Bridge is one of only two bridges in Michigan of this type (cantilevered deck truss). It was originally planned to be built in 1941, but that was the year the US got involved in WWII, and restrictions on availability of steel meant that it couldn’t be finished until 1947. This type of bridge doesn’t look like much from up on the driving surface, all the interesting details are underneath.
There is a roadside park next to the bridge, and a set of stairs that lead down ultimately to the bottom of the gorge. Partway down, there is a passageway through the bridge abutment, with openings so that you can see the bridge structure.
Halfway down the tunnel, there is a door leading into the cliff face.
The nameplate is a bit hard to read in that picture, so here’s a closeup:
So, apparently trolls do live under bridges, and this one appears to have a rather nicer apartment than one would expect!
At this point, I didn’t have the macro lens with me for taking pictures of plants or insects down in the park at the end of the gorge. These pictures all used the general-purpose lens that came with the camera. Maybe next time.