Where's the bridge?

Washed away in flooding caused by excessive run-off from the mountains due to the Wallow Wildfire earlier this year.

For local communities here in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona 2011 will be remembered for the devastating Wallow Wildfire which burned over half a million acres of Apache National Forest. Alpine and Nutrioso were the first communities to be evacuated. The fire was brought under control in weeks but the effects and recovery will last years maybe tens of years.

A few more pictures on Flickr

Of immediate concern is flash flooding. The ash and resins from burned conifers forms a barrier so that rain can not soak into the soil but runs off quickly. The fire occurred about a month before our seasonal monsoon rains of July through September.

Now we've had exceptionally early snow; so what will the spring melt bring I wonder?