Rescuers pull man from beneath closed Washington bridge after drone mishap

Ten members of Olympic Mountain Rescue lowered ropes into a steep gorge beneath the High Steel Bridge and pulled out a man who had slid down an embankment after going after his drone, then could not climb back on his own. Mason County Search and Rescue said the man was uninjured after the technical rope rescue in slick, mountainous terrain under one of Washington’s most photographed spans.

The rescue unfolded in Mason County, deep in Olympic National Forest along the Skokomish River, where the 420-foot High Steel Bridge towers above a canyon that has repeatedly lured thrill-seekers and hikers into dangerous ground. The bridge, built in 1929 by Simpson Logging Co., is considered Washington’s highest bridge and sits about 20 miles north of Shelton. Video of the extraction showed rescuers working below the structure, a scene officials shared as a warning to future visitors.

Authorities used the incident to restate that the canyon below and around the bridge is closed under a U.S. Forest Service order issued Nov. 4, 2024. The order was meant to protect public health and safety and reduce the number of rescue and recovery missions required by county resources. It allowed access only for people traveling through on FSR 2340 by vehicle, hikers using the High Steel Bridge Trail, South Fork Skokomish River users, first responders, and permitted users.

The warning is not new. Mason County Search and Rescue said the terrain may look accessible, but it is “steep, slippery, and unforgiving” and has taken lives. The High Steel Bridge has a long record of risky incidents, including a 2015 rescue in which a 25-year-old woman was hoisted to a helicopter after a rescuer was lowered more than 350 feet off the bridge. In 2024, a 19-year-old man survived a nearly 400-foot fall there with minor injuries.

The county’s Special Operations Rescue Team, known as SORT, has spent more than a decade handling high-risk missions like high-angle rope rescue, swiftwater rescue and backcountry rescue. Mason County says the team averages 12 calls for service a year, and many of them come from the Olympic National Forest corridor around the High Steel Bridge and the Skokomish River. County officials have even used periodic bridge closures for rescue training, including planned shutdowns in April 2024, underscoring how often scenic access and serious danger collide at the site.