For most of the year, the pedestrian bridge off Northeast Everett Street in Camas that crosses the confluence of Lacamas and Round lakes is an unassuming pathway, a route from one side of the lake to the other.
In the summertime, however, the bridge transforms into a metal climbing gym for local youth eager to escape the heat and jump into the inviting water below.
Most of those who use the bridge as an unofficial jumping platform have no idea how dangerous their actions can be. Two people recently lost their lives in this very spot — a 14-year-old Vancouver boy in 2019 and a 24-year-old man just two months ago.
“I ride over that bridge about three times a week on my mountain bike,” Councilor Martin Elzingre said during a July 7 Camas City Council workshop. “I always stop and speak to people. Sometimes there are parents there. I always ask, ‘Are you aware that somebody died here?’ The answer is almost always, ‘No.’”
The councilman said he often worries about the youth he sees recreating near the pedestrian bridge.