Grand Auglaize Swinging Bridge

We went to visit these bridges (including this one) about 3 years ago. My sister had found them on this website and we made a weekend vacation out of them. We started on the Kliethermes Bridge and I was too scared to have us drive across so we walked it (I am glad we did since it is now gone). We drove across the next one even though I was reluctant, but by the time we got to this one, we were more than ready to drive across. We had a 2000 Ford F-250 Power Stroke truck at the time, but that didn't stop us. We started across and had to back off when another car was already coming across from the opposite side. We drove across and then turned around and came back. The whole time coming back, I was half-way out of the rolled-down window taking pictures of the gaps in the deck and of us in the truck on the bridge.

I remember going with my parents and brother to some old bridges when I was about 10. When we all got home from the weekend trip, I pulled out old photo albums and called my dad to see if he remembered where those old bridges were. He seemed to think that they were around the Lake of the Ozarks area, but thought they were torn down as that way why we all went way back then. I found the pictures from when I was a kid and it was the same bridge.

I was really amazed at the bridge and what a wonderful bunch of memories it provided (both times)!

We came across the bridge quite by accident trying to get from the campground to the cavern. My husband took the van in about 75 feet and freaked out. We backed out and found the "5 ton" sign, but it still didn't convince him. Me and two of the kids walked across and back while dad and one stayed behind. I was amazed at the gaps and the views were spectacular. We never missed a beat and our six year old daughter kept asking why dad was afraid. It was exciting for those that crossed and a relief for those that didn't! What a beautiful park! Unfortunately we missed the cavern tour time due to the delay and had to "settle" for our next stop, Meramec Cavern...The walk over the bridge is well worth it!

I'm a part of the Musick family too and I remember going over the bridges when I was young to visit my grandmother. We also had family reunions at the bridges and I remember a relative jumping off the bridge a time or two myself. It was a fun part of my life and I'm thinking about taking my grandchildren down there to experience the same thing. Of course, I always closed my eyes when my Dad drove over those bridges. I wonder how I will do now????

well it has been a few years sense me and my husband been there, but if we could get the chance we would go back in a heart beat, a great place to teach your children to fish and learn how to camp.now my mother and her family was raise on the hill from the big swinging bridge, and if you would mention the last name of musick I would bet all the old timers would remember, just who you would be talking about, and we also had a brother that decide to jump from the big bridge along time ago,so yes it was deep at one time, and it still is I would image, When my brother's and sister's were growing up we went there every summer, it was a great place, miss those times, and you will find very friendly people and i bet if you would run into one of those old timers they would tell you stories about the old days.

Well... that is n othing I FELL through that bridge during a camping trip with my whole family. MY DAD drove a bus camper across it all the time...

Patti

My family lived around that bridge all our lives i have seen full size driving campers drive over that bridge and that was just last summer...i just think some of these people are a bunch of wimps

Drove the 10 miles from Osage Beach to explore the "Swinging Bridges" and it was well worth the drive. We walked part way across, then drove over and back. It was an amazing adventure...talk about fear factor...would do it again in a minute. Great family adventure next time you are in the Lake of the Ozarks...not much in Brumley, but bridges were worth the experience...Local traffic only sign doesn't exist. Was amazed at how much traffic the bridges got in just the few minutes we were there.

I am a Lake area resident who has visited this bridge many times with visitors to astound them by this engineering feat! I believe the "local traffic only" sign is gone. I have driven back and forth over this bridge many times. Make sure to go slowly, and roll all your windows down for full effect. It sounds like riding a wood-frame roller coaster. There is actually a Missouri State Park located at the bridge site as well. As far as "Will the bridge hold", I have seen extended cab pickups cross pulling trailers with boats in them.

After spending the day shopping at the Osage Beach outlet mall, I drove my wife and kids to Brumley to show them the engineering marvel that is the Grand Auglaize swinging bridge. They were thrilled. . .no really!

We checked out the Mill Creek Bridge first then drove over to the Grand Auglaize Bridge. Of course, I was too chicken to drive over it. . .again. I would've had to enjoy the experience alone anyway. I know there would be no way on God's green Earth that my wife and kids would stay in the truck with me.

I was impressed that my wife and kids actually walked across it. . .until they came up to the first HUGE gap between the boards. The gap was big enough that our two year old son could've fallen through!

I walked over to the other side and took a few pictures but when I got halfway across on the way back . . .danged if someone wasn't driving down the road from whence I came! I really didn't think it wise to get caught walking on that bridge with someone else DRIVING across it at the same time. So, much to the amusement of my wife, I took off sprinting to safety hoping I wouldn't trip between between any two boards. Fortunately, I made it with a few seconds to spare. . .

"Local traffic only" ...that's interesting. What does that even mean, and who is enforcing it? It is totally amazing that the unwrapped cable pictured is going into a concrete anchor where it can't be inspected and the other side is in contact with the ground, where IT can't be inspected. It's a beautiful bridge but every day that bridge remains standing is a miracle.

What a truly amazing bridge! I crossed this with a Lincoln towncar in the summer of 2005 and it showed what "redundancy" is all about. Even though many of the individual wires of the main cables were broken, the evidence of the value of multiple wires in a cable shows the superior strenth-to-weight ratio of suspension bridges over other types that cross such large spans. Anyone interested in this type of engineering should visit this bridge. I hope this bridge is preserved for future bridge enthusiests for this is truly a time-tested engineering marvel and shows what can be acheived with proper engineering and design.

I love swinging bridges but the "local traffic" can have at this one all they want! Back in '01' my dad and I checked out this bridge. After I saw how this bridge reacted to a dinky Toyota Corolla and a Chevy Cavalier, I wasn't about to cross it in my 4700 lbs. van!

My dad didn't even want to cross it and he'd been across almost every swinging bridge in the Truman Lake area when he was growing up.

It is a beautiful bridge though and I sincerely hope they never tear down it or any other "Joe Dice Special" (as I like to call them)left standing.