The Corralitos community uses a zipline to get home after storms

The zipline has become a lifeline for the Corralitos community after the access bridge was swept away in storm waters this winter.

Darrell Hardy created the New Year’s Day Weekend Line when he thought the bridge connecting his community to the main road might run out.

“KSBW was talking about all the weather that was coming and going, ‘Well, that bridge doesn’t look good,’ so I went ahead and put the zipline back,” Hardy said.

The Corralitos man said he was glad he did. By the end of the second week in January, the bridge that crosses Corralitos Creek and connects his community to the main road has washed away. The bridge failure cut off Grizzly Flat Road and Loma Escondida Road from Eureka Canyon Road had it not been for the skid line.

There are seven homes on Grizzly Flat, Hardy said, some residents in their 80s and others with young children. To keep his family and others supplied, Hardy connected a basket to a zipline to transport food, medicine, and fuel to their homes.

Hardy’s wife, Stacy Cooper, said, “It’s scary because you know people live on propane and they need gas for generators.”

Families who live on Grizzly Flatt Road parked their cars on the Eureka Canyon side of the bridge before the January storms in preparation for a possible bridge collapse. Even once the residents of Grizzly Flat get to the main road, it’s not easy to get out with the fallen trees and power lines that keep Eureka Canyon Road closed.

The Grizzly Flat community is located in unincorporated Santa Cruz County, but the bridge across Corralitos Creek used to be owned by the city of Watsonville. Hardy said engineers were out looking at the bridge earlier this week, but said repairs would have to wait until water levels went down.