I found a Rainbow Bridge on a wooded trail outside Charlotte. See the pet photos.

If you’re walking on the rail trail in Lincolnton, you will come upon a Rainbow Bridge.

I found the bridge on Saturday as I walked, trees blocking the hot sun.

I looked at the photos and the collars left by humans honoring their companions who have passed on.

A pup named Chili Pepper Bynum (2009 to 2025) smiled in a photo, one ear bent down. I bet Chili Pepper was quite the character.

Another, for Skooter, read, “Forever our little buddy.”

Plastic bags and cases protect the photos from rain along the Marcia H. Cloninger Rail Trail.

“Lilly Lou — Pawprints on our hearts forever.”

“Roscoe — Forever in our hearts.”

A tag for Chewie read on the back, “He was a Good boy.”

For those who don’t know, the Rainbow Bridge is considered a safe place where pets who have died wait for their person to join them so they can cross the bridge together.

According to National Geographic, Scottish teenager Edna Clyne-Rekhy wrote the poem in 1959 while grieving the death of her Labrador Retriever named Major.

The poem is displayed on a sign at the bridge in Lincolnton and begins, “Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.”