Man looking for hot spring gets stuck in gorge, then starts cursing, NM cops say
A 54-year-old man ended up stuck in a New Mexico gorge for hours after climbing down to look for a hot spring, deputies said.
He didn’t seem too happy when someone found him, however.
The man from Huntington Beach, California, was discovered Oct. 10 stuck in the Rio Grande Gorge near the “High Bridge,” the Taos County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
A person called for help when they discovered him in the gorge, and they told authorities he was alive but “cursing and irate,” deputies said.
When deputies reached him, he was still “irate” and didn’t want medical attention, authorities said.
Deputies said he will face a charge of criminal trespass because the gorge is a national monument.
The Rio Grande carved an 800-foot deep gorge “through layers of volcanic basalt flows and ash,” according to the Bureau of Land Management.
This story was originally published October 15, 2025 at 1:23 PM with the headline "Man looking for hot spring gets stuck in gorge, then starts cursing, NM cops say."
