Click to see full image – Photo by Eric Ried
During our briefing with the Incident Commander on Saturday morning August 15 2020 we learned a couple had at 5:30 p.m. the previous day decided to raft the Rio Grande from the John Dunn bridge on an inflatable double air mattress and hadn’t been seen since. The Brigade team was split into two teams. Team Two’s initial mission was to drive and hike along the rim just south of the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge near Taos and, using binoculars, glass the river for the couple or any clues. We started our mission at the Gorge Bridge. One of our team members spotted what looked like the couple’s air mattress up against the rocks just below the bridge. This was an important clue and Incident Base quickly relocated to the rest area near the bridge where we awaited a meeting with the reporting party who believed she heard voices calling for help in the middle of the night. She was going to show us where. On her way she came across the male of the missing party who had managed to climb out of the gorge and he knew exactly where his companion was! Turns out they at fallen off and lost the mattress about 0.3 miles north of the Gorge Bridge after hitting rapids.
Click to see full image – Photo by Eric Ried
Team Two’s mission abruptly changed. Our new mission was to follow the male subject back to where he had left his companion after she was no longer able to climb any higher and assess the situation. The reporting party joined us and we soon found our subject. She was stuck on a rather steep and slippery dirt slope dehydrated, hungry, exhausted and very scared. However, with some water, food, encouragement and help from her friend and our team we were able to get her climbing again and informed Incident Base we were going to attempt to walk out. The first hundred feet where the worst because of the slippery slope but it wasn’t long before we emerged on a level area where we could rest in preparation for the rest of the climb out of the gorge. The image here shows where we were once we reached the first plateau. You may be wondering how did they climb that!? There is a narrow climbable valley just out of site.
Click to see full image – Photo by Eric Ried
The reporting party obviously had a close relationship with the our subject and was amazing at encouraging and helping her climb the steep slope. By the way – the photos you see here are courtesy of Eric Ried an avid photographer who happened to be on scene while exploring beautiful Northern New Mexico. He graciously shared his photos with us. Many thanks Eric!
Click to see full image – Photo by Eric Ried
After a long, hot climb we reached the top and reunited the family. After a short interview with the State Police and strong encouragement to her sister to take her to the hospital for a checkup we parted ways with the family hand-in-hand amongst the tourists who had gathered to watch. We returned to Incident Base for a debrief, lunch and to await the rest of our team so we could head home.
Click to see full image – Photo by Matthew Handley
Speaking of the rest of the team – remember early on we split into two teams? What about the other half of our team? Team one teamed up with another volunteer from Taos Search and Rescue and were given a mission to hike along the river starting at Manby Hot Springs looking for the subjects or clues. Our team leader is shown here checking location while the State Police helicopter flies overhead. Once they learned the subject had been found they worked their way back to Incident Base.
Returning home we prepared for our next mission. We didn’t have to wait long. See our next post for a report on our involvement in a litter haul out of the Pecos Wilderness.
Great article(s) and photo(s). Thanks for posting!