The Gorge Bridge

The Gorge Bridge spans the Rio Grande Gorge and is about 10 miles NW of Taos. The two lane bridge is about 650 ft above the river, which in the late spring has Class IV rapids and can be quite exciting as well as dangerous. Unlike the Grand Canyon, the Gorge was not carved by water over millions of years. Instead, it is part of the second largest rift valley in the world, second to Olduvai Gorge in Africa. The sides of the Gorge near Taos are separating at something like a millimeter a year. The rift starts near Colorado and down in Albuquerque it is about ten miles wide and in the sounthern part of NM maybe 200-300 miles wide.

The Gorge and the bridge are not for the faint of heart. Here's a couple shots I took recently, from the west side. The bridge is shown and the mountains are the Sangre de Cristos. The other shot looks south towards the Picuris Mountains. Thank goodness for chain link fences.