By Hilary Kitzman
[ANALYSIS]
A popular waterfall trail near Cloudcroft, New Mexico, has led to multiple rescues of injured hikers.
Except it isn’t an actual trail, and Forest Service signage naming it an “illegal trail” keeps disappearing.
Viral Attraction
One scroll through the social media video platform TikTok, and videos tagged with Tunnel Vista Trail have racked up nearly a million views.
One problem: it isn’t a trail. And one wrong step could be perilous.
Just before the tunnel in the road that connects Alamogordo to Cloudcroft, the Tunnel Vista has long been a scenic pullout on U.S. Highway 82 — a place to park, take in sweeping views of the Tularosa Basin, and occasionally spot an elusive bighorn sheep on a ragged cliff.
But in the last few years, the quiet overlook has been transformed into one of Otero County’s most problematic rescue sites thanks almost entirely to social media.
TikTok and Instagram posts now portray Tunnel Vista as a casual adventure, a waterfall hike, or even a family-friendly trail. Save for the waterfall, none of that is true, according to the U.S. Forest Service and area emergency services.
According to the Forest Service, Tunnel Vista is not a trail by any definition. It is officially classified as an observation site, designed as a safe pullout for motorists.
The terrain beyond the fence is steep, unstable, and naturally unsuitable for trail construction, and the Forest Service has never maintained or sanctioned any route down into the canyon.
“Establishing a formal hiking route would require significant engineering, long-term maintenance, and extensive safety measures,” a Forest Service spokesperson said. “None of which align with the site’s intended purpose as a scenic viewpoint.”
Yet online, Tunnel Vista has become a viral attraction. A quick search shows more than 300 TikTok videos tagged with Tunnel Vista and Cloudcroft–with new videos cropping up all the time. Influencers and travel bloggers routinely post clips of people climbing over the fence, descending loose gravel slopes, and splashing in the waterfall below.
“I first learned about that trail back in 2009,” said avid hiker and NM Rails-to-Trails President Gary Truex. “Back then, not a lot of people knew about it. I haven’t taken my 14-year-old down there in two or three years. There are so many people now. There’s graffiti, trash — it’s just not the nice place it once was.”
The Forest Service says this surge in attention has created a new problem: visitors are removing signage. Flexible Carsonite posts stating “This is not a trail” are being pulled out almost weekly.
Dangerous Assumptions
The path people follow down from the overlook is a user-created trail, worn in by repeated foot traffic. It is not planned, marked, or maintained. The Forest Service warns that the terrain remains “steep, loose, and hazardous, particularly for inexperienced hikers.”
Still, Tunnel Vista has become a magnet for visitors who assume that if others are doing it — especially online — it must be safe.
“There’s one spot along that trail that’s angled down and very slippery. Your feet can slip out from under you, and if that happens, you’re going straight to the bottom,” Truex said.
Former High Rolls Volunteer Fire Department Chief Guy Ross has seen this firsthand. “People just assume that because somebody else is doing it, they can do it too,” he said. “A lot of people go down there and jump off the waterfall.”
Ross estimates his department has responded to a dozen calls over the last two years from Tunnel Vista alone, ranging from broken ankles to head injuries.
Karen Rodriguez, High Rolls Volunteer Fire Department EMS Director, shared the department 2026 statistics.
“We’ve had six Tunnel Vista rescue calls since the beginning of the year, mostly involving visitors who were unprepared for the difficulty of the descent.” She added, “We find [the path] gets washed out with rain and rocks tend to shift, making it unpredictable.”
Some patients can walk out; others require rope systems, pulleys, and six or seven firefighters down below the highway in the canyon with two or three more on top. A rope rescue can add one to two hours to the response time.
“We’re probably the department that does more rope rescues than anybody,” Ross said. “You need the training. The terrain is dangerous.”
High Risk for the ’Gram
Matt Clark, Otero County’s emergency manager, shares similar concerns. “Calling it a ‘trail’ can give visitors the impression that it is easily accessible and suitable for a casual hike,” he said. “My concern is that people may underestimate the terrain or overestimate their abilities because they want a photograph or the experience.”
From an emergency management standpoint, Clark rates the risk as high:”The route into the canyon is not one I would recommend for a novice hiker,” he said. “Visitors need to consider both the descent and the physical demands of getting back out.”
“If the Forest Service puts up a sign, you need to respect that. There’s a reason why it’s there. People say, ‘If I fall, that’s my business.’ No, it’s not. If something happens, now the firefighters are at risk. The Forest Service is at risk. The people who have to pull you out of your bad decision are at risk,” Truex said.
Hazards include steep, uneven terrain, exposed edges, and the challenge of climbing back up after fatigue sets in.
Even accessing the overlook is risky: Tunnel Vista sits along a busy stretch of U.S. 82 with limited parking. “Traffic along U.S. 82 also presents a hazard when accessing the area,” Clark said. “Passing traffic creates additional risks for personnel working along the highway.”
Clark notes that rescues often require multiple agencies — volunteer fire districts, the Otero County Sheriff’s Office, American Medical Response (AMR), Forest Service law enforcement, and sometimes Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico State Police Search and Rescue, Native Air, or even the National Guard.
“These rescues can commit personnel and equipment for an extended period,” he said. “Drawing resources from neighboring districts can reduce their immediately available staffing.”
The Forest Service encourages visitors to stay in designated areas, pack out trash, and avoid vandalism. If unsafe behavior continues, “additional protective measures may be considered.”
Safety isn’t the only concern. The local nonprofit group Keep Cloudcroft Clean has removed graffiti from the site multiple times.
Ross believes clearer signage, or even a safer formal route, could help. But signs keep disappearing, and the Forest Service has said a sanctioned route isn’t in the cards.
Clark emphasizes preparation: “Know your limits and plan for the climb back out before you go down.”
Novice hikers may think twice before following a path worn in by strangers on the internet.
About Hilary Kitzman:
Local EMT, volunteer with the Cloudcroft VFD, and now Cloudcroft Reader and Mountain Monthly Multimedia Storyteller Hilary Kitzman is a movie producer. She and her husband Andy moved to Cloudcroft after living in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and spending nearly 20 years working in Hollywood and Los Angeles.
Her recent film, Wild Like Me, features inmates in an Arizona prison who train wild mustangs, finding “purpose and redemption”—a project she edited from Cloudcroft.
Wild Like Me streams on Great American Pure Flix and is available on Amazon Prime.
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