Local hiker ends up in the line of fire.
George Swansea is used to the sounds of nature. The avid hiker spends much of his spare time traversing trails around Santa Fe and listening to birds sing, crickets chirp and the wind rustle through the trees. But on April 22, Swansea noticed something he hadn't heard before.
"You know those nail guns that make a popping noise? That's what it sounded like," Swansea says.
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"Next thing I know I'm being strafed on both sides by gunfire."
Swansea had set out into the Santa Fe National Forest on the popular Lower Winsor Trail earlier that morning. It was
around noon, while he was walking down one of the many paths that branch away from the Winsor, that he heard that strange noise and noticed a peculiar rustling in the trees around him.
It wasn't until he saw the line of people on the ridge above him aiming shotguns in his direction that he realized he had taken a very wrong turn. Swansea had stumbled onto the skeet and trap shooting range at Bishop's Lodge Resort.
"I just starting shouting 'Don't shoot! There's a guy on the trail!'" Swansea says.
Swansea was able to negotiate a temporary cease-fire while he hurried out of range. Once he got back to his car, the shaken Swansea dialed 911 to report the incident. Afterward, he took his concerns to Bishop's Lodge, where he spoke to David West, the manager of the resort's shooting range.
"He was really less than helpful," Swansea says. "In fact, he was incredibly rude. Instead of being apologetic, he said something like, 'Don't you know enough about gunfire not to walk into it?' I didn't know it was gunfire. I had no idea. It wasn't until I noticed it was strafing on either side of the branches that I realized something wasn't right."
Attempts to reach West for comment were forwarded to Bishop's Lodge General Manager Rick Galligan, who recalls at least one previous incident within the last year when a mountain biker wandered into the line of fire. But Galligan says he is unaware of anybody being injured since West took over the range's operations.
"We've never had anybody injured in the 17 years that [West] has run the facility," Galligan says. "Any time that there might be a concern we certainly react to that and review it and make sure that we're doing things in due diligence so we can go the next 17 years without any incident."
Swansea says he also spoke with rangers at the National Park Service and the Española Ranger Station (whose jurisdiction includes the Santa Fe National Forest) who were sympathetic to his plight. Not that they could do anything about it.
"If he was on National Forest land we would be able to get out there and take a look but if he was on private property there isn't much that we can do," says Annie Apodaca, a spokeswoman for the Española Ranger District. "We try to control the trails as best we can but a lot of these smaller trails pop up and the boundaries are not always posted."
The jurisdictional lines between where the National Forest ends and private property begins are somewhat nebulous in the hills surrounding Bishop's Lodge. As a result, Galligan says it's not uncommon for people to wander off the beaten paths.
"Anytime people head into the mountains there's a possibility of a wrong turn or something to that effect," Galligan says. "Our trails in the past have been marked and we do occasionally go and audit that because people will knock trail markers down or the wind will knock them down or people will move them."
Swansea says there was nothing to indicate that the trail he was on-which is listed on popular hiking guides produced by Drake Mountain Maps-was located on private property. Moreover, he says it isn't hardcore hikers like himself who are at greatest risk, but the guests of Bishop's Lodge themselves.
"They're shooting at their own trails," Swansea says. "They could have paid customers on these trails-private property or otherwise-that could easily get shot at."
Galligan says the resort provides its guests with maps marking each of the paths in its trail system. He also notes that the shooting range-which is located on a hilltop overlooking the resort-was scaled back from its original size several years ago as a precautionary measure.
"The skeet range was adjusted due to encroaching homes being built," Galligan says. "Typically skeet is a nine-station sport and they've tiered it back to a five-station sport to avoid pellets heading towards anyone's dwellings or other possible instances where somebody could be injured."
The hillside where the shooting range sits is covered with shattered clay pigeons that have been destroyed before they could fly across the small ravine that separates the range from a neighboring hill. Homes scatter the valley and it's an area that is readily accessible to both hikers trekking west of Hyde Park Road and resort guests hiking the trails around Bishop's Lodge.
"I scouted it out a few days [after the incident] and could see skeet shells all over the place," Swansea says. "There is a general area that they shoot in but I think they also pretty much yahoo it and shoot in all directions."
Swansea says his primary concern is the lack of signs or markers notifying hikers and joggers that they might be mistaken for a clay pigeon if they walk a few hundred yards the wrong way.
"There's absolutely no signage on the trail," Swansea says. "A lot of people hike and jog around that area and there's nothing to warn people that they're about to walk into gunfire. It's incredibly dangerous. The bottom line is that they just need to have signs or some kind of markings to let people know they're about to get shot at."
Galligan says that the resort will become increasingly vigilant about taking the necessary steps to ensure the safety of both Bishop's Lodge guests and other folks who may wander onto the shooting range.
"I have advised my recreation manager that we need to do audits of the trail system," Galligan says. "I can assure you that we have always been conscious about taking the necessary precautions by making sure that we have proper signage and that our trail systems are well marked and we'll continue with that practice."
