Mother Nature is nothing to mess around with & that was certainly the case in New Mexico back in early 2023. If you've driven to Cloudcroft, you've probably have driven on United States Highway 82 and have come across some beautiful mountains on the side of the road.

Drivers on US-82 had a huge shock on January 28 when they discovered a rock in the road...a BIG one.

Yeah that's one BIG rock. But where did it come from?

Google Maps was able to find the cause of the Cloudcroft New Mexico rockslide

Thanks to the keen eyes of the Cloudcroft Fire Department, they looked at Google Maps to determine if they could find the source of the rock...and sure enough they did.

If you look at the photos below, you can actually see the very same rock that caused havoc in 2023.

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Just doing a quick search in the same area, you can see just how much the area changed from before 2023 on Google Street View.

The best part of the story was that no one was hurt & the highway was reopened on Monday, January 30.

If you're curious on how the same exact spot looks NOW, it looks almost exactly the same. I say ALMOST because well, they couldn't put back the giant rock (nor WOULD they).

Instead, there's just a mark on the mountain where that giant rocked snapped off.

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This story is not only a reminder of how scary nature can be, but you never know what you'll find when just exploring on Google Maps. This wouldn't be the first time something strange was caught on Google Maps in New Mexico & possibly won't be the last.

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