Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

Do you see what I see?

There ARE three mustangs in this pic, and don’t feel bad if you can’t spot them. I passed them once and saw them only after I spotted the horses on the ridge where I am taking this photo, and turned around to get back to where I could most easily hike up to them.

Round Top is in the distance, and the treed ridges in the farthest background are beyond Spring Creek Basin.

Hint: There’s one grey and two dark horses, just this side of where you can tell the road is going to cross that arroyo in the sort of middle distance.

Houdini is less than worried while Maia calls to a band mate across a small arroyo. Another band was in the area, and Maia apparently didn’t think her family should be too spread out.

What is it with those snakeweed bouquets? 🙂

We do still have a bit of snow in patches. More is in the forecast tonight and tomorrow, but with temps in the 40s, it probably won’t last long. Still, it’s more moisture, and we need all the winter wet we can get!

“You can’t see me if I hide under this juniper tree!”

Dear, sweet girl. Yes, yes, we can. 🙂

Skywalker seems to be asking where his view has gone.

After an early morning with sunshine – and fairly warm (at freezing) temps – the fog rolled in again. And THIS time, I found a cooperative pony!

By the time I saw other horses, the fog had almost completely cleared, the ground had not only thawed, it was SUPER muddy, and the ponies were far from the road. (There’s hiking, and there’s hiking in MUD.)

And yes, it is M.U.D.D.Y. out there! There’s quite a lot of moisture on/in the ground … and we need more. There I go, being all greedy-like. 🙂

Dark lady of the woods, Cassidy Rain.

The ground was just starting to thaw and get soft when I took this photo of the dark beauty as I was leaving the band after a lovely little visit (that also seemed sunnier than this pic shows).

“The thaw” in mid-morning (depending on sunshine and temp and overnight temp) is its own little natural miracle. It happens. It’s simple. It’s complex. It’s normal. It’s unique. It’s a wonder of nature, just like our mustangs.