Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

You know that winter storm for the Rockies everyone’s been talking about? (OK, we’ve all been talking about it here in/on the edges of the Rockies.)

Yeah.

It happened. 🙂

At least one part of the basin I hiked around in got at least 2 inches of snow.

You can HEAR the dry, desperate earth and all the thirsty trees sucking and slurping up all that moisture. Like, literally.

From the top of a ridge on my way back to the road, I looked down on a slope full of pinon and juniper trees, and the close-and-foggy air rippled with a sound like a creek running. The world was otherwise completely, totally, absolutely silent, and the fog was so heavy, I could feel it on the skin of my face. But that tender little sound, of water – running, dripping – was completely, totally, absolutely marvelous. 🙂

It was amazing to hang out with Tesora and her family and another band for a little while in that white, wonderful world.

The white melted; the ground still is soggy!

The direction of light in this image is unexplainable.

I was just about giving up on taking any more pix of Sundance because the shade from Valentine Mesa, as the sun set beyond it, was catching up to us, and he was moving deeper into it, to join his grazing band.

The light was ahead of him, but here, it looks as though it’s coming from above and to the left. In another half-step – the next frame – he’s completely within the shadow of Valentine Mesa.

Isn’t that the beauty of magic? That we can’t explain it? We just KNOW it!

Sparkling water droplets from her tail swishing catch the light as she drinks from one of the ponds that caught water a week or so ago.

It’s such a relief that the horses have enough water to wade into (in some places).

The temperature yesterday hit 101 degrees in Disappointment Valley. Tuesday, the high temperature is forecast to be about 55 degrees! Fortunately, we have some rain also in the forecast. Here’s hoping!

Spring Creek Basin’s grand ol’ lady. And make no mistake, she may be a little rough around the wind-knotted-mane edges, but she is a lady. She’s seen the world – her world – and she knows more about you than you know about her. (You’re not that complicated, whereas she is a lady of mystery and secrets.)

She is Houdini, and the ultimate escape is hers … because she’s wild, and she lives it to the wildest.

Shadow girl looks like she’s deep in a sweet slumber. In truth, she had laid down for a leisurely roll … but I love that this very wary gal felt comfortable enough to lie down in my company. She’s not usually that relaxed. 🙂

We’re not the only ones celebrating water in the basin.

Skywalker was just moseying after his bachelor pal and a band, grazing as he went. Other than the wind, it was a quiet night in the basin, which is just the way we like it.