Buckeye, wild and free, on a hot summer night.
Portrait of a mustang
11 08 2025Comments : 10 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Stallion dance
10 08 2025
Corazon is likely in his 20s now and still has a mare and a yearslong, loyal lieutenant (Maiku). This series of images show him doing a dance between his mare and a “rival” stallion (who really just went to have a chat because their families were grazing fairly close together). I couldn’t decide which moment I liked best, so you get three!
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Happy, happy birthday to my dad, Dave! 🙂 Long-time readers know that I get my addiction to (err, love for!) horses to both my dad and mom. Thanks, Dad! I love you!
Comments : 14 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Glimpses
9 08 2025
I put a fair amount of effort into planning and photographing the rising (nearly) full moon this month – the Sturgeon Moon. It didn’t quite work out, what with clouds, smoke, wrong position, smoke, clouds (and all of those things in the last days as the moon neared fullness), but I’ll never get tired of that scenery.
Mustangs were nearby but not in quite the right location to incorporate into my hoped-for scene. And when I left the basin, there was an amazing gathering of bands very near the road in the west. 🙂 The moon was out of sight again behind clouds and a hill, but what a great “farewell until we meet again,” which won’t be more than a day or two, despite heat, dust, smoke, clouds (non-rain-bearing), because … MUSTANGS! 🙂
For an account of how we’re all feeling with the seemingly neverending heat and drought and fire danger, please read Kat Wilder’s post about Spiritual Drought Syndrome. She said she just made it up, but I think it’s real and disturbing. I think we’re all suffering to some degree.
Comments : 8 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Prettier
8 08 2025It’s not my intention to ignore all the ills of the world on this blog, just to make it a place of peace and beauty.
Two nights ago, clouds stymied my moonrise photography attempts, but Mother Nature put on a show, nonetheless. You can’t really call that a rainbow – a light prism? – over Brumley Point, but it was a much better sight than the image I took the day before that looked like Brumley, which looks enough like an old volcano, was actually erupting.
This was the second time it happened (and I was in a bit different location). Neither occurrence lasted more than a minute or two?
Do dragonflies bring you joy? It’s way out of focus here near the in-focus pinon tree – in my defense, I was pretty far away, and it was zipping faster than I could follow, let alone focus – but that little beam of zooming light (seeing it backlit against a far mesa is what caught my attention in the first place) brought ME joy! I realized that it was snatching flying insects out of the air, which I cheered wholeheartedly. The gnats are largely gone, but we have (still) big flies and (now) these weird little things that are bigger than gnats and almost as exasperating.
The moon did rise above the clouds eventually, of course. No matter the conditions here on Earth, it’s always, comfortingly, there – somewhere out there.
Most importantly, to paraphrase Mad-Eye Moody (apologies to non-Harry Potter fans): Stay vigilant!
Comments : 19 Comments »
Categories : Brumley Point, Colorado, Disappointment Valley, McKenna Peak, Moon, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
And then … this
7 08 2025Note: Images are from Tuesday, Aug. 5. Yes, I’m in Spring Creek Basin for the below (cell-phone) images, and yes, the fire is fairly close as the eagle soars (the next county south, which is Dolores County; the basin is mostly in San Miguel County but does extend south into northern Dolores County). However, the horses are not in danger; there’s actually a lotta country between there and and the basin.
If you’ve visited Spring Creek Basin, you’ll recognize this cattle guard at the intersection of Road 19Q (Disappointment Road) and Road K20E. What you most likely and very fortunately have NOT seen as you head east toward Spring Creek Basin is a giant, nuclear-cloud-looking smoke plume. 😦 That’s the newly started Stoner Mesa Fire. (This is the Durango Herald link; you may hit a paywall, or you may get a free read of three articles (?).)
I won’t lie; I nearly had a heart attack when I saw that plume. Back in 2002, I was working at the aforementioned Durango Herald, and when I drove to work each afternoon (copy editor/page designer shift of 3 p.m. to midnight), the nuclear-plume of smoke from the Missionary Ridge Fire greeted me with heart-stopping awesomeness (and not in a good way) every time I topped Hesperus Hill to descend toward Durango.
This is from the area we call Chrome’s Point in western Spring Creek Basin, looking east-southeast. Yes, those dark-and-white spots at far left, left of the main/original water catchment aprons (looks like a tennis court) and tank are mustangs. Thankfully, they seemed completely and totally oblivious. The air was hot and smoky: Dragon Bravo Fire, Sharp Canyon Fire, Turner Gulch Fire (smoke still visible from it, too), Waters Canyon Fire … and who knows what other fires contributing to our air dis-quality (!?)) – more hazy than seems apparent from these images.
Moonrise over McKenna Peak and Temple Butte from farther north in the basin. Most of the smoke was blocked by the eastern horizon of ridges from this perspective.
Sunset through smoke. Pretty … but it is violently, dangerously dry out there.
This is a hot, bad, dry (and very-bad-dry) summer, folks. Please be mindful of anything that could spark a flame, stay safe, and support your firefighters … local, regional, state and national. And rain dances are *ALWAYS* appreciated. 🙂
(I went with my phone pix for this post, but I may have some from my big camera in coming days. … May …)
Comments : 13 Comments »
Categories : Brumley Point, Colorado, Disappointment Valley, La Sal Mountains, McKenna Peak, McKenna Peak Wilderness Study Area, San Juan National Forest, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Tres Rios Field Office, Wildfire
Season of fire ‘n smoke
6 08 2025
Uh oh. Another new fire (!), the Sharp Canyon Fire, started two days ago south-southwest of Disappointment Valley, north of the community of Cahone, and the plume was visible beyond the south valley ridge. I was in Spring Creek Basin when I saw the above-pictured air tanker fly over. It dropped out of sight toward the fire before I got to see it drop its load of slurry.
The Watch Duty app (which I just recently learned about and is *awesome*) alert showed the fire at 35 acres, but that was a BIG plume. Yesterday morning, it had been updated to 400 acres. As the eagle soars, it’s by far the closest current fire to Disappointment Valley and Spring Creek Basin, but it’s south of the Dolores River in its deep canyon, so the fire itself isn’t likely to endanger the mustangs. The pic is looking southish from the middle-ish (!) of Spring Creek Basin. Filly Peak at lower right is within the basin; the heavily treed ridge in the background is beyond the basin. Land goes from BLM to San Juan National Forest to private the farther south that eagle flies.
And the tanker flying back northeast over the basin to its base … possibly Montrose (?).
I looked up this handy website to identify the tanker, and it looks like it was a DC-10, or a VLAT! That’s a Very Large Air Tanker, and it was. From the website: “These airtankers, also referred to as VLATs, can deliver thousands of gallons of fire retardant at one time. Because of their size, they are less maneuverable than smaller airtankers. VLATs drop fire retardant at least 250 feet above the top of the vegetation. 
“The DC-10, which can be used to support wildland firefighters on the ground, can deliver up to 9,400 gallons of fire retardant at one time. The U.S. Forest Service is responsible for managing the VLAT contracts.”
With hope, the fire will be contained soon, but it is DRY out there – which is everywhere here. We’ve been under red-flag/fire-weather warnings/watches/advisories multiple days this summer (and are in a run of such days currently).
Huge support to all those engaged in fighting these wildfires across the West (and for our neighbors in Canada, too!), from the land and from the sky.
Comments : 12 Comments »
Categories : Colorado, Disappointment Valley, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Wildfire
Clearly beautiful
5 08 2025
Kestrel is another “old-timer” (though younger than Corazon), who doesn’t like to pose for the camera (or the camera-wielding woman), and frequently turns this gaze of curious confusion toward me. And sometimes I manage to catch it somewhat creatively. 🙂
It’s hot again. And dry. And hot. And did I mention dry? And still smoky-hazy. Kestrel and her band have been hanging out in a far location of Spring Creek Basin where remains at least one (maybe two) water-(semi-)filled ponds. That’s a relief … but rain would bring more.
Comments : 8 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
River of light
4 08 2025
This image of Seneca at sunset was taken a couple of weeks ago (and I forgot about it!).
Too cool – on a hot evening – not to share.
Comments : 9 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
That’s the spot
3 08 2025
We don’t have “standing stones” as evidence of prehistoric cultures, and we don’t have any indigenous rock art in Spring Creek Basin (that I know of), but these boulders stand at the base of a big rocky hill, and now and then, the mustangs take advantage to use them for both napping shade as well as scratching “posts”!
Temple took advantage of one of them post-nap as the band was starting to mosey out to graze in the evening light. She had a bit of an audience. 🙂
Really leaning into it!
Comments : 10 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Doesn’t take much
2 08 2025
When he finally looked up from his grazing above the south rim of Spring Creek canyon (north rim shown in the background), I was there. 🙂
Enjoy the moments. The ones that matter.
Comments : 6 Comments »
Categories : Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 