Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

The temp hit 100F Saturday.

The temp hit at least 98F Sunday before a few-minute rain came through and dropped the temp to 77F in early afternoon! The cooldown was the best (though it did return to 90s); the rain dampened the ground … and as soon as it quit, the ground was dry. That fast.

I learned yesterday from a firefighting source that the Ferris Fire now is the No. 1 priority wildfire in the United States. That’s not based on size (it’s 64,464 acres, 23 percent containment, and there are 1,031 personnel fighting this fire (numbers as of Sunday evening)); it’s based on things like protecting grazing and farmland, homes/private properties, infrastructure (the fire is burning on both sides of the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association powerline), etc.

I didn’t take many pix of the Ferris Fire from Disappointment Valley on Friday. I did take some from Ridgway of the Gold Mountain Fire, burning about 35,622 acres (with 5 percent containment and 1,006 people working on it).

Taken from Ridgway State Park north of Ridgway looking southeastish. The fire is burning on the east side of U.S. Highway 550 between Ouray and Ridgway.

Just to say that there are multiple fires burning in the state, affecting many, many people. Some directly (the loss of homes and businesses is absolutely devastating), some indirectly, and I bet everyone in the state knows someone who is affected, whether by fire or smoke or both. Keep them all in your thoughts.

Buckeye and his band made an appearance Friday. They’d disappeared into the folds and ridges and drainages of the far eastern and southeastern regions of Spring Creek Basin, getting water from seeps in those arroyos and grazing places with little to no competition, and I’d been missing them.

A big shout-out to members of my parents’ church: Mooreville Global Methodist Church in Central Texas. My parents have asked them to keep our area and our people and our critters and, especially, our firefighters in their prayers. I’m not a religious person, per se, but I believe in angels, and I believe in the power of prayer. I cried when my mom and dad told me that. 🙂 Thank you, thank you, thank you, all!