Spectacular sky from incoming storm days later? You betcha.
From Spring Creek Basin’s western rimrock boundary looking southeast at the very end of yesterday.
Looking east from the same place. The storm was to the north – our left as we’re looking out over the basin here.
One of the most spectacular jags of lightning I’ve ever seen lit up that northern sky (not close, not nearly far enough away), and I took that as my sign to hit the road, which was still a bit of a hike down to the right. As I headed down the hill, so did the ponies I’d been visiting with. No fools, they (or me!).
After some reports from different sources of tiny bits of rain here and there (Tuesday day/night, maybe some drips Wednesday), the sky was much more our normal and beloved Colorado-blue than we’ve seen in a run of smoky days. Ferris Fire (60,104 acres as of Wednesday night) smoke at left; Babylon Fire (101,073 acres) smoke at right. Looking mostly south.
The fire must have gotten into some new, untouched fuels by evening because by 7 p.m. or later, it was really sending up a plume. That’s Filly Peak in the near background, and you can see a bit how perspective matters: Not only is the fire not directly behind it, it’s not *super* closely behind/south of Disappointment Valley’s south ridges. (I did still see a little line of smoke in the Ryman Creek area a bit later.) Mustang ponies in the middle ground, napping.
This and the above pic toward Filly Peak were taken from the same vantage point: Chrome’s Point in Spring Creek Basin’s far western region (not far from the rimrocked western boundary). This one is looking slightly leftish of Filly Peak and southeast/east. The smoke is fairly faint … a MUCH better sight than we’ve had the last many days.
Those are more clouds than smokedrift, though, of course, there’s still smoke there from Utah’s huge Babylon Fire, now more than 101,000 acres. … Mother Nature is trying to stir up the clouds into delivering rain.
See the pillars of sunset glow at left? I love it when the sun waves goodnight to us like that.
A couple of links to articles I’ve found interesting recently:
“Monsoon rains are on the horizon,” say the weather wizards, err, experts. We can only hope they’re finally going to be proved right. Some super heat is on tap first.
Heading TO Spring Creek Basin, I found the prince’s plume plants in full, crazy bloom. Why is this crazy, I hear you asking? Because they don’t usually bloom until May. IN Spring Creek Basin, the prince’s plumes I saw were a little behind these along Road K20E toward the basin, which makes sense as the basin is a bit higher elevation than along this road.
Heading OUT of Spring Creek Basin, the grey sky exploded with color at and post-sunset! Wowza. The weather wizards are giving us a whopping NINETY PERCENT chance of rain Wednesday. Do you know what Wednesday is? Wednesday is April 1, otherwise known as April Fools’ Day. Call me a fool a million times over, and please, please, PLEASE, let it RAINRAINRAIN!!!
With any hope at all, by the time you take a gander at this post this morning, our world will be white … according to the forecast Thursday afternoon! I’m not sure I believe it … but I’m hoping with all my might!
See ’em? 🙂 Look for the white spot, above the ridge of rimrocks … then note the dark spots (that aren’t trees) spread out to the left.
That’s Temple’s and Madison’s group. Out of sight to the right (northish) is Filly Peak and the main interior of (and main entrance to) Spring Creek Basin. FROM that interior, where I’d been 15 or 20 minutes earlier, I couldn’t see the mustangs from the other side of Filly Peak (familiar visitors will know that the road runs along the north/northeastish side of Filly Peak). But I saw Buckeye’s, which led me to leave the interior, drive out and around and hike up what I call corral hill, which is where I was when I took this pic, looking northwestish toward Utah’s La Sal Mountains. This is one of my favorite views in the basin (*note: like mustangs, you can’t have just one *favorite* view?!?!). And then I spotted the ponies. You couldn’t have seen them at all from the interior road, but they’re no more than a 15-or-so-minute walk from that road. From this vantage, though, Buckeye’s were less than five minutes below me back to the right(ish).
In addition to wanting to see Buckeye’s band, I hoofed it up the hill to try to catch this rising before it got too high:
This is what Google AI has to say about the February full moon (it’s actually full on Sunday, Feb. 1):
The February full moon is most commonly known as the Full Snow Moon because February typically brings the heaviest snowfalls of the year in North America. Other traditional names, often rooted in Native American, Colonial American, and European traditions, include the Hunger Moon, Bear Moon, and Eagle Moon.
Key Facts About February’s Moon:
Alternative Names: According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, other names include the Bald Eagle Moon (Cree), Bear Moon (Ojibwe), and Raccoon Moon (Dakota).
Significance: It reflects a time of cold, deep winter, limited food sources, and the need for endurance.
2026 Timing: The 2026 Full Snow Moon peaks on February 1 at 5:09 p.m. EST.
Other, less common names for this lunar cycle include the Wind Strong Moon (Pueblo) and the Goose Moon (Haida).
***
Yes, I almost did fall off my chair laughing when I read that the February full moon is “most commonly known as the ‘Full Snow Moon.'” I mean, really? 🙂 Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Not to mention arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh! If you look really closely, you can see some lingering patches of snow in the above pic, and that’s several layers (what I like most about the pic) rising to the final ridge, which is actually outside/beyond Spring Creek Basin, but you’ve gotta look *really* hard.
The first layer of grey Mancos shale is the south end of what I call bachelor ridge, then the sandstoney-topped mesa known as Knife Edge, then the actual piñon-juniper-topped ridge that is a north/northeastish boundary ridge of the basin, then the ridge with its old burn scar(s) most commonly and easily accessed from Dry Creek Basin (can you imagine anyone calling Dry Creek Basin “Dry Creek” like some people refer to Spring Creek Basin as “Spring Creek” (which, as we all know, with its tributary arroyos, drains Spring Creek *Basin*)? (how’s that for a whole lotta parentheses?? :))).
How about a new name this year (which may or may not echo Februarys past … and presage Februarys future): Deep-Anxiety-Inducing No-Snow Moon? Bummer.
But to end on a happy note, another glimpse of the ponies on the “bench”:
Let alone the wild ones, how ’bout THEM layers? 🙂 Interestingly (?), the part(s) that look like people’s idea of Utah are in Colorado, and the parts that look like people’s idea of Colorado are in Utah. Yay, Southwest! 🙂
Pretty Aiyanna stopped in just the right place to show off the big, complementarily colored (!) boulders at the base of Filly Peak on New Year’s Day. … Notice the piñon tree growing between the two boulders behind her. It doesn’t look super healthy, but that’s probably more the ongoing drought than having sprouted up between two giant sandstones. Still, pretty cool … and it makes you (OK, at least me) wonder about the eons of history there.
Who else is feeling the need for a nap between Christmas and New Year’s Day? 🙂
It’s been blessedly quiet and peaceful in Disappointment Valley and Spring Creek Basin lately. The crazily unseasonal 60-degree temps are a thing of the past; today’s high temp is forecast to be a whopping 39F. Some places in Colorado are getting rain or snow from the storms that hit California (thank you, West Coast!). There’s an ever-so-slight possibility of “rain/snow showers” here next weekend. As always, our hopes are higher than the forecast percentages.
It’s been a crazy few days, and I’m almost over the rivers and past the mountains and down the plains and into the woods of home for Thanksgiving week.
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 