Storms don’t last long here; rain showers don’t linger. The sky clears quickly.
Usually.
The above is the eastern horizon beyond Spring Creek Basin from not very far below the western rimrock boundary as the last storm (Tuesday morning) cleared. The rain was in the morning; the pic is from early afternoon.
Wowza.
Mustangs were grazing below me, but I couldn’t get them in the view until Buckeye had a chat with Maiku.
It may not look very damp, but it was – after a quarter of an inch of rain that morning! McKenna Peak and Temple Butte were wreathed in clouds (very unusually) until early afternoon, and this doesn’t capture that, but Tenaz is the star of the show anyway. 🙂
That gives us 0.35 inch of rain (Friday afternoon and Tuesday morning), which is more than we’ve gotten in about three months? At least. The ground still is pretty dry under the top layer of dampened soil, but it has to help the vegetation (and the water catchments, too).
These pix are from sunset Friday:
Virga and rain (see it at lower center-ish against the far ridge?) from Spring Creek Basin looking west/southwest toward the far southwestern ridge(s) of Disappointment Valley.
Saturday:
It rained. 🙂 ACTUALLY rained. And for at least an hour (in at least some places).
OMG, the relief. … The gratitude.
It started with thunder and lightning, though, so hopefully the nearly immediate rain put out any fire(s) that may have started. …
The mustangs are chasing the growing green things (fairly limited this year) all over the basin, and you never know where they’re going to show up. I hiked way out on a hill in the southern part of the basin on a just-to-see mission, and it wasn’t until I turned around to head back that I spotted one horse in a little drainage. A little investigation soon found the band, tucked out of sight below another little hill, but they – like all the bands – are not interested in anything but *the green*, so the best thing to do is to sit quietly and wait for them to notice other band members coming over another little hill then snap the moment when they’re looking and/or shifting position toward another green patch. 🙂
You can see the dusty haze on the horizon toward Utah, but with the soft light, it was another lovely evening in Spring Creek Basin with Temple and her family. And any time with the mustangs is the best time.
Still-fluffy Kestrel was much more interested in her grazing than in me (which is perfectly fine and as it should be).
We’ve been having 60-plus-degree days. Nice, sure, if it was April or May. Way too warm already, and way too dry. I hope her fluff is because we still have some winter on tap (or at least the necessary moisture!).
Snowy weather almost always brings out the snoozies in the wild ponies. When I took this pic of Madison and Temple napping, there was another napping-on-the-ground horse to the right and THREE others, all lying down, to the left. Two of those three were standing when I first approached, but they ended up lying down with the others, leaving only the lieutenant stallion standing-napping a fairly close distance away.
I’d walked out to them, then to another band a bit farther away, and I took this pic as I was headed back to the road. In the mud, it wasn’t as easy a hike as on dry ground. Why not join them? It was a good time and excuse to stretch out and take a nap among friends. 🙂
Let love and kindness, joy and hope light the way this Christmas season, and stay true to what matters most on this Earth with the time we are given. 🙂
The view from the hill, up out of the arroyo, was pretty grand. And the mountains aren’t a bad backdrop. 😉
******
Happy big 7-0 to friend, fellow mustang advocate and writer extraordinaire, Kathryn Wilder!
She is, as many of you may know, the author of “Desert Chrome: Water, A Woman, and Wild Horses in the West,” and her new book, “The Last Cows: On Ranching, Wonder, and a Woman’s Heart,” will be out next fall.
Read more of her writing at https://katwilderwriter.com/
I mean, wow, right? Does anyone doubt this latest proof of magic in Disappointment Valley (or on planet Earth?)? 🙂 That was absolutely as wide as my cell-phone camera could go; the rainbow was (seemed to be) right above me.
As usual, the rain forming the prism of the rainbows fell in the atmosphere, but not much actually made it to Earth.
And after sunset, this was the storm to the southeast. Only in a video clip was I able to catch the lightning bolts. Time between first and third photo: about an hour and 15 minutes. (And that rain didn’t make it to my location, either. I’m not greedy, but it’s still annoying to have rain *that close*! :))
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 