Bringin’ the sky-magic

12 07 2023

For the last very long – days and days and days and weeks and days and weeks – we’ve had solid blue skies. Every. Single. Day.

We finally got some clouds. And when Disappointment Valley does clouds, boy, does it do spectacular clouds.

In order of appearance from around 5:30 or close to 6 p.m. to after sunset:

Looking west.

Mustangs grazing and napping under the relief of clouds.

Silver linings.

Do you see the rainbow?

Rain – or at least virga – to the west.

More mustangs. More napping.

When I left the bands pictured above, I thought I might have a chance at any late surprise light with the bands pictured higher above. But they had moved quite a bit, and the clouds were heavy, and sunset was imminent. But as I left Spring Creek Basin, rain was drifting eastish along the southern ridges of Disappointment Valley. Then I dropped below the rimrocks (the basin’s western boundary), and holy rainbow! You’ll have to take my word for it that it was SUPER intense, and the photo above doesn’t do it justice.

By the time I got to the main road, that “surprise” light was glowing, and the rain had moved away from the southern ridges.

Meanwhile, to the west … this!

Bit closer view of the mountains.

Back to the southeastish, rain was actually falling over the southern/southeastern part of Spring Creek Basin.

And THIS happened. I’m not sure I’ve ever been so glad and grateful to have a cell phone that doubles as a very wide-angle camera.

We ended the day with some post-sunset magic.

And 0.01 inch of rain. 🙂 Enough to make part of the road … actually … WET!





Ready for the rest

2 07 2023

Buckeye and his band leave the main water catchment on a nice – though buggy – evening in Spring Creek Basin. I don’t think we have fire haze here … but there’s definitely a lot of dust in the air with the recent weeks of strong winds.





Some green, some purple

30 06 2023

Despite a nice hike with fabulous views, I didn’t find any horses along the route I took. But I DID find fabulous grass, and I thought that might just as well make a nice subject for a post, especially during these hot, dry, windy days (did I mention hot, dry and windy!?).

Looking northwestish toward Filly Peak with Utah’s La Sal Mountains on the horizon. Grass in the foreground is a mix of Indian ricegrass and galleta.

From the same spot as the above pic, this is looking eastish – more of the same Indian ricegrass and galleta. If it looks lush, it kinda is. It’s amazing, given the (hot, dry, windy!) conditions, but there ya go!

And some bonus images:

Reader Sue Story and her husband, Denny, were out to the basin last week (great to see ya’ll!), and after their visit, Sue alerted me to some luscious 4 o’clock plants in the north/northwestern part of Spring Creek Basin. The wind has scoured many of the plants growing in the open and along the roads, but a couple, growing within the protection of juniper trees, still look fabulous.

Right?! Thanks to Sue and Denny for the tip!





All those layers

13 06 2023

Some more photo-geekiness for you all: The horses were a LONG way away from me when I saw this scene unfolding. If the best camera is the one you have in your hand, the best composition is what you have in your viewfinder, at any distance.

Buckeye’s band watches a band led by Lieutenant Tenaz up a ridge. Buckeye’s had already been to water and had left, and Tenaz and family were on their way to water.

All the layers of canyon rimrocks and ridges of northern Disappointment Valley and all the way to Utah’s La Sal Mountains look compressed and so *right there* because of my long lens.

That’s a lotta-lotta country … the most magical, of course, the closest at hand. 🙂





Rain for dust

22 04 2023

As spring continues to lag and spring and lag and backslide slightly (temps below freezing and ice on water!) and green is slowly greening, the predictable spring winds are keeping dust and haze in the air. We’re looking for a renewal of moisture. Maybe that’ll be on our dusty horizon by Monday and/or Tuesday.

P.S. As Kat Wilder reminded me this morning: Happy Earth Day! Celebrate something – or many things! – wild today!





Behind back of beyond

10 03 2023

If any mustang knows better than Sundance (or at least as well!) how to find the best scenery in Spring Creek Basin, it’s Storm.

This handsome boy and his band have been very elusive most of the winter, and this day was almost no different. According to my GPS, I hiked nearly six miles in my quest to visit him and his family; they were so far beyond the back of beyond, it may as well have been *behind* the back of beyond!

Or maybe, it’s really the front door to the best place on Earth. 🙂

Who are we to argue?!





Near to far …

2 03 2023

Fabulous!

Miss Chipeta with the long view to Utah – a little clouded but still grand. 🙂

At least 2 inches of snow greeted sunrise yesterday morning (such as it was, with snow blowing sideways nearly all day). By the end of the day, all that white had melted again, leaving us saturated with mud – again – and reveling in the awesome moisture.





Gleaming

28 02 2023

First thing in the morning, Utah’s La Sal Mountains shine with an almost otherworldly glow.

Flash seems to shine just about always. 🙂





Bold

18 02 2023

Could any mustangs or any mountains – or any mustangs before any mountains – be prettier than ours?! Even when those mountains are rooted in what we know as the state of Utah, by their view, they’re ours as surely as any.

And Skywalker … well, he is loved. 🙂





Wild watching wild

17 02 2023

Tenaz and Temple watch mule deer walk uphill across the snowy expanse of Spring Creek Basin from near the main/original water catchment area.

After a very cold morning (minus 5!) and a high only around 25 degrees, all that lovely snow is still pretty pristine … all the way to Utah’s shining La Sal Mountains!