It should go without saying: Every day, the fire – and the smoke – is different. The Ferris Fire is up to 28,801 acres and 10 percent contained. As Watch Duty says, “That still leaves a lot of uncontained perimeter, but fire crews are still on the line this hour [6:42 p.m.] working to increase that number and there will be personnel working overnight again tonight [Thursday, July 2].”
Yesterday morning, Disappointment Valley was pretty socked in with dense smoke again, but it cleared faster than the day before (which is still relative, as smoke still lingered closer to the ground into early afternoon). Fortunately, it’s lifting by late afternoon and evening.
Yesterday afternoon, it became, as noted, a tale of two skies: smoke across the entire east, from south to north from the Ferris Fire; low smoke across the western horizon from the Babylon Fire in southeastern Utah (81,494 acres!) and clear blue sky above, south/southwest across the west to the north.
These next three pix are the Ferris Fire smoke:
That’s the southern – probably southwestern – edge of the Ferris fire, south of Disappointment Valley (more the upper valley than the lower valley, which is behind me). The smoke is drifting to the left, which is north.
Looking southeast/eastish straight up-valley and up Disappointment Road from southwest of Spring Creek Basin. (I know, it’s weird; up-valley in Disappointment Valley is up/higher elevation, and it’s southeast, which people usually refer to as “down”!) The rimrocks at lower left form the western boundary of Spring Creek Basin, and that’s Filly Peak, within the basin, just above them. On a clear day, you could see Temple Butte and McKenna Peak and Brumley Point from this vantage point.
This is looking east/northeast/north. Even with my phone’s widest angle, I can’t get the entire smoke-drift in one image, south to north, basically. See that blue sky at left in the photo above and to the right in the first pic?
Now let’s turn directly around and look west/northwest, and this was the view: mostly blue sky above the low smoke layer, mingling with some low clouds, from the Babylon Fire, drifting again from south to north across our western horizon. Quite a difference in the two halves of the sky, eh?
Now a couple of evening pix, looking at the changed smoke from the fires:
Seneca and Chipeta, looking west toward Spring Creek canyon, sunset and the Babylon Fire smoke.
Flash’s band, looking south to the sunset-colored smoke from the Ferris Fire.
Yesterday was not the prettiest day under the smoke layers. … In fact, until late afternoon/early evening, it was pretty downright ugly (!). The fire moved toward the Dolores River canyon on its west side, and those delicious new fuels sent up a great deal of smoke. Morning found us super socked in … and it just didn’t lift or drift until much later in the day, which was – you guessed it –another red-flag-warning day. Today, the same.
The mustangs continue to fare well through it all. They have forage, they have water, they have each other. When it comes right down to it, they have the important things kinda nailed. Mysterium, Gaia and Maple above.
If you’re using the Watch Duty app, you can find the below information there. I thought the updates Wednesday night for earlier in the day were informative, so I’m going to post them here (and huge thanks to those folks doing the updating?!). There has been a massive amount of work done by firefighting ground crews as well as air attack. It’s humbling to know those folks are out there giving every ounce of their strength to fighting this fire. The Ferris Fire apparently has its own Facebook page, but that’s beyond my knowledge.
Michael Silvester • Senior Manager of Operations & Standards
22 minutes ago • Jul 1 at 9:58 PM
The Ferris Fire is expected to reach the Dolores River Canyon tonight as it backs down Doe Canyon. Fire crews will continue monitor this area closely tonight and will be in close communication with Dolores County out of an abundance of caution.
Tomorrow [today, July 2], a number of engines will staff the west side of the canyon. The Incident Management Team is also coordinating closely with the local fire protection.
Michael Silvester • Senior Manager of Operations & Standards
3 minutes ago • Jul 1 at 9:32 PM
Zone 8 [I believe this is directly west of the fire] is now on “Set” status & the parameters for that zone can be seen above, per the update from Dolores County Office of Emergency Management on Facebook. SET Means Be Ready to Leave & means there’s a wildfire in the area, and conditions could change quickly. It’s time to be alert, stay informed, and be ready to leave at a moment’s notice.
When you’re SET:
– Load your go-kit into your vehicle.
– Park facing out for a quicker departure.
– Follow updates from official fire and emergency channels.
– Review your evacuation routes and know where you’ll go.
– Get pets and livestock ready to leave with you.
Being SET doesn’t mean you need to leave yet.
Total acreage: 25,814 Total personnel: 282
Today [yesterday, July 1], the Arroyo Grande Hotshots continued to dig containment line on the northeast corner of the fire nearest to private lands. An additional dozer and hotshot crew will be in place tomorrow to continue this mission. Favorable weather conditions will allow overnight burnout operations to continue this evening.
Dozer work on the southwest corner of the fire was completed. Firefighters will continue improving and developing containment line in this area.
The west side of the fire, closest to the Dolores River Canyon, continues to present challenges for direct engagement. Additional divisions were added to respond to this expected growth.
Susan Perney • Coverage Reporter
About 4 hours ago • Jul 1 at 5:42 PM
Three Type 1’s and one smaller helicopter are working the various hotspots around the fire. Air tankers have also been dropping retardant to slow the fire’s growth on the southern end where Doe Canyon meets the Dolores River Canyon.
A second interagency Hotshot Crew (IHC) will be arriving later today. Current plans call for them to assist with creating fire line in rugged terrain on the fire’s northeast corner near the lookout. The goal is to prevent the fire from reaching and threatening homes and private property in the Glade Ranch Subdivision and to protect the lookout itself. Despite several large fires in Colorado and surrounding states we are continuing to get more resources to support the crews on the ground and in the air. 280 firefighters and support personnel are now assigned to the fire.
**********
That Montana-shaped smoke is from the Ferris Fire, which has moved north and northwest and is overlapping the western-horizon smoke from Southwest Colorado and Utah fires.
Smoke in the pic is NOT as close as it seems, nor as awful as it looks. I mean, it IS awful where it is, but it is not super close to Spring Creek Basin. I actually debated showing this pic, and I decided to do it, not for drama factor, which I’m aware that it has, but because that was the scene toward sunset looking south/southeast, and I think it helps tell the story. A recovering journalist, still, I am.
We remain incredibly grateful to all the firefighters and folks supporting the crews working on the Ferris Fire *AND* all the other fires burning near and not-so-near. I particularly value my partnership with my local BLM folks, which includes this challenging time, during which they are, as you might guess, super busy. Thanks (again!) to Ryan for taking the time to keep me updated about goings-on; you can’t imagine how grateful I am.
And thank you also to everyone who has messaged me asking about the safety of the mustangs; I appreciate that immensely.
Gratefully, while the Ferris Fire burns 20,560 acres to the southeast and the McCloud Fire and Horse Head Fire burn 113 and 530 acres, respectively, to the southwest (and that smoke is joined from the Snyder Mesa Fire (30,163 acres) to our north/northwest, drifting southish), Spring Creek Basin and lower Disappointment Valley were mostly smoke-free yesterday.
In the pic above, Tenaz and Skywalker, grazing with their band almost at the western boundary of the basin, are highlighted by that drifting smoke to the west. It’s fairly far away, but I haven’t seen Utah’s La Sal Mountains for at least a few days now as the smoke obscures any sight of them.
Now looking east/southeast, that’s the smoke from the Ferris Fire (the Doe Canyon, Far Draw and Ferris fires all have merged and are now being collectively called the Ferris Fire). But see how clear it is between here and there? Not great for folks and critters in that direction … but (again, gratefully), a huge relief for my beloved center-of-the-world Spring Creek Basin.
Huge thanks to sheriff’s deputies from both Dolores and San Miguel counties (Disappointment Valley spans both counties, and Disappointment Road runs from Colorado Highway 141 at the lower north end to the Dolores-Norwood Road at the upper southeast end) who have been diligent in keeping an eye on the fire’s approach: Branson, Todd, Derek, Jeremy and Nick. Also to my BLM folks, especially Ryan and Laura, for keeping an eye on the situation and updating me with information. Anton was on one of the fire crews pulled back Saturday for safety on the Doe Canyon Fire, and he might still be on a fire crew on the merged fire.
This won’t be an easy post to either read or view.
*THE MUSTANGS ARE SAFE*
That’s the important thing (as far as the main topic of this blog, anyway).
Yesterday, Saturday, June 27, at least three wildfires of significance roared to life directly south of Disappointment Valley: Ferris Fire (4,777 acres as of Saturday evening), Far Draw Fire (651 acres) and Doe Canyon Fire (385 acres). There’s also the Horse Head Fire (200 acres) burning to the southwest, in Utah, and the Snyder Fire (28,264 acres) burning north-northwest of here, almost directly west of Grand Junction and just inside Utah.
Red-flag warnings; check.
Wind advisories; check.
Bad air quality; check.
Critical fire weather; check.
Stage 2 fire restrictions in San Miguel and Montrose counties; check (these might extend to other nearby counties, but these are the ones I know about, and most of Spring Creek Basin is in San Miguel County, with the southern/southeastern portion in Dolores County).
Kentucky is flooded, and the West is on fire. Friday night, we had a swift little storm pass through Disappointment Valley – 0.04 inch from four minutes of rain. My guess (guess only; I don’t know yet the cause of these fires) is that they started from lightning strikes. It is one giant tinder box out there. Until the little bit of rain Wednesday, it hadn’t rained here for more than a month.
If images of wildfire smoke bother you (it bothers me), the rest of this post isn’t for you … and the pictures, as usual, don’t convey the bad-ness of the beast. … Again, please know that the mustangs are SAFE. I can’t say what the fires will or will not do, but for now, the horses are OK and not in danger.
I spent most of Saturday in Ridgway with mustang friends, and this is what greeted me and Kat Wilder upon our return to Disappointment Valley. This is from the northern part of the valley, a few miles south of Colorado Highway 141, looking southeast.
Looking west at sunset; this smoke is from the Utah fires.
The majority of the smoke seems to be passing east of the eastern side of Spring Creek Basin; McKenna Peak, Temple Butte and Brumley Point are all visible. … The smoke ain’t great up-valley; it smells like you’re in the middle of a campfire (and by the way, campfires and any other kind of fires are strictly verboten (that means forbidden!), not to mention dumb as hell).
Yes, that’s Odin. No, he’s not pregnant. 🙂 He’s just a stout little bachelor stallion … hanging with one or another of a couple of other bachelors or alone. This was just before a nearby squeal that sent him and his buddy trotting over to investigate.
The four o’clock flowers are blooming now in Spring Creek Basin’s Chrome’s Point area (western area), and the prickly pear cacti have started opening their flowers. It’s a nice and welcome bit of color in the desert while we wait for monsoons to bring the land to life.
Promising clouds … but they didn’t drop rain on the basin.
The whole big plant, and this *is* a big one.
Very spiky prickly pear (I don’t know the actual kind) with the most delicate, peachy blossoms.
Lots of goodness in there for the bees and other buzzers!
Big day in Spring Creek Basin yesterday, and I want to give a big shout-out to everyone who had a hand in the rescue of a young visitor from the Midwest.
The visitor had a Garmin In-Reach communication device and with that, was able to reach her mother, who contacted Tres Rios Field Office, who got the message to one of my awesome BLM folks, Ryan Schroeder, who was able to reach me. She also reached out to the fine folks at Colorado 4×4 Rescue and Recovery, who have assisted us previously with another stuck vehicle. San Miguel Sheriff’s Office personnel and BLM law-enforcement rangers also were notified and aware of the situation.
It’s worth noting that cell service in the basin, no matter what service you have (and if you don’t have AT&T, you’re pretty well toast), is spotty, and there’s nothing in the area where she got stuck.
Huge, huge thanks to neighbor Tyrell, who jumped into action with his daughter, Makena, and their big tractor to motor deep into Spring Creek Basin on rough roads where lesser vehicles might fear to roll (for good reason, really :)) to pull out the visitor’s vehicle and get her safely on the return path out of the basin.
Another note, and this is not a criticism of the visitor herself, who had never been to Spring Creek Basin: Please be aware of and HEED the “no motor vehicles” signs. Not only are those in place to protect the very fragile and incredibly drought-stressed soil and vegetation the mustangs depend on to survive, they’re placed where they are to protect humans as well. She missed the sign while following heavy tire tracks from other visitors – DIRECTLY PAST A SIGN. Those folks are going around an erosion-caused washout across the road, and while I understand the desire to explore farther, that illegal bypass route not only has destroyed the vegetation in that area, it led directly to someone getting her vehicle stuck miles and miles from help. If she hadn’t had her communication device, she would have had a LONG walk out to the main road, and as few people pass through Disappointment Valley on any given day, and she didn’t have cell service, help might have been a long time coming. I was planning a visit to the basin yesterday evening, but her vehicle wasn’t visible from the road, and *I* don’t pass that initial washout and sign, which I helped our BLM guys place last fall! I’d never have found her if I wasn’t actively looking for her.
That is NOT ground to be driven over! At least one person apparently heeded the sign and turned around. The water catchment is directly behind me from this image, and someone had literally driven directly over branches that I’ve dragged down the hill, along with old, dead tree trunks, and placed all along the other side of the road (I’m actually standing on the road, and the washout is directly to the right) to try to keep people from driving on THAT fragile soil and vegetation just because they’re too lazy to get out of the buggy or truck to walk down and look at the catchment system closer.
The sign and blockade had mostly worked. … Those tracks from before (see the above link to last November’s sign-posting) had semi-healed … until this recent spate of destruction. We shouldn’t have to pepper the basin with signs asking people to respect the land and wildlife. (And I haven’t even posted about all the wanton, deliberate destruction I’ve seen in other places this year, last year, every year, from multiple “poor apple” visitors. It makes me mad and sad in equal measure every time I see it.)
So two parts to this post:
BIG THANKS to all the people who came together to get this visitor and her vehicle safely out of Spring Creek Basin! You are all so very appreciated!
And please, *please*, consider the mustangs and other wildlife when you visit Spring Creek Basin. Your momentary “fun” has very real and lasting negative impacts. Please visit with respect.
We want you to enjoy the scenery and mustangs of Spring Creek Basin, and we want you to make it home … from our home.
What follows is a random selection of cellphone pix from a couple of evenings ago in wild, woolly and very windy Spring Creek Basin.
First sego lily of the season! That I’ve seen, anyway. It was SO windy, the flower was whipping around like crazy, so I tried to hold it still for my phone. It’s always a bit of a crap shoot to try to take pix of small things with my phone because I can’t see at all whether the *thing* is in focus or whether it’s the background.
Case in point: I took several pix of this beauty, within a couple of feet of the first one, and only the last one was in focus (that could have been the wind). I adore these lilies – in the desert! These seemed smaller than usual, but I’m glad to see them.
While the pix of the sego lilies seem to suggest that it was sunny, mostly we had these crazy, wildly dramatic clouds looming over the basin. These are mammatus clouds. Looking eastish-northeastish.
Google AI says:
Mammatus clouds are distinct, pouch-like cloud protrusions that hang downward from the base of a larger cloud, usually a towering cumulonimbus. Named after the Latin word for “udder” or “breast”, these stunning formations are fascinating for their unique shape and the rare meteorological process that creates them.
How They Form
Unlike most clouds, which are created by rising air (updrafts), mammatus clouds are formed by sinking air (downdrafts). [1]
The Process: Pockets of cold, dense air saturated with heavy ice crystals and precipitation sink downward from the parent cloud (usually the “anvil” of a thunderstorm).
The Shape: As these dense, cool pockets of air descend into warmer, drier air beneath the cloud, the ice and water begin to evaporate. This evaporation cools the air even more, causing the pockets to sink further, creating the characteristic rounded, bubble-like pouches. [1, 2, 3]
What They Indicate
While their ominous, alien-like appearance might make them look like the beginning of a severe storm or tornado, mammatus clouds are generally a sign that the worst part of the storm has already passed or is off in the distance.
Severe Weather Link: They are most commonly spotted in the vicinity of strong thunderstorms. If you spot them during the summer months, it usually means there are powerful storm cells nearby.
Safe or Not: Mammatus clouds themselves do not produce severe weather and are not dangerous to anyone on the ground. However, pilots are warned to avoid them because the sinking air can cause intense turbulence.
Key Characteristics
Composition: Because they hang high in the atmosphere, they are primarily composed of ice crystals rather than liquid water droplets.
Lifespan: They are relatively short-lived, typically appearing and dissipating within 10 to 30 minutes.
The Best Time to See Them: They are particularly striking at sunset or sunrise, when the low angle of the sun illuminates the underside of the pouches, turning them brilliant shades of gold, orange, pink, or deep blue.
In our case, they appeared around three hours before sunset, so we didn’t get the color, but they’re still pretty amazing to see, even if they also did NOT bring us any rain.
This was taken at about the same time, now looking eastish to southeastish. And quite a bit later, it looked REALLY rainy out beyond our local horizon. So hopefully somebody somewhere got some wet stuff.
Have to have a pony walking the skyline. 🙂 He was heading to the Spring Creek arroyo (down to the left), and pretty soon, his band followed. Looked like it was raining somewhere out in that direction, too (westish-southwestish).
And at the very end of the day (an hour or more later than the last pic), a pretty glorious and somewhat unexpected (and *very* brief) shot of sunset brilliance from the west end of the basin looking westish-northwestish. There were horses immediately behind me, but they were already in the shade of the hill, and that side was already fairly darkrainydusty (? did I mention the howling wind?).
Even under the “worst” conditions, there’s always such beauty. 🙂
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 