Streaking

5 09 2025

Rain – or perhaps more likely, virga – catching the western light over the southern ridge of Disappointment Valley from about mid(ish)-Spring Creek Basin. None of that for us yesterday, but we have chances today and Saturday.

How often do you get the rising moon and a rainbow (and not a moonbow!) in the same image? I actually don’t know, but both are visible in this pic … though both are extremely faint and hard to see. The rainbow is nearly impossible to see – at the right side of the pic, nearly vertical – and it was suuuuuuuper faint in reality, too. But as I was nearly stumped (again!) by clouds to see the moonrise, I shot it anyway. 🙂

But the MOST crazy pic of last night:

I’d love to say I planned the above image … but I didn’t! I was taking pix of the moon, high in the sky, between cloud layers (! can’t we have some rain, please, with those clouds??), and the plane photobombed my moon!!!! HA! The dark streak behind it is its contrail. I’m astounded that the moon is as sharp as it is because I’d only aimed and started hitting the shutter when the plane zoomed by.

The world is a wondrous place. 🙂 Especially with mustangs … not pictured, but always there.


Comments : 17 Comments »

Categories : Colorado, Disappointment Valley, McKenna Peak, Moon, Rain, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Temple Butte

Nature for the win

30 08 2025

That’s rain beyond Tenaz. 🙂

It wasn’t in the forecast. Of the previous six days that had rain chances, we got rain only one of those days. The rain yesterday was *wildly* variable, even just over Spring Creek Basin. Some places didn’t anything; some got something.

We’ll take anything, anytime. 🙂


Comments : 12 Comments »

Categories : McKenna Peak, Rain, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Temple Butte

Clearing

28 08 2025

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.


Comments : 9 Comments »

Categories : Colorado, Disappointment Valley, Filly Peak, McKenna Peak, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Temple Butte

Damp

27 08 2025

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).


Comments : 9 Comments »

Categories : Filly Peak, McKenna Peak, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Temple Butte

‘Rain is a good thing’

26 08 2025

There are places where the horses drink where they also can roll and get muddy, but I like to hope that Cassidy Rain’s “adobe coat” (thank you, Sue!) is from anywhere in the whole wide basin that got rain on Friday. The damp ground didn’t last long, but it was a relief, nonetheless.

(Thanks to Luke Bryan for the title of today’s post: “Rain IS a good thing“!)


Comments : 13 Comments »

Categories : McKenna Peak, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Temple Butte

More than a hint of blue

12 08 2025

Earlier, the smoke plume from the Stoner Mesa Fire (now more than 3,500 acres in very rough country), had been rising high into the sky on our southeastern horizon, but by the time I got out to see the ponies, it was settling again for the night. There’s still a haze, but it’s nice to see more of our blue sky again.

Temple looks as beautiful as always, especially with McKenna Peak and Temple (yes, named for her namesake(s)) Butte in the background.

I heard a rumor that some wet weather might be coming into our region toward the end of the week or weekend, but the forecast is either behind the times, or it doesn’t want to give us a (false?) sense of hope. Ha. Any hope is great hope at this point!


Comments : 8 Comments »

Categories : McKenna Peak, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Temple Butte

Prettier

8 08 2025

It’s not my intention to ignore all the ills of the world on this blog, just to make it a place of peace and beauty.

Two nights ago, clouds stymied my moonrise photography attempts, but Mother Nature put on a show, nonetheless. You can’t really call that a rainbow – a light prism? – over Brumley Point, but it was a much better sight than the image I took the day before that looked like Brumley, which looks enough like an old volcano, was actually erupting.

This was the second time it happened (and I was in a bit different location). Neither occurrence lasted more than a minute or two?

Do dragonflies bring you joy? It’s way out of focus here near the in-focus pinon tree – in my defense, I was pretty far away, and it was zipping faster than I could follow, let alone focus – but that little beam of zooming light (seeing it backlit against a far mesa is what caught my attention in the first place) brought ME joy! I realized that it was snatching flying insects out of the air, which I cheered wholeheartedly. The gnats are largely gone, but we have (still) big flies and (now) these weird little things that are bigger than gnats and almost as exasperating.

The moon did rise above the clouds eventually, of course. No matter the conditions here on Earth, it’s always, comfortingly, there – somewhere out there.

Most importantly, to paraphrase Mad-Eye Moody (apologies to non-Harry Potter fans): Stay vigilant!


Comments : 19 Comments »

Categories : Brumley Point, Colorado, Disappointment Valley, McKenna Peak, Moon, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs

And then … this

7 08 2025

Note: Images are from Tuesday, Aug. 5. Yes, I’m in Spring Creek Basin for the below (cell-phone) images, and yes, the fire is fairly close as the eagle soars (the next county south, which is Dolores County; the basin is mostly in San Miguel County but does extend south into northern Dolores County). However, the horses are not in danger; there’s actually a lotta country between there and and the basin.

If you’ve visited Spring Creek Basin, you’ll recognize this cattle guard at the intersection of Road 19Q (Disappointment Road) and Road K20E. What you most likely and very fortunately have NOT seen as you head east toward Spring Creek Basin is a giant, nuclear-cloud-looking smoke plume. 😦 That’s the newly started Stoner Mesa Fire. (This is the Durango Herald link; you may hit a paywall, or you may get a free read of three articles (?).)

I won’t lie; I nearly had a heart attack when I saw that plume. Back in 2002, I was working at the aforementioned Durango Herald, and when I drove to work each afternoon (copy editor/page designer shift of 3 p.m. to midnight), the nuclear-plume of smoke from the Missionary Ridge Fire greeted me with heart-stopping awesomeness (and not in a good way) every time I topped Hesperus Hill to descend toward Durango.

This is from the area we call Chrome’s Point in western Spring Creek Basin, looking east-southeast. Yes, those dark-and-white spots at far left, left of the main/original water catchment aprons (looks like a tennis court) and tank are mustangs. Thankfully, they seemed completely and totally oblivious. The air was hot and smoky: Dragon Bravo Fire, Sharp Canyon Fire, Turner Gulch Fire (smoke still visible from it, too), Waters Canyon Fire … and who knows what other fires contributing to our air dis-quality (!?)) – more hazy than seems apparent from these images.

Moonrise over McKenna Peak and Temple Butte from farther north in the basin. Most of the smoke was blocked by the eastern horizon of ridges from this perspective.

Sunset through smoke. Pretty … but it is violently, dangerously dry out there.

This is a hot, bad, dry (and very-bad-dry) summer, folks. Please be mindful of anything that could spark a flame, stay safe, and support your firefighters … local, regional, state and national. And rain dances are *ALWAYS* appreciated. 🙂

(I went with my phone pix for this post, but I may have some from my big camera in coming days. … May …)


Comments : 13 Comments »

Categories : Brumley Point, Colorado, Disappointment Valley, La Sal Mountains, McKenna Peak, McKenna Peak Wilderness Study Area, San Juan National Forest, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Tres Rios Field Office, Wildfire

Expanse

29 07 2025

Who DOESN’T like to take in that view every now and then?!


Comments : 7 Comments »

Categories : McKenna Peak, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Temple Butte

Almost friends

23 07 2025

Skywalker might be considered Tenaz’s lieutenant, though I don’t think he would mind my translation that it’s not a title he likes or plans to use for long (!). Tenaz has two young mares, and Skywalker does keep Tenaz on his toes. They’re part of a bigger group of horses that’s basically two separate bands – one mostly happy family. 🙂

Above, the mares have gone ahead (to the right), and they’re waiting for their turn at the water cooler … err, pools of water that gather in the creek bed just above/upstream of Spring Creek canyon. A couple of other bands beat them to it, so they were politely waiting their turn.

The arroyo actually comes from beyond/above where Skywalker and Tenaz are standing, passes by us on the left, makes a big curve behind me as I’m facing them, runs a short distance, then makes another big curve to enter the canyon. Another few curves later, it empties below the rimrock cliff band that forms the basin’s western boundary into lower, wide-open Disappointment Valley on its way to join Disappointment Creek (which also is dry but for pockets of water) … and on to the Dolores River.

The mustangs definitely rely on these seeps in Spring Creek and its tributary arroyos as the summer gets drier and drier before the hoped-and-prayed-for monsoon rains. The forecast is showing an uptick of chances next week, and we’re crossing fingers, toes and hooves (!) that some rain actually pans out for us from those chances!


Comments : 4 Comments »

Categories : McKenna Peak, Spring Creek, Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area, Spring Creek Basin mustangs, Spring Creek canyon, Temple Butte

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