In a word, it’s a muddy, sloshy, sloppy, messy, soupy, WONDERFULLY giant mudhole out there!
OK, you can’t really see all that mud in this pic of Mariah leading her band away from a drink of water in Spring Creek (puddles, not flowing), but if you scroll down and see all the white in the previous pix, then scroll back up and see how NOT-WHITE it is in the above pic, you might get the idea. 🙂
All that white = our good mud NOW.
Two of our beautiful grey girls, Maia and Alegre, are as much icons of Spring Creek Basin as Temple Butte and McKenna Peak, seen above, rising out of the snow fog.
What a difference a day makes! Or, rather, a night. 🙂
The south wind blew snow in waves across Disappointment Valley and Spring Creek Basin on Christmas Day, but not a flake of it stuck to the warm, dry ground.
Yesterday’s photo of Temple was taken during one of those waves of snow, right before sunset. The sun already was coming back into view from beyond the clouds and snow, and you can see the brown of the basin behind the jewels of snowflakes swirling around Temple.
Then, late after the sky cleared for the stars, we had snow in the night, and we woke up to a white, white world!
The sound of the helicopter had reached us, and Comanche and Kestrel were searching for the source of the noise. You can see it as the weird white dot in the sky immediately to the right of McKenna Peak. It flew over the eastern side of the basin and over the northern ridge and Horse Park.
It didn’t bother them too much, but they watched until the sound faded.
The fog wasn’t nearly as heavy or as long-lasting this time as it was last time.
Also like last time, I couldn’t find a single cooperative pony to photograph!
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In other news:
The Bureau of Land Management seeks public comment on wild horse fertility control study.
Article about it in the Las Vegas Sun.
I’m not really sure what to think about this, let alone what to say about it. While BLM continues to search for and research various ways to limit or stop reproduction in wild horses and burros, the fact remains that PZP is a tried and true vaccine (with more than 30 years of research and use) to limit reproduction in horses and burros. PZP works where it’s used. When it’s used, PZP works. Why not use it? Why keep complaining that there’s nothing to do but round up and remove? Why wait to use what exists and works??
Yes, please: Continue to research other, *humane* ways of reducing fertility in wild horses and burros, ways that work longer and are “easier” to deploy (than native PZP).
But in the meantime, PZP WORKS. USE IT.
A very good, very effective tool exists. When it’s used, it works. When it’s not used, it’s difficult to listen to the complaints about the consequences of its lack of use.
I would love to offer support to another tool in the goal to reduce reproduction – in turn reducing the need for roundups and removals – and I really hope PZP would get the support and use our wild horses and burros deserve.
Disclaimer: We have used PZP in Spring Creek Basin since the roundup in 2011. We haven’t had a roundup since 2011, and no roundups are planned. Reason? PZP, plain and simple.
From BLM’s release at the link above:
A 15-day public comment period on the preliminary environmental assessment is set for December 5 – 19, 2019. The public is encouraged to review DOI-BLM-NV-0000-2020-001-EA (Oocyte Growth Factor Vaccine Study), located at: https://go.usa.gov/xpEvc and provide comments or concerns, prior to 4:30 p.m. (PST) on December 19, 2019. Comments and concerns may be emailed to blm_nv_nvso_research@blm.gov or sent in writing to the BLM Nevada State Office, Attention: Ruth Thompson, Wild Horse and Burro Project Coordinator, 1340 Financial Boulevard, Reno, NV 89502.
If you’re moved to comment, I would encourage readers to offer respectful comments that support continued research of humane fertility-control options. I also would encourage readers to point to the long-known success of PZP and encourage BLM to make use of it.
Yesterday morning, after the rain this week, Disappointment Valley residents woke up to sunshine in the clear blue sky.
The ground was frosty, and apparently, when the sunshine hit the frost, moisture was released from its frozen state – quite a bit of moisture. Fog ensued. 🙂 Like, CRAZY fog. Like, fog we almost never, ever, EVER see in Disappointment Valley (or Southwest Colorado, for that matter).
Everyone will recognize Temple Butte on the foggy skyline. The fog had started to clear a little …
When I got to the top of the hill, I was in the sunshine, but the western part of the basin was not. What *should* you see in this pic? Filly Peak! It’s usually pretty hard to miss.
This is looking basically northish. The fog was clearing from the east; Filly Peak and the heavy fog is to my left.
Still on top of the hill, now looking southeast. The visible ground is Spring Creek Basin; away out yonder in the foggy world is beyond the basin’s boundary. What looks like snow is glistening moisture from melting/melted frost.
I wandered back and forth along the top of the hill … first east, then back west, then downhill to the northwest, then back up, then down to the northeast when I thought I heard the squealing of stallions. But the horses remained as elusive as the view beyond the fog, and I never did find them.
There’s Filly Peak! From this view, you should also be able to see the La Sal Mountains (which are sporting a very lovely drape of white now!). This is looking northwest.
And one more view looking over the south side of the hill I was on (which is in the southern part of the basin, just above Disappointment Road).
The fog, which had dissipated quite a bit when I got to the top of the hill, rolled back in and covered the world again, then flowed back out. I later drove up the valley into bright and complete sunshine, then returned down-valley to the world of fog.
Later, in the interior of Spring Creek Basin, this was our always-wonderful view in late afternoon:
See those little wisps to the left of Temple Butte and McKenna Peak? That’s all that remained of our crazy-awesome world-covering fog!
For perspective, the previous pix were taken from a hill away to the right – south – of where I was when I took the above pic.
Though I looked high and low for wild ponies to photograph in the fog, they foiled my attempts. (I did see horses, but they all were distant, enjoying their wild lives.) And I enjoyed a great hike in the mud, which, after the dust we endured the last many months, was AWESOME. 🙂
There’s some snow on them thar hills! The region got a nice snowfall over the holiday … while I was celebrating outside the region with my family.
We’re looking at some more moisture, and because you know we always need it, you know we’re looking forward to it!
Kwana the unperturbed naps in the sunshine while his band grazes around him.
Why expend energy on such a lovely day in the basin? 🙂
Sundance the fuzzy enjoys a warmish day in the damp basin.
In the distance is one of Hollywood’s lovelies.
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 