In the illustration above, you can see heavy rain directly smack dab right on top of Spring Creek Basin. The long yellow-red blob in the middle of the screen covers the far eastern part of the basin (and more). 🙂
This is the first honest-to-goodness RAIN in 53 days.
It was pretty awesome. 🙂 It’s a huge relief.
This was the brighter arch of a full double rainbow over Disappointment Valley. And this photo was taken from outside Spring Creek Basin looking in. Filly Peak is visible at far left (in shade), McKenna Peak and Temple Butte are visible to the right of center, and the rainbow is crowning Brumley Point.
Neither the widest-angle camera lens I own nor my cell phone could capture the full arch of the rainbow – let alone its double. Please believe me when I say (type) how stunningly, awesomely, amazingly, phenomenally, magnificently, marvelously SPECTACULAR it was!
This photo also clearly shows that there be magic in Disappointment Valley. 🙂
(The road into the basin was too wet to drive on – or so advocate Pat Amthor and I thought. The next day was the first day of third rifle season, and slippery mud does not overeager hunters deter – nor the fact that such driving will leave terrible ruts when the now-wet road dries. It’s orange country out here right now, and I ain’t referring to the Denver Broncos.)
We got rain last week. To the tune of an inch and nearly three-quarters.
With more water news for our mustangs, we’re kinda happy this week. 🙂
And we finally got rain …
This drainage coming out of Spring Creek Basin usually is wide and dry. The water gap is in case of episodes such as this! The PVC pipe creates a visible barrier for the horses in the fence line, but it swings with the force of water when it flows. This pic was taken from the Disappointment Road looking northeast into the basin. The unnamed promontory is barely visible through rain at far back right. The horses already were taking advantage of the rain and running arroyos; three bands were to the east and north of this point.
A couple of hours later, the big flow was a memory. But I bet the memory lives on in the form of some ultra-full ponds!
Here’s a shot of the usually-dry Spring Creek arroyo that runs under the Disappointment Road in the northern part of the valley – west of Spring Creek Basin. In the background, you can see the rimrocks that form the basin’s western boundary and beyond, the unnamed promontory. (Yes, that’s dreaded tamarisk along the left bank of the creek.)
And this is Spring Creek a coupla-few hours later after the above peak. Still high but receding.
The above two pix of Spring Creek are together for comparison purposes. The below two photos were taken inside Spring Creek Basin after the first of those two photos were taken.
This is the entrance to Spring Creek canyon – site of previous roundups. Spring Creek flows west out of Spring Creek Basin after collecting water from multiple arroyos and drainages in the basin and eventually joins Disappointment Creek, which joins the Dolores River, which joins the Colorado River. Cool, huh? Spring Creek flows only during major rain events like the one today. Spring Creek and Spring Creek Basin are not interchangeable terms.
Looking upstream, sort of east-southeast. It was raining when I took these photos, so I didn’t stay long.
Rain. Lifeblood of the desert and its inhabitants. I cry at its lack, and I cry for joy when it falls. My heart is happy for Spring Creek Basin’s mustangs and other residents.
The bands were drinking in the bottom of an arroyo the other night, and Mona and Shane wandered off. They might have thought the others would follow, but they didn’t. Pretty soon, there came whinnying, and Comanche responded to the damsels in distress (they’re not even his mares). All was well when he shepherded them back to the flock, err, band(s).
Bonus pic because he’s so darn handsome. 🙂
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P.S. Dear god(ess)s of rain and all dancers who kept the faith for the wet stuff: THANK YOU! We got a massive downpour yesterday afternoon. If that doesn’t fill ponds, I don’t know what will.
+
=
happy.
🙂
Two different ponds, previously dry. Both dug out last year.
Mustangs already have found both.
Well, it looks like some lovin’, but it was Skywalker’s sneaky (yeah, right) attempt to get stepdaddy Sundance to play with him. Which didn’t happen. The grass was too much to pass up for play time.
This doesn’t show Skywalker’s belly in all its little-boy roundness, but he looks about as round as his mama Raven and “auntie” Kootenai. I’ll post some pix of the girls soon and let YOU all be the judges. Maybe so, maybe no? They should be, they might be, they ought to be. We ought to see soon enough.
Raven still was nursing Skywalker a couple of weeks ago, but I didn’t see him nurse in the short time I spent with them on this particular evening. She does seem round … but not huge? Same with Kootenai, who did not have a foal last year (not that survived), but who otherwise might not be due until August. Healthy, they are most definitely.
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WE GOT RAIN! Marvelous, glorious, lovely rain. Picture the world green. My favorite color.
Somebody upstairs is finally givin’ us some lovin’. And we are grateful!
In a couple of weeks, it will be spring break time again. And here, alternative spring break comes in late March, courtesy of San Juan Mountains Association, which has brought University of Missouri students to Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area (and other places on San Juan public lands) for something like 10 years now!
Yesterday, a crew of volunteers helped SJMA’s Kathe Hayes clear greasewood and saltbush and small pinon/juniper trees and a small, interwoven shrub we couldn’t identify away from the southeastern boundary fence so the students can start rebuilding the fence from the road with BLM, Forest Service, SJMA and Disappointment Wild Bunch Partners help. For the second year, the students will work for the basin’s mustangs for two days (previous years have had them in the basin one day), and not for the first year, we’re excited to welcome them!
Some pix from our work:
Tif and her daughter, Madison (yes, our Madison is named after *this* Madison!), cut and toss greasewood away from the fence near the road.
Kathe and Lyn clear the fence of greasewood. This shot is looking back toward the road; you can see the metal supports of the cattle guard in the distance. Note Kathe’s handsaw; this part of the basin also is part of McKenna Peak Wilderness Study Area, meaning no motorized travel or mechanized tools – like chainsaws. Kathe and other volunteers cut some trees on another day for the students to use to make H-braces; those also were cut using handsaws.
Lyn, Madison and Tif clear brush while Kathe moves on to the next bush in need of clearing. Lyn is clearing the last bit of saltbush; the ground here was moist enough that we were mostly able to pull it up through the soil.
The couple that saws together stays together! Tif and her husband (and Madi’s dad), Curly, cut and saw a small juniper tree out of the fence line.
Curly and Madison head back to the truck after an excellent day’s work. The family that volunteers together … is super fun to have on your work crew!
Tif, her mom, Lyn (Madison’s grandma), and Kathe walk back to the truck along the newly cleared fenceline boundary of Spring Creek Basin.
In other good news, about 37 drops of rain fell while we were working. 🙂
Oh, peeps. What a summer. No rain for months. Then rain. Ponds – three – dug out. Then no rain – again. Did I mention heat? Drying wind.
We got a big rain last week. I couldn’t wait to get back in the basin to check ponds. But I’ve been distracted – by Terra’s new baby, by checking Chipeta (no baby today). The day I found Terra’s baby boy, I got stopped at the first Spring Creek crossing by a big wash of rock, some still-not-dry mud (which kinda IS mud, eh) and a tall/deep “step” of dirt/mud at the far side. It wasn’t much changed today. It took one aborted attempt in regular four-wheel drive then four-wheel-low to get up and over it today.
But this stopped me:
The old washout, washed out again. But this time, it’s all the way across the road. I hate to think what mess the hunters will make trying to get past it.
Did I say it stopped me? Welllll. It stopped the Jeep. Bike to the rescue. I hit the road, to this destination:
Is this not a glorious sight?! This is the roadside pond, full to the brim! OK, maybe not quite to the brim – you can see how high the water got. The spillway is at back right, but it doesn’t look like much water went over there.
Back on the bike. Back to the Jeep. Back to check the northwest pond.
Did I say the other photo, of a brim-full pond, was a glorious sight? Nah. (Well, yeah.) But this, folks … this is what it’s all about. 🙂
Not full at all. In fact, just a puddle compared with roadside and trapsite (which also is full), but Hollywood’s band was there (Mona and Shane seen above). Comanche’s band was there. Duke was there. Bounce was there with Seven and Kreacher. The young misters Hayden, Tenaz and Apollo were there.
That is there. See it? The green stuff? Not in the foreground (BLM, that’s weeds again already, and not the good kind; good thing BLM is set to spray weeds this fall from the coordinates we GPS’d during the Four Corners Back Country Horsemen’s project this spring!). Where the horses are. Comanche’s closest; Hollywood’s a little farther and to the left. Duke was in there, too, I think.
That, my friends, is lovely, life-sustaining grass.
Oh, what a difference, rain.
Glorious rain. Valuable, wonderful rain. We had a little more last night. Despite the promising clouds, none tonight.
(Pond notes: The northwest, trapsite and roadside ponds all got dug out this year, courtesy of the Forest Service and Director’s Challenge money, which our Tres Rios Field Office was awarded based on partnership with our Disappointment Wild Bunch Partners. The east-pocket pond had gone dry, then had water again, then gone dry again. I wasn’t able to get back and check it, but based on roadside’s full status, I’d bet it has water again. All the other ponds have water. Grass is amazing. Horses are fabulous!)
Mama Kestrel and her girls Madison, 2 1/2 months old, and Juniper, yearling. Her first daughter, Winona, is buckskin. Juni is going grey like her daddy, Comanche, and baby Madi is bay like … ? Her daddy also is Comanche; his background unknown.
Great news on the pond front: The trapsite pond has about 3 feet of water as of today! Thanks to C (and intern from South Carolina D) for the great news! The Forest Service dozer operator still was working on it some but had to abandon. J will finesse the spillways of the northwest and roadside ponds and then be done with those two. They look great – nice and deep. We had amazing rains yesterday and Saturday – particularly Saturday. Disappointment Creek started flowing again (not that it helps the horses because it doesn’t flow through the herd area, but it’s a marker for the overall valley).
The hills are green – for the first time this year really. So amazing to see what some good rain can do for this high desert environment!
This was taken at the northwest pond late last week looking northish. Sundance’s band is in the scene; can you spot them? Trick question. 🙂 They’re really not visible in this image, especially at this size. But they are there. See the promontory at the top of the image? Below that, on the open hill, the trees? The horses are near/under the leftmost of those trees. I kept looking up there, thinking I saw something … and telling myself “no way.” But I *have* seen horses up there before … and sure enough, when I finally went for the binocs, Sundance’s band. Those mountain goat-ponies. 🙂
But really, look at the foreground: grass! This area was seriously *burnt* as recently as a week or two ago (I hate it when people say/write “burnt” when they mean burned, but this area was seriously crispy, and there’s really just not another word for it).
This is looking northwestish from the middle-ish area of the basin. Duke is there.
Rain. Green. Love.
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 