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!)
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 