I was surprised and delighted to see four (seriously, just four) scarlet gilia flowering plants the other day in Spring Creek Basin.
The Southwest Colorado Wildflowers website says they’re in the phlox family, interestingly. Our phlox are always THE first things to bloom in the spring in the basin. They are very low-growing and small, and very widespread. They usually have white petals, but they can also be a soft pink or even purplish color. I would say that by sight, anyway, they don’t resemble at all their scarlet gilia … cousins? 🙂
I’ve only ever seen scarlet gilia at higher elevations in the San Juan Mountains, but apparently, they’re quite widespread over a variety of elevations, happily for admirers of these pretty, bright red flowers!
If you’ve ever looked at one of the maps of Spring Creek Basin, you might have noticed the curious words: “Custer Dam.” You might have wondered what the heck that’s about.
If you’ve visited Spring Creek Basin, you might also have noticed the “dugout” at the first (from the southish) intersection at the west end of “the loop road” (which is impassable all the way around because of washouts). You might even have parked and gotten out to inspect it.
The story I was told – and that I repeat for visitors – is that back around the turn of the last century (1910s?), someone (who must have carried the surname Custer, though I doubt he was closely related to he of massacre infamy?) or someones decided that in Spring Creek Basin, where the three major arroyos of Spring Creek Basin converge (as I call them: the north major arroyo, Spring Creek (the central/deepest arroyo) and the south major arroyo) wouldn’t it be a great idea to build a dam across the arroyo just downstream of the convergences, back up and hold water, dig some irrigation ditches and then sell off farm land with water shares? Because (I always say this with a straight face) the land is CLEARLY immensely fertile and flat and easy to farm. … It doesn’t take long before I break into a grin and/or a laugh when people look around, trying to be polite at the fact that the land is neither flat NOR immensely (or even barely) fertile and/or easy to farm.
I mean, what was ol’ Custer thinking?
The above pic with Sancho isn’t a great depiction of the dam, but I was so surprised when I saw him standing on one end that I took a pic before he left (which turned out to be a good idea as he left within seconds of me fumbling with my camera and taking that pic; the rest of the band was in the greasewood below and across Spring Creek, out of sight behind the other side of the dam). And I thought it would be a good excuse to illustrate some of the history of the place.
That IS Spring Creek between the two ends of the old dam, below the convergences of both the north major arroyo and Spring Creek and Spring Creek and the south major arroyo. See the white? That’s not remnant snow; that’s salt. The soil (and thus all the vegetation and ground water) is heavy with alkali, remnant of the vast ocean that once waved over what is now the very dry (and salty) Colorado Plateau.
The “rest of the story” is that after all the time and effort by the man/men (?) to build the dam and the associated irrigation ditch (it runs a very long way west) – and remember, this is WAY out here, even now; did he use oxen? some kind of tractor?? – the first (or maybe it was a couple of storms on) big storm came along, wiped out the dam (the soil is highly erodable), the water having gathered from all of Spring Creek Basin’s little, medium, big and large arroyos rushed through and down Spring Creek and out of the basin … and Mr. Custer went away *disappointed*. (In truth, I can’t even imagine how he must have felt; it had to have been an ENORMOUS amount of work (and money for equipment and such?) and taken an extraordinarily long time.)
There are a number of these dugouts in Disappointment Valley. What history they could tell.
As widespread and gloriously blooming as the claret cup cacti are in Spring Creek Basin right now, you’d be surprised at how hard it is to get any in the same frame with any mustang as they graze peacefully in the open or on the treed slopes.
I liked this pic because it also shows Dundee going after the galleta and grama that’s currently coming up plentiful in the basin. After a rough winter and a sparse spring, it’s really nice to see the grass looking good in most areas.
Across the little valley from Flash and his mares, I found these beautiful little flowers. Actually, the sort of yellow and soft-red/pink bud of another plant caught my eye before I found a few clusters with some rather wind-battered blooms open. There were maybe a dozen plants in one area … and nowhere else.
I’m not entirely sure whether I’ve seen these before; the sight of them rings a dim bell … but I know for sure that if I have seen them before, I never identified them. They have the curiously long name of lavenderleaf sundrops! Length aside, what a pretty name!
I found/identified it first through my Southwest Colorado Wildflowers app, where it calls them the above-referenced lavenderleaf sundrops, then went to the website, where it’s identified as Oenothera lavandulifolia (Sundrops).
As I was walking back down the hill, thinking about the pretty flowers, I thought they looked a bit like evening primrose, which are larger and have white petals and are ubiquitous around the high desert (in probably most western states). I must be gaining *some* kind of plant knowledge, as the site identifies them further as being “Onagraceae (Evening Primrose Family)”. 🙂
I especially liked this reference at the very bottom of the information:
“This is such an attractive plant, whether in isolated clusters or in magnificent displays over broad areas. Even the buds have their own special attractiveness.” I had been thinking *exactly* the same thing when I first saw the pretty yellow-and-red buds!
Stallion duties for a young stallion with a recently acquired band of mares who have known each other for a very long time and may or may not be quite yet “OK” with his takeover (however delayed) are exhausting. He kept an eye on another couple of bands in the vicinity (really, he did), but mostly, he took advantage of the break between rain waves to nap with his girls in the relatively warm sunshine.
As Flash greys, he looks ever so much more mature, even though he’s fairly small (relative to some of his mares, and this isn’t a good example, as they were on a hill, and Gaia was above him). But I still remember his super-cute black-and-white baby self. As I myself age, I find truth in the knowledge that our “babies” always will be babies to us. 🙂
After lots of clouds during the day, the sun dropped below the cloud layer, above the horizon, for a just gorgeous display of light. It wasn’t necessarily a fireworks kind of display, but gosh, did it light up a couple of mustang boys right near the road.
Buckeye and his mares took their turns rolling in the nice mud – and after 30 or so minutes of soft, steady rain (and graupel), it WAS nicely muddy! – as the rain was starting to end (you can still see some drips if you zoom in and look closely) and the sunshine was making its reappearance.
A week or so ago, I hiked out to Buckeye’s band under a cloudy sky, only to then spend half an hour or so with my back to a half-alive juniper while it rained. The horses beside and behind me had their butts to the wind as the rain turned to graupel and drips slid off their forelocks and manes and muzzles.
We got a false reprieve of a few minutes before the wind brought another wave of rain, and that’s when I took this pic of Rowan as the band started moving about to graze (they clearly thought it was over, too!). If you zoom in, you can see the diagonal slanting rain drops.
Love her little nibble-lips as she looks back at a couple of band mates.
After posting the information about Kathryn Wilder’s forthcoming (in November) book, The Last Cows, I thought I’d do a “pay it forward” post and recommend another couple of books that I’ve recently added to my library.
I’ve been lucky enough to know Barb Kiipper for many years during our mustang advocacy journeys. She’s the founder and director of Jicarilla Mustang Heritage Alliance, a group that advocates for the mustangs of the Carson National Forest’s Jicarilla Wild Horse Territory in northwestern New Mexico. She has poured heart, sweat, blood and tears into the challenge of working toward good management for that herd, getting many, many mustangs adopted to good homes along the way. I met Michele Bell only recently and have been inspired about her approach to taming and training mustangs from a variety of places (the Jicarilla, BLM-managed herds and Mesa Verde National Park).
Why A Mustang is part memoir of their journeys, part philosophy about working with mustangs and what these amazing horses have taught these women about themselves and mustangs, specifically and in general. It’s a bit of an addictive read (and if you’ve been involved with horses and/or mustangs as long as I have, absolutely fascinating with insights about behaviors and taming/training techniques), and I highly recommend it.
Also …
Long-time friend and amazing nature/wildlife photographer Claude Steelman visited the other day on his way to Spring Creek Basin, and he gifted me a copy of his newest book, Wild Journey: The Photography of Claude Steelman. I don’t see this book on his website, so I’m not sure of its availability. Claude had a gallery in Durango for a number of years and currently has downsized to a studio just above Main Avenue – so he can be out shooting more! This wonderful book is a sort of compendium of his travels and experiences across the West (and beyond) during his 40-plus years (!) as a photographer chasing natural light and wildness. Mostly images, only a little text; his photography truly speaks volumes.
As you would expect from the photographer who published Colorado’s Wild Horses, there’s a section in this book about mustangs, which includes images from Spring Creek Basin, including the above gorgeous scene. 🙂
Claude says people ask him when he’s going to retire, and I love his phrase at the end of the book that indicates that if he retired, he’d “just go take pictures, so why bother” retiring!? Find your passion, indeed!
I have been so fortunate along this journey to not only meet and spend time with “my” own mustangs but also many like-minded humans. The mustangs and these people keep me grounded on my own path.
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 