Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

Corazon makes a funny face during a pause in his grazing in snow that was a few inches deep.

Reya shows off her fuzzy spots against a wintry backdrop of Round Top and the far blue mountains, the La Sals.

This is why I mountain bike (well, and because I love to mountain bike) – to stay in shape to track mustangs. 🙂

Add a couple to a few inches of snow to that 5.62 miles, and 1,116 calories burned seems pretty measly. The temperature is a bit skewed because I carried the GPS in an inner jacket pocket; I don’t think the temp rose out of the 20s.

The green tag shows where I started: on Spring Creek Basin’s boundary along Disappointment Road. From there, I hiked north, then to the northwest. The farthest northwest point is the point at which I realized horses were waaaay over at that easternmost point. (Of course!) So I backtracked my tracks, then followed horse trails and avoided arroyos, heading southeastish, to the little flat loop – which is where the horses were.

The ziggy-zaggy line is where I walked (this was all on snowshoes) the bottom of an arroyo until I cut my original trail and followed it back to the Jeep.

Seeing this handsome youngster (Killian) makes it alllllllll worth it!

Photobombed beauties Terra and Aurora. 🙂 A happy circumstance of mustangs framed by a mustang and their high-desert home.

Handsome Bounce. His is the face of wisdom and a lifetime in wild freedom.

Do you see it?

The horses all did.

Four bands were all around me, and two others were at a bit of a distance. At least two more bands were in the vicinity, but I couldn’t see them from where I was at the time. The pilot flew out of our sight around Knife Edge …

Then came right straight back over us.

Fortunately, it wasn’t a helicopter, and apparently the horses didn’t remember their trauma from another plane before and during the roundup five years ago. They were calm enough that they didn’t run at all (though they sure watched it closely).

Maybe the pilot was a little surprised to see a two-legged critter pointing a big white lens in his/her direction as the plane flew over my head. … S/he headed south away from the basin, then back north over the basin, but farther west of us.

Sometimes, I wonder what the heck people are thinking. It must be amazing to see this area from the sky … but give the wildlife a break and keep your distance above the ground!

They were hot on the heels of another band … and then the band I was with joined the race! I don’t know what started the gallop, but it was fun to watching the mustangs run … apparently for the sheer joy of it!