Knife Edge (right) and Valentine Mesa (left) and the eastern ridges of Spring Creek Basin (including McKenna Peak and Temple Butte) usually glow a sort of purplish orange at the very end of most days, but the vivid almost-*pink* in this pic was from late sunlight diffused through wildfire-smoke haze.
The smoke wasn’t too bad over us, but plumes from the Deer Creek, Wright Draw and Turner Gulch fires northwest and north of us were clearly visible beyond the horizon of our peaceful little enclave.
Gaia and mares from another band nearby weren’t at all bothered … but those smoky drifts drew my eyes constantly.
The Deer Creek Fire, burning at the southeastern base of Utah’s La Sal Mountains, just west of the state line with Colorado, is now at 10,000-plus acres with 0% containment. (Note: As of 10 p.m. Monday, it had grown to more than 11,000 acres.)
That’s the fire closest to us, and fires at Grand Canyon and Black Canyon of the Gunnison national parks have resulted in the destruction of the historic Grand Canyon Lodge (and other structures) and evacuations of visitors and National Park Service employees, not to mention people who live in affected areas nearby.
Many other fires are burning across the West’s drought-dry landscapes, as well as in Canada, while floods devastate other regions. My heart has a hard time taking it all in.
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I drafted the above post (showing Sancho in a very smoky Spring Creek Basin a few days ago) and scheduled it … and then I went out to Spring Creek Basin last night and saw that smoke from two more fires – Wright Draw and Turner Gulch fires near Gateway (about halfway-ish between Disappointment Valley and Grand Junction or about an hour and a half away as the vehicle motors) – is visible on our northern horizon. Argh.
Vantage point: above Spring Creek (mostly dry but with pockets of water from which at least a few bands of mustangs are drinking) in Spring Creek Basin looking north/northwest. The canyon is not far to my left. The obvious smoke starting at the left side of the image is from Utah’s Deer Creek Fire. Smoke from the Wright Draw and Turner Gulch fires shows as a yellowish line of smoke immediately above the bumpy-hills horizon just right of center.
Post-sunset from outside Spring Creek Basin. Utah’s La Sal Mountains are visible at left, and smoke from the Deer Creek Fire stretches across the entire horizon. … It looked like virga, which was completely wild and surreal.
We need “wetting rain” as I read recently. Hopefully it’s coming Friday/Saturday … along with thunderstorm chances (we do NOT need the lightning!!!). Please keep all those in the paths of the wildfires (everywhere), as well as those battling the blazes, in your prayers. And please, please, please, stay safe.
Another band had passed nearly silently through the trees below the open area where Flash and his ladies were grazing, and here he paused for just a moment in the lovely light, to check that the way was safe, before leading them on down the hill in the wake of that other band.
If this pic looks similar to the one of the pronghorn buck a few posts ago, it’s because she’s watching him head down the hill from very near where he stood to “pose” for the pic.
Pronghorns – in Spring Creek Basin at least – try very hard to warn their mustang cousins about the dangers of the two-legged in their midst with a “bark” or more strident “huff” sound than what the mustangs make as a warning snort. … But really, it just makes the mustangs more curious about their pronghorn cousin and what all the fuss is about. 🙂
As a bachelor lieutenant stallion, one of Skywalker’s duties is to protect the band as a whole from unwanted incursions by *other* bachelor stallions. When he’s not harassing the main stallion, Skywalker takes that pretty seriously.
Buckeye searches for the grasses that just received a slurp of rain under those mammatus clouds. He’s already taken advantage of the damp ground to try to deter the bugs, which also were taking advantage of the humidity to come out in force!
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Happy Fourth of July! Not a splash-of-color image, but I hope it’s one that invokes some of the independence and freedom this country was founded upon.
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 