That haze is *smoke*. Odin was probably no farther away than about 150 yards (?), and it was SO smoky.
He had gone visiting a bit with another young bachelor between his family and another, and here he looks like he’s returning to his mama and aunties … but he stopped about halfway to graze … just in case there was another chance to visit. 🙂
Little mister is a big boy. He’s 2.5 now, but he’s stout – and still loves his mama Shane.
*****
I can’t believe time – and dates – got away from me; when I scheduled this post several days ago, I didn’t note the date!
HAPPY 56th ANNIVERSARY TO MY MOM AND DAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂 Thank you SO much for giving me the gift of horses, from your own love of horses that led to your fortuitous meeting … 60-PLUS years ago! I love ya’ll and hope you have a wonderful anniversary day. 🙂
Alegre rocks her own fashion-forward braid style two nights ago in a very, very smoky Spring Creek Basin.
Changing wind directions mean that the terrible smoke we’ve experienced the past few days is coming from the Stoner Mesa Fire, to the southeast in Dolores County. To say that it’s yucky is a yucky understatement. (Cortez Journal article here.)
While we’re praying desperately for rain, we’re also praying for the safety of all those fighting the wildfires around the state. In particular, as mustang advocates, we’re praying for those fighting and affected by the giant Lee Fire, southwest of Meeker, which is immediately east of Piceance-East Douglas Herd Management Area.
Note: Images are from Tuesday, Aug. 5. Yes, I’m in Spring Creek Basin for the below (cell-phone) images, and yes, the fire is fairly close as the eagle soars (the next county south, which is Dolores County; the basin is mostly in San Miguel County but does extend south into northern Dolores County). However, the horses are not in danger; there’s actually a lotta country between there and and the basin.
If you’ve visited Spring Creek Basin, you’ll recognize this cattle guard at the intersection of Road 19Q (Disappointment Road) and Road K20E. What you most likely and very fortunately have NOT seen as you head east toward Spring Creek Basin is a giant, nuclear-cloud-looking smoke plume. 😦 That’s the newly started Stoner Mesa Fire. (This is the Durango Herald link; you may hit a paywall, or you may get a free read of three articles (?).)
I won’t lie; I nearly had a heart attack when I saw that plume. Back in 2002, I was working at the aforementioned Durango Herald, and when I drove to work each afternoon (copy editor/page designer shift of 3 p.m. to midnight), the nuclear-plume of smoke from the Missionary Ridge Fire greeted me with heart-stopping awesomeness (and not in a good way) every time I topped Hesperus Hill to descend toward Durango.
This is from the area we call Chrome’s Point in western Spring Creek Basin, looking east-southeast. Yes, those dark-and-white spots at far left, left of the main/original water catchment aprons (looks like a tennis court) and tank are mustangs. Thankfully, they seemed completely and totally oblivious. The air was hot and smoky: Dragon Bravo Fire, Sharp Canyon Fire, Turner Gulch Fire (smoke still visible from it, too), Waters Canyon Fire … and who knows what other fires contributing to our air dis-quality (!?)) – more hazy than seems apparent from these images.
Moonrise over McKenna Peak and Temple Butte from farther north in the basin. Most of the smoke was blocked by the eastern horizon of ridges from this perspective.
Sunset through smoke. Pretty … but it is violently, dangerously dry out there.
This is a hot, bad, dry (and very-bad-dry) summer, folks. Please be mindful of anything that could spark a flame, stay safe, and support your firefighters … local, regional, state and national. And rain dances are *ALWAYS* appreciated. 🙂
(I went with my phone pix for this post, but I may have some from my big camera in coming days. … May …)
Uh oh. Another new fire (!), the Sharp Canyon Fire, started two days ago south-southwest of Disappointment Valley, north of the community of Cahone, and the plume was visible beyond the south valley ridge. I was in Spring Creek Basin when I saw the above-pictured air tanker fly over. It dropped out of sight toward the fire before I got to see it drop its load of slurry.
The Watch Duty app (which I just recently learned about and is *awesome*) alert showed the fire at 35 acres, but that was a BIG plume. Yesterday morning, it had been updated to 400 acres. As the eagle soars, it’s by far the closest current fire to Disappointment Valley and Spring Creek Basin, but it’s south of the Dolores River in its deep canyon, so the fire itself isn’t likely to endanger the mustangs. The pic is looking southish from the middle-ish (!) of Spring Creek Basin. Filly Peak at lower right is within the basin; the heavily treed ridge in the background is beyond the basin. Land goes from BLM to San Juan National Forest to private the farther south that eagle flies.
And the tanker flying back northeast over the basin to its base … possibly Montrose (?).
I looked up this handy website to identify the tanker, and it looks like it was a DC-10, or a VLAT! That’s a Very Large Air Tanker, and it was. From the website: “These airtankers, also referred to as VLATs, can deliver thousands of gallons of fire retardant at one time. Because of their size, they are less maneuverable than smaller airtankers. VLATs drop fire retardant at least 250 feet above the top of the vegetation. 
“The DC-10, which can be used to support wildland firefighters on the ground, can deliver up to 9,400 gallons of fire retardant at one time. The U.S. Forest Service is responsible for managing the VLAT contracts.”
With hope, the fire will be contained soon, but it is DRY out there – which is everywhere here. We’ve been under red-flag/fire-weather warnings/watches/advisories multiple days this summer (and are in a run of such days currently).
Huge support to all those engaged in fighting these wildfires across the West (and for our neighbors in Canada, too!), from the land and from the sky.
I thought it was wildfire smoke from (at least) the Deer Creek (western Colorado and eastern Utah; northwest of Disappointment Valley at the base of Utah’s La Sal Mountains and above Colorado’s Paradox Valley) and Turner Gulch (northeast of Gateway, Colorado) fires because the wind was out of the north/northwest/west, but I read that it was from the Arizona fires (Dragon Bravo and White Sage). Look at a fire map of the western United States, and you’ll see that we’re likely getting smoke from … any/everywhere. 😦
Skywalker on the flyby to give me a bit of a checkout as he moseyed with the band.
Several days now after the above images (I really couldn’t bear to post them at the time), our sky has returned to glorious Colorado-turquoise. The unfortunate part there is that we’d like to have some clouds. 🙂 For shade relief, let alone rain. … Never quite happy, are we? 🙂 (Please, please, please rain!!!!)
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.
*****
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.
The U.S. Drought Monitor also agrees that it’s at least “abnormally dry” here now.
Also:
Versions of these signs are up all over our public lands currently. Despite the handy illustrations, some people still can’t seem to understand the restrictions (don’t ask). On a town errand yesterday, I ran into some Forest Service and BLM fire folks out of Norwood (about an hour-ish north of Disappointment Valley/Spring Creek Basin). They’d knocked down at least four lightning-started fires in the area the day before, one of them told me. (No rain for Spring Creek Basin … but thankfully, no lightning, either.)
No joke: It is DRY out there, it’s super hot (OK, not Phoenix- or Texas-hot … we’ve had only a few days up to at least 101F), and the wind is bellowing like a furnace day after day. Depending on the source, we have some possible rains (“t-storms”) coming next week. I think I speak for everyone when I say we’re beyond ready and hopeful.
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 