Photo Gallery 3
The pictures in Photo Gallery 3 were taken on my last trip to the Wheeler Pass HMA. The Wheeler Pass HMA is about a ten hour drive from San Jose, California. Because of a late start and some hiway construction, I arrived just before sunset on Tuesday February 26, 2008. Since the sun would be going down very soon, I decided to head for a camp site I had used on other trips and set up camp. I hiked to the top of some low hills to the northwest to look for horses. Searched until the light was gone with no luck. While hiking back to the van, I ran saw a family of Coyotes trotting along the top of the next ridge. We stopped and watched each other for a brief time and then continued on our separate ways. Me back to my van and the Coyotes in search of their dinner. I had my camera with me but there just wasn't enough light to get pictures! Wild Horse hunting would start again tomorrow morning.
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I guess the Black and White Stallion must have figured I was a threat and moved the band down over the crest of the rise, out of view. I loaded my gear and followed the road hoping it would lead to another vantage point. I spotted the horses grazing two ridges over.
I pulled off of the road the best I could, shouldered my gear and started the hike to get closer. When I got to the top of the ridge, I moved very slowly until I could get behind some brush for cover. Again, moving very slowly from bush to bush, I managed to get the next two photographs. The Black and White Stallion and the Brown and White Paint.
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I was so busy observing and photographing the horses on the ridge, I didn't see the brown horse (first picture above) trotting up the draw. He didn't see me either and almost ran me over! He thought better of it and headed toward the ridge and the other horses.
I remained in that location until the horses got used to me being there and then started to circle clockwise to get in closer. After about thirty minutes I managed to reach the same ridge they were on without spooking them, resulting in the other three pictures.
I kept slowly moving closer, stopping occasionally, standing very still until they got used to me. Then moving closer again.
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As I got closer, I noticed the Black and White Stallion had some markings on his left flank. It didn't seem like a brand, more like white spray paint or a paint stick.
There had been a Gather at Wheeler Pass HMA last year. He could have been marked by the BLM for some reason.
The smaller Brown and White Paint didn't seem too bothered by my presence, but one miss placed step sure got his attention! Wasn't long after that the Black and White Stallion gathered up his band and disappeared behind the ridge.
I shouldered my gear and started to hike back to my van. It didn't seem like I hiked that far, but I was over 1200 meters from the road! Upon reaching my van, I stowed my gear and broke out a cold soda. What a treat!
I continued following road 565 northeast toward hiway 95 hoping to catch a glimpse of the Paint Band. As I crested a small hill, I spotted them walking down a dirt road about a quarter of a mile away. I stopped and shut off the engine. Then I grabbed my camera, 400mm lens, window mount and moved to the passengers seat. Using the van as a camera mount, I got these last pictures of the Paint Band.
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After the "Paint Parade" I turned around and headed back through Willow Creek and on to the relative civilization of the Village of Cold Creek. I stopped to talk to a local who was out walking his dogs. He told me that while driving back from shopping in Las Vegas, he saw two bands of horses on the main road about a mile from the village. I thanked him for the information and was on my way!
When I found them, they weren't near the road, they were ON the road! The four photographs below were taken from the roof of my van. These horses seemed to be extremely used to human contact.
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I thought the little guy in the last two photographs was a Burro at first. But when he came closer I realized he was indeed a horse. A horse of a different color, but a horse just the same! If you look closely at his face, he has a black mask around his eyes, almost like a racoon.
The Stallion below just seemed to like posing for me! He stood there for quite a while before moving off to confront another Stallion that had moved too close to his mares. There was some posturing and then a confrontation, followed by some extreme biting by the invader!
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Finally the Stallion that was posing for me had had enough and evaded to the West! Horses, unlike humans, know when to break off a confrontation before serious damage is done.
While all of this was happening a car drove up and stopped. A lady got out, ran toward a group of horses and dumped a whole bag of carrots onto the ground, retreated to her car and drove away! Feeding Wild Horses is discouraged, but I believe the folks living in Cold Creek look upon these horses as belonging to the village and a treat once in a while is well deserved!
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The winter sun was starting to slip behind the mountains, so I packed up my gear and headed for a campsite I used two years ago. Surprise! It was just where I left it. Strange how the Nevada Desert seems to change very little over time.
Adventure Day 3
Photo Gallery 3 Finally Continues!
Photo Gallery 3 Finally Continues!
The night was uneventful. Did wake up to the sounds of passing horses at about 2:30am. They wondered off into the night and I went back to sleep.
The next morning dawned clear, bright and cold! Since I had to pick Stacy up at the airport in Las Vegas at one o'clock that afternoon, horse photography on this day would be limited, so I was in a hurry to get going.
Not long after leaving my campsite I ran across one of the bands I had seen the following day. They were strolling down a wash, enjoying the morning sun, heading toward Cold Creek. I stopped and snapped these pictures before heading up to Willow Creek.
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Found no horses at Willow Creek that morning. Did run into two ladies on horseback who had seen a small band up near the top of Wheeler Pass. Also said the snow had drifted across the road in a couple places and was quite deep. I know that discertion is the better part of valor and just because you have four wheel drive doesn't mean you should be stupid. I said "Good Day" to the ladies and decided to have breakfast!
After breakfast I decided to head back to Las Vegas and civilization (yuck). You see, our CPA moved to Las Vegas acouple of years ago, so we have to visit around this time to get our taxes done! The drive was again uneventful and I got to the airport in plenty of time to collect my wife.
The next morning at 9:00 sharp we were in his office. Stacy stressed the whole time, like she always does, but everything came out fine, like it always does! Knowing that we had only a few hours to spend in the Cold Creek area before we had to start the long drive home, we headed straight there.
Adventure Day 4
We arrived back in Wild Horse Country about 45 minutes later. Stacy already had her camera out and was scanning the base of Indian Ridge, to our right, with her telephoto lens for signs of horses. I spotted movement to our left. Stacy confirmed the little moving dots to be wild horses!
As we got closer and the dots got larger, finally turning into horses, lots of horses! There must have been two or three bands grazing in the same area! And that area was both sides of the road, including the road! I pulled the van off of the road before reaching the horses so we wouldn't bother them. Before long, some of the younger horses strolled over to say HI!
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I think that one little guy wanted to adopt Stacy! If we would have had some carrots and our horse trailer, he would have come home with us!
Some of the older horses were a little shy at first, but within a half hour or so they became used to us. The stallions were still keeping a watchful eye on the proceedings, but eventually even they relaxed!
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Check out the little guys trying to eat the front of my van! We hung around for about another hour just watching them be horses! Could have stayed longer, but we had to be on our way to Death Valley.
Spending time with wild horses has to be something everyone should experience. We have to do everything we can to make sure future generations can have the same experience! If You would like to plan a visit, full details are available on our Destination Page on the Wheeler Pass Area, including the Spring Mountains Recreation Area and the Desert National Wildlife Refuge.
I hope you enjoyed Photo Gallery 3 as much as we enjoyed putting it together.
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