A Day in the Owyhee Life

Monday March 22 2010

What is there to do on a blustery cold spring (winter?) day?

Play


Roll


Shake


Roll


Shake


Line up


Pose


Gather sticks for your Raven nest!

Cogitate

Sunday March 21 2010

What goes through his head when he stops to survey the country?


Jose's favorite spots to stop on the trail and observe are, naturally, from high points, because they give the best view. Just like I like to do. He particularly likes the view from a rim

down into a canyon.

What does he see when he stares out there? What does he think? Does he think, like me, Wow, what beautiful country?


He's not afraid of things. He's observing and thinking.


Sometimes he spots wildlife in the distance (before I see it); sometimes he just takes in the scenery. I can hear the wheels turning in his head as he gazes.


Then there's the cows. Whereas Mac (the former cow-horse) is at times skeptical of them (especially when they charge him from behind), Jose is very curious about and interested in them. Especially the babies. Today a newborn calf caught his eye. While Mama Cow eyed us warily ready to protect her baby, Jose had bright eyes only for the baby and he headed right for him. I know for sure what Jose was thinking here: Toy!


It would have been quite interesting to see what Jose would have done with him, but with Mama Cow's eyes getting bigger and bigger as we got closer and closer, I pulled him away.

He's intelligent, curious, agreeable, and he likes exploring.


And of course he loves a good meal.


Jose's a very special soul. : )

Pronghorn Surprise

Friday March 19 2010

It can run so fast nothing can keep up with it. 45, 55 miles per hour, and it can keep that speed up for miles.

While it's often called a pronghorn antelope, it is not technically a true antelope. The pronghorn has branching horns, which it sheds annually, whereas true antelope do not. It's the fastest animal on this continent.

It's rare to see pronghorns on this side of the highway - they prefer the Snake River Birds of Prey NCA to the north. It's even more rare to see, while riding around here, 1 pronghorn standing on a ridge and watching us in the wash below, (then keep running along the ridge, turning to watch us, and posing, several times), and for another 3 pronghorns to be waiting for us in Blond Cow wash before taking off on their romp.

The lone Arnie P. Antelope was posing on the ridge above Spring Ranch wash and watching us proceed for quite a while before he took off running. He stayed right along the rim, in sight, and he kept turning to stop and watch us again. He made a bold statement posing on the ridge against the blue sky. (Bummer, no camera today!)

When we turned the corner into Blond Cow wash, we saw the three antelope ladies; they took off running up the wash and up onto the next ridge, frolicking along the rim in sight a while before they disappeared.

Mac was quite bold. He ignored all the deer we saw today, he Stink-Eyed the cows, and he watched the pronghorns with interest. He led the way, trotting all the way up Blond Cow wash to the end, where the trail takes us up onto the ridge where the antelope ladies had gone.

When we were fifty yards from the top, the three lady antelopes appeared again. Instead of turning tail and running from us, they started running towards us, following the perpendicular rim trail that we were approaching. The closer they came, the faster they ran. They passed within 30 yard ahead of us, hitting warp speed as they bounded effortlessly along. I swear they looked like they were going to take off into the sky. (I'm thinking now that Santa Claus uses pronghorns disguised as reindeer.)

By the time we reached the trail - within seconds - they had disappeared, nothing left of them but their tiny hoofprints in the dust. And on the next ridge to the left, there was Arnie P. Antelope, still posing on the rim, watching the proceedings. Maybe the ladies had been looking for him. Maybe he was trying to give them the slip. He turned and ran the opposite way along the rim.

The antelope ladies were out of luck today.

(The above photo is a public domain photo, it's not mine.)

Chasm

Wednesday March 17 2010

You can see the two canyon notches here:

Hart Creek on the left, Little Hart Creek on the right. When we do the Hart Creek Homestead ride, we ride right up to the Little Hart notch on the downstream side, before we turn off and climb around and up onto the ridge above it.

Often we'll see an eagle or two flying around in this Little Hart Creek canyon. There's supposed to be a historic nest in the Hart Creek notch. We've never ridden to or around that one.

Today we drop down behind the Little Hart Creek notch on the upstream side.

The notch looks quite tame and unimpressive from the this side. Here it's a wide drainage. There's no water coming down here now.


As always, Jose likes to stop and take in the view.



Between Hart and Little Hart Creek canyons is a box canyon.

It's a rocky climb to the top.

The top is a broad plateau,

with a view down the entire Hart Creek drainage, all the way to the distant Snake River. As if on cue, we see a golden eagle flying around.

We ride toward the rim of Hart Creek Canyon.


Holy cow!


It's like the Grand Canyon of Owyhee. It's amazing the power of water can carve such a deep gash in the earth. Some of it so dark and deep I can't see the bottom. I can hear the water running far below. I can see part of a waterfall. The only word I can say for five minutes is - WOW!





Jose didn't even graze because he was fascinated by the view.



This is looking downstream toward the Snake River. Hart Creek and Little Hart Creek join below us (right around Suz's butt).


Looking upstream at Little Hart Creek notch, behind which we first descended.


You won't find the Grand Canyon of the Owyhee marked on a map, and there's no easy way to get there by vehicle or on foot or on horseback. Probably best to keep it our secret anyway.

The Two-Horse Mystery and... Cats

Monday March 15 2010

After discovering a new nesting golden eagle pair on Brown's creek, and seeing another set of promising cliffs a mile upstream, I decided then and there that I have to hike the whole of Brown's Creek, from mouth to source in the Owyhee mountains. (Not all at one time).

Last week I headed out on foot with those next cliffs as the destination. The wind was strong and cold enough to make my eyes water. Little snowstorms dodged around the Owyhee peaks, and an occasional errant snowflake zipped past me, and probably didn't hit the ground till it reached Montana.

I started hiking at the dam... but instead of turning down that drainage toward those cliffs, I decided to follow an old 2-track road west, which after a couple of miles landed me on Brown's Creek. I saw a flying golden eagle - possibly one of the pair I'd discovered, or perhaps a new pair in those new cliffs I was going to.

As I descended into Brown's Creek,

I was sure I'd see a road leading out on the other side (I did), and I was sure I'd see a homestead (I did) which was the one we rode to on the Forgotten Girth Trail. It wasn't! It was another homestead

I hadn't seen before!

That meant the the Forgotten Girth Trail Homestead was further upstream.
I looked downstream toward the cliffs, upstream toward more surprises...

I chose upstream.

I hiked along more cliffs,

crossed through more drainages running into Brown's Creek, one with quite a lot of running water. I discovered a nice spring, some cool rock formations,


and I found a place along a game trail

where deer bedded down.

About this time I'd started glancing behind me, and keeping close watch on the cliffs. I've heard occasional rumors of cougars in this country, but I have never seen proof. That doesn't mean much though. I once complained to my Toiyabe (California) Forest Service Ranger friend, who said there were cougars in that country, though I'd never seen one. He answered, "Oh, but they're watching you!"

That's something you tend to think of when you're walking in somewhat vulnerable places, such as below small bluffs, in narrow washes,

and along a running creek with tall sagebrush (some of them 8 feet tall) and thick willows. Hmmm. I didn't see any cougar sign, (though the ground was too hard to see recent footprints), and I didn't feel watched, but then we humans aren't very in tune to things like that, even if we think we are.

I kept thinking I'd see the FGT Homestead, just around the next bend in the river, at the next locust grove, just past those next cliffs...

but I kept hiking upstream,

and it never arrived. (A map would have been handy, yes, but I wasn't carrying one.) I was quite sure, when I decided to finally turn around for the day, that the FGT Homestead was indeed past the next set of cliffs.

In fact I could see a road coming out on the other side of the creek in the distance that I was (pretty) sure we'd ridden out on. But I'd save that for another day.

I turned around and set out hiking cross country, taking a guess at where the dam was (I didn't have a compass, either - my GPS conked out soon after I set the starting point and timer on it). I crossed more drainages, found more canyons,

passed through a sage grouse lek,

and suddenly started seeing horse poop, and not too old. Horses!?

There shouldn't be horses turned out here for winter grazing, and there weren't wild horses here - the closest mustang herd is probably 20 miles northwest, across many fences. There were no cows turned out here at the moment either. I started seeing horse tracks that weren't too old. People riding out here (in the middle of nowhere)? Sure, we do things like that, but nobody else would be out here. And there was too much horse poop and tracks for a couple of random riders.

I followed the curve of a hill - and there they were. Two horses. A chestnut with gray mane and a pinto. Only two??

How very odd. If ranch horse were turned out here (unlikely), there would be more than two. But if they were wild horses... how did they get here and, a pinto?? (Pretty one, at that,)

They had their backs to me a hundred yards away. Good thing I wasn't a cougar. "Hey guys!" I yelled.

Their heads flew up and they whipped around and stared in my direction. I waved and walked around so they could see I was a human.

That set the chestnut off. He (she?) ran back and forth snorting, stopping, staring, bolting, running away, turning to run back and look - wild mustang behavior. The pinto didn't seem half as bothered, but he (she?) followed the chestnut closely.

I kept switching between my crappy little binoculars and my crummy little camera so I neither got a real good look at, nor real good pictures of them. The chestnut looked a bit mustang-y and had a longer shaggy mane, and in one of the pictures I think you can see a freeze brand on his neck.

The pinto was more stocky, like a ranch horse, and her mane was shorter. I never got a good enough look to see if they were male/female, nor if they were shod.

I didn't bother approaching because I knew I wouldn't get much closer. They continued their behavior - the chestnut running back and forth and looking alarmed and snorting, the pinto following and looking, but not too worried.

I called a few people when I got home, but nobody knew anything about them. I called the rancher Bob who has the grazing allotment, but he didn't call back.

Today while out riding, I happened to run into, of all people, Bob. He was out checking on his cows (the ones stalking our fence line).

"I've heard of those 2 horses from different people over the last couple of years. I think they were dumped out there." One might have been a mustang someone had for a while, the pinto might be part mustang part ranch horse. Who knows. They've got plenty of grass out there now, and access to water, so... I guess we've got two Brown's Creek Mystery Horses out there. It must be good luck to come across them.

"You ought to be careful when you're hiking Brown's Creek," Bob said, when I told him of my mission to hike the whole thing. "Cats."

Cougars! "There are a lot out there," he said - but I'm skeptical. "A lot" can mean many things. There can't be that many out there, and anyway, the chances of seeing one are quite low. I'd be quite lucky to see one (preferably he won't see me) - luckier than finding two horses in the middle of the Owyhee desert.

If I do run into a cougar, hopefully he won't be hungry and I won't look appetizing. I will keep looking over my shoulders. I expect those horses will too.