Action on the Salt River

 On Wednesday we took our new neighbours, Margo and Gary, to see the wild horses on the Salt River.  As usual I make no promises that there will actually be any horses as they are not by appointment viewing however late afternoons and hot weather are almost a guarantee we will at least see a few cooling off in the river.  Add in what comes naturally to the horses in the spring and we had a show that had our hearts racing.  The numbers were hard to count as different groups kept coming and going but 60 would have been a conservative count.  

The dynamics between the different herds was interesting.  The stallion standing watch over his mares as bachelors expressed their interest in picking up a mare or three.  The younger stallions kept circling, stomping and trumpeting their interest.  We had to keep our heads on a swivel as a few times a stallion would burst through the brush beside us and race into the river.  Even walking down the trail we had to be mindful of the sound of thundering hooves which often led to a couple of stallions chasing each other and paying very little attention to the 2 leggeds on the trail ahead of them.  

I have seen activity of this sort before however not with this level of intensity or duration.  It was a great afternoon. 

A reminder to any who read this it is recommended to keep at least 50 feet between you and the horses.  Sometimes that is hard to do as they are very unpredictable.  Always have a tree or bush close by so at least you have some cover just in case.  And please don't be like the one asshole we saw who thought he was a horse whisperer and tried to calm the excited stallions by talking to them as he walked behind them trying to pet them.  Sooner or later that is a sure fire recipe for disaster.  

 

Horse with 2 heads?

Not sure what the one on the right was saying but didn't look happy at being left out. 

These 2 did quite the dance.  Calm at times and then lots of bumping and grinding.  

Check out the photographer in the back.  His beard was almost as long as some of the horses manes. 

This was one very insistent stallion.  He kept circling the herd in the river.  Letting all with in a few miles know of his intentions.  

I was down on the river bank behind a tree when this guy stopped to check me out.  I think he wanted to take the path beside me to the water but decided to move on rather than chase me into the water. 

Sometimes the action was a little clouded by all the dust.  

These two stallions came racing down the trail, nipping and shoulder checking each other, totally oblivious of the fact they were fast closing in on 4 rather anxious 2 leggeds.  We found the nearest bush and when they noticed us one turned around and the other stopped about 10 feet way and started to calmly graze on the grass.  He took a few sidelong glances at me as if to say "nothing to see here.  Move along please".  

That was so much fun I am going again out today.   

Apache Lake

 After our visit to Rosevelt Dam we decided to take the short drive to Apache Lake which was just 12 miles down the Apache Trail road.  The road is a narrow, winding and sometimes rough gravel road so 12 miles took us about 30 minutes.  

Apache Trail, an old stagecoach route, used to take you all the way to Tortilla Flats and then on to Apache Junction and Phoenix beyond that but fires, flash floods and rock falls have closed the  road the past few years.  There seems little political will to spend the millions it would take to reconstruct the road so Apache Lake is effectively the end of the road.

Its a beautiful area with a small resort and campground down by the water.  There were some brave souls testing the suspension on their trailers as they bounced down the road for a remote camping experience. 

Apache Lake down below

Not sure what the price of gas was but there were no lineups. 

Vultures circling.  

The last photographer club outing of the year.  We had some good trips and great fun and hope for bigger and better next year. 

Rosevelt Dam

For the last photography outing of the year we decided to head up to Rosevelt Dam and the Tonto National Monument.  The Monument provides great views from the ancient cliff dwellings and on last visit the flowers covered the mountainside.  As we drove past this year the flowers were non-existent so we kept on going to the Dam.  We finished off our trip by going out to Apache Lake and will post that separately.

Apparently the Feds are going to announce the elimination of the required Covid test to get back into the country. We are now thinking that our previously planned western swing for our return trip may be back on. Stay tuned.