Over Christmas we drove out to visit my parents in Idaho and got together with all of my other six siblings for a couple of days. It is always a gamble whether or not the roads will allow travel during the winter holidays, and we were welcomed by deep snow and slow moving traffic, but it was still a fun vacation.
My parents live in a valley in southeastern Idaho framed by two mountain ranges. The view out of the front window of their house is usually breathtaking, with snowcapped mountains even in the late spring and summer months. They raise alfalfa hay, beef cattle, mules, and Quarter Horses, and it’s always a real treat to get to spend some time on their ranch.
We stayed through Sunday, and went to church with them that morning. They attend church about sixty miles north, in a town called Challis, and to get there you have to drive up and down some winding mountain passes, but it’s good smooth highway, and the scenery is worth taking in. We were headed back home and I had been snapping some photos of the mountains and pretty colors in the sagebrush covered plains when I saw something else in the sagebrush and snapped this shot:
It was wild horses! My folks told me that they often saw mustangs out grazing the BLM land on this particular stretch. Until just a few years ago, there was no fence along the highway at all, and there is still a road sign warning “Watch for stock on road”. These horses had moved down the slopes away from the wind, and were stopped here along the fence. Two of them were facing off in an antagonistic stance, so I assume they were stallions and the small bunch was being defended by one of them.
I wish I had stopped the car, but the roads were icy and there was traffic behind us so I kept going. But as we passed, the two stallions were circling and prancing, and I really regret the missed photographic opportunities of that afternoon.
I always keep my camera handy in Idaho. You never know what you might see. Here are a few more shots from our trip:
These young antelope were coming down the hill to get out of the wind. They stopped when they saw me, but were too determined to escape the cold, so they didn’t turn and run but just watched to see what I would do. When I went on my way, they came on down the hill to find a warm spot to spend the afternoon.
This is a photo of my sister’s mule Companero, my dad’s gelding Red, and my sister’s gelding Challis. There was a fog bank that almost completely hid the mountain, but the sun in the west was so strong it lights up the whole picture like a winter wonderland.
This mountain is called Invisible, because the top of it is usually hidden by clouds, snow, or fog. It is part of the Big Lost Mountain Range, which runs along the eastern edge of my folks’ ranch.
I can still feel the touch of these whiskery noses as the weanling bunch lipped at my fingers. This is Tally, Donegal, and Garnet…two friendly fillies and a mule filly, and they love to be petted and fussed over. Seeing the horses is always the highlight of my trips out to Idaho.
