Fri, Oct 8, 2010
Saturday, October 9, 2010 at 12:06AM Friday, October 8, 2010
“The days fly by like wild horses over the hills.” – Poet Richard Hugo
Today was all about horses. I didn’t know the quote above would be so appropriate for describing the day.
I’ve mentioned numerous times we don’t really have an overall plan but take each day as it comes and adjust according to our interest and the weather. We travel a lot of dirt roads and back roads in remote areas and the ability to do that is directly impacted by the weather and in particular rain. In some areas it is illegal to travel certain dirt roads when they are wet. We had planned to travel the Columbia River Gorge area and then move on over to the coast of Oregon. As we watched the Weather Channel Thursday night we were disappointed to see some pretty heavy rains predicted on Saturday and Sunday for the coasts of Washington and Oregon. So it became apparent we needed to either change our direction or find a way to slow our progress.
So as we left Toppenish, WA this morning we had only one small portion of our route picked out. That would be Highway 97 headed south toward Goldendale, WA and then just a short drive over to the Columbia River Gorge. The route was marked scenic on our map and was one of the only roads we had not taken already on previous trips to Washington.
We were hardly 10 miles out of town when the highway left the valley and climbed steeply up Hembre Mountain. Just over the ridge of the mountain and we saw to our east a long ridge (Toppenish Ridge). It was a vast open area of sage covered hills, draws and canyons and drew us in like a magnet. We knew most of the Highway we were on was in the Yakima Indian Reservation and travel on reservations is usually restricted so when we saw a long dirt road we knew to look well at the entrance before entering. There was nothing at the gate to prohibit entry and our GPS unit showed we weren’t in the reservation yet so we turned in and drove several hundred yards where we were going to just stop and let the dogs roam for a minute. It was about 8:30 am and let me just say now that we did not return to this spot to leave until the middle of the afternoon.
I was born loving horses. My mom and dad used to say it was in my genes. Before I could talk I would point to pictures of horses and smile. I never remember a time when I didn’t want a horse or want to be near horses. Luckily, Charles is a horse lover as well… just another reason why we are such a good match. I have not been without a horse since I was nine when my dear sweet Uncle T, Aunt Grace and my cousin Jo gave me a young horse. It was a life changing experience for me and one that would serve me well thru all the difficult times in my life and the good ones as well.
When we spotted a small herd of horses on the side of one of the sage covered hills, I immediately took notice. Having photographed a number of wild horses throughout the Western states we have learned the “look” of a wild horse from a distance. I immediately told Charles that group of horses was wild. Ok, we were hooked. So our day of the wild horse search began. We took another dirt road to the right in an effort to get closer to this herd. They would, however have none of that. As we eased along, they quietly walked over the ridge and disappeared. We were never within ¼ mile of them and certainly not close enough for a photo.
We figured that was it for getting a photo and returned to the main dirt road and decided to just ride further in and enjoy the solitude and beauty of this high desert area. As we drove along we began to spot herd after herd of horses, small groups of about ten to fifteen dotting the hills and as soon as they saw our Jeep they began walking away from us, usually up and over the nearest ridge. After we had ridden in a couple of miles we just sat there in the open, took the binoculars and began to scan the ridges and draws. The whole area was just full of these small herds of horses. But unlike some wild herds, who have become accustomed to humans, these horses were very skittish and not at all interested in letting us get close.
We spent the day moving just a little farther in, spotting new herds, watching them until they became uncomfortable with our distance or just our presence and they would disappear. Well into the morning we had our closest encounter (which wasn’t that close). A small band of three mares, one foal, and one stud was on a distant ridge and had walked away from us and entered a draw. Apparently, they were headed for water in a nearby canyon where there was probably a spring. Suddenly they popped into view, much closer and definitely walking with a purpose and direction. When they disappeared again into the canyon, we started up the Jeep and slowly moved further up the hill to see if we might catch them crossing in front of us after drinking. Just as we were about to give up, they appeared several hundred yards in front of us and they were as surprised as we were and took off. At least they were close enough that I could quickly grab a few shots. Charles asked how the photos looked and I remarked you could tell they were horses, that was about all.
The largest band we saw was probably twenty-five or so but most seemed to be groups of about ten to fifteen. They never comingled with other bands but seemed to always stay an appropriate distance from each other. The vase majority of all the horses we saw were black or dark with usually one or two sorrels. Several of the bands had grays and one had a couple of palominos. With the exception of one stud who seemed pretty thin the rest were in good shape, especially for wild horses.
As we drove along it seemed we wouldn’t be able to get close to any of them. One band seemed more interested in us and we got closer to them than any of the others but as soon as their comfort zone was breeched they turned and glided across the sage hills and disappeared as all the others had before them.
We took the dirt road to the top of Topponish Mountain and the East Ridge where it seemed we were on top of the world. To our left was the huge Yakima valley we had left that morning. It was a gorgeous view. We turned around and began our descent. Just about halfway back down we spotted a small band moving across the hill to our left. We decided to just drive along and see how close we could get to them. They obviously wanted to get past us but didn’t want to go further down the hill so they picked up their pace. We continued along and they disappeared behind a small hill. As they appeared again they were a good bit closer and so they picked up their pace to a long graceful lope and we stopped and I clicked off at least a dozen shots before all that was visible was their dust. It was so neat. Behind me, I heard Paris whine a little and I looked to my right and saw a beautiful gray wolf. He was too far to my right to swing the camera around with that huge lens and the road was too narrow to reposition the jeep so we had to just watch him lope off.
We began to make our way back out to the main road and realized it was mid afternoon and we had not eaten any lunch so we found a side road that led down into a tree filled canyon. After a pretty long hike to search for a spring we returned to the Jeep and had our daily picnic. As we left the area and pulled onto the highway again we realized we had definitely “slowed” our progress for the day!
Just a few miles down the road and we took a dirt road to the left that took us to the beautiful Status Creek, an oasis in the sage desert. After letting the pups swim and play along the dusty banks we returned once again to the Highway and made the 50 mile drive thru the Yakima Reservation to Goldendale, WA. After a stop at a great grocery we made the short drive to the Columbia River Gorge and The Dalles where we are spending the night.
I had never heard of any wild horses in Washington so I was anxious to get to the room and do a little research on this obviously large group of wild horses. I could not find any reference to this area having wild horses. Just as I was ready to give up I found an article written by someone whose grandfather had told him stories as a child about seeing thousands of wild horses in Washington. This man had done extensive research and could find no evidence to support that these horses did indeed exist. The Federal Government Agency that oversees wild horse herds throughout the west said they did not exist. But this guy was stubborn and he was put in touch with a Yakima Indian who told him the story of these wild horses who live on over 1 million acres of Indian land in the Yakima reservation. Horses are sacred to the Yakima Indians and the women of the early tribes were the caretakers of the horses they used. There are over 5,000 wild horses living in the area we visited today. It was a fantastic day with the horses indeed. We look forward to visiting again on another trip and hopefully bringing back better photographs of these incredible animals.
We are very well tonight and hope you all are too.
Peace, Hope & Love,
Donna, Charles, Paris & Dodger
Reader Comments (1)
I am as enthralled reading of this horse adventure as you were in pursuing them. But then, that's how it is with horse lovers.....