Turkey Flats – Wild in the Pryors

View of Turkey Flats, looking back towards Twin Red Hills.

Our third day we decided to spend hiking around Turkey Flats, with an early morning drive up the Dryhead first.

For the first time in a long time, I saw the Greeters in “proper” place. Just a short distance after we entered the range. Way up on a hillside. This day was starting out very cloudy and we hoped it would clear enough to give us some good light for photos.

I was really pleased to see Hightail looking so good. Born in 1990, Hightail will be 24 this year. Both Seneca and Hickok looked good too.

Hickok, February 16, 2014 — Hickok, February 17, 2014

Seneca and Hightail, 2-16-14 — Seneca and Hightail, 2-17-14

A view of where the Greeters were. — A wide-angle view of where the Greeters were.

We continued driving down the road to look for more horses. I have never had much luck seeing horses in the Dryhead this time of year. But so far this trip I had seen 4.

I turned to go to the Devil’s Lookout area and was surprised to see the river completely frozen over below. The dark sky and the frozen water in the canyon made for some very forbidding photos. This was the first time I had my wide-angle lens with me and I loved the images I was able to capture. Like putting the canyon in my pocket and taking it home with me.

Wild in the Pryors — Sykes Ridge on the left.

Seeing no other horses in this part of the range, we headed towards the Range entrance at Lower Sykes. Remembering what the road looked like the afternoon before, I wondered how it would be this morning. It was 28 right now, so I was hoping it had firmed up.

We loaded my UTV (Ophelia ) up with our camera gear and supplies and headed up the red dirt road. The beautiful of this area is breathtaking, no matter what time of year I come here.

I parked Ophelia a couple of miles up the road and we got out to go search for horses. I will admit, it seems that this time of year, I do not have much luck finding horses here. First, let me say: Turkey Flats is NOT flat. Sure, there are areas that are flatter than the tall hills that surround them, but for the most part, it is made of ravines that dip in and out of a vast landscape. I climbed a tall hill to look around with my binoculars. Quickly locating Jesse James on a far-away butte. I always snap a photo, just for record keeping, no matter the distance, just in case I am not able to locate them later if I am closer. The photo below of Jesses James is when I was a bit closer, but still taken at 310 mm.

My luck would be no different today. We hiked for hours. I scampered up several hills and did see 3 horses moving off. By the time I went back to get Anh and Kimerlee, they had vanished into the landscape. If I was to guess, I would say it was Mica, Inocentes and Feldspar and from the location that Ginger had given us of where she saw Cloud just a few days before, I could be right. But for the first time, I did not snap that photo and I will never really know for sure.

We continued hiking closer to Jesse James and I was pleased to see another horse with him, a black one. I could not make out if it was Issaquah or Joseph, but it was not Hawk. I am leaning towards thinking it was Issaquah, but not being able to see the legs to determine if there was a right hind sock (Joseph), I can’t be 100%.

It always amazes me how steep of terrain these horses can graze on. I hope these shots give you some feel of just how steep it really was.

Issaquah(?) and Jesse James. 2-16.14 — Issaquah(?) and Jesse James. 2-17-14

It was almost 3 pm. We made a group decision to give up on Turkey Flats for the day and head up Burnt Timber road for the rest of the afternoon. We turned to hike back to the road. It was a bit late in the day to head up BT, but the sky was clear and I knew I would not be going up too far.

View of red hills with my telephoto lens.

With some luck and a little extra persuasion, Ophelia was able to climb up the road past where we had gotten stuck in the snow the day before. My hope was to get to the mine area where I could have an excellent view of where there may be horses. As we climbed up, I saw Jackson and band making their way over a ridge further up. It was too late in the day to go up that far, so we stopped and turned our attention to what might lie below us.

I spotted 10 horses on a ridge far below us. It was getting late, so we decided to head down and try to locate them. We all mentally noted some landscape landmarks and hoped to be able locate them as we made our way back down the road. Several miles back down the road, I pulled over, hoping my guess would be right. I hiked up a ridge and there they were! It was Cappuccino and band along with two new members: Aztec and Jasmine. Grijala and Jasper were near by a bit further down the ridge.

It was a beautiful spot to stop, watch horses for a while and enjoy a sunset. I knew I could safely make it down the rest of the way (only about 2 miles) without a problem, even in the fading light. We had not seen many horses that day and wanted to just sit and soak up their beauty.

Everyone looked good. Gabrielle is definitely pregnant and appears to look better than she did last year at this same time. Cappuccino looked a bit thin, but Aztec was keeping him very busy breeding her.

Naara and Gabrielle — McKeahnie and Gabrielle

Another wide-angle shot of the Cappuccinos band over on the next ridge.

The horses and some people that love them.

McKeahnie in the setting sun, February 16, 2014 — McKeahnie in the setting sun, February 17, 2014

It was time to head down the road towards the truck. We stopped several time to take photos of the beautiful landscape in the setting sun.

It had been a busy day of hiking and exploring the range. I felt good about the horses I had seen. There were areas where the snow was past our thighs, but also some bare areas where the horses were able to find forage. They all looked good and I hoped that winter would be kind to them for another couple months. Our plan for the next day would be to head up Burnt Timber once again.

Sandy

Logo designed by Amber Bushnell

January 2nd 2013
Monday the 31st I checked the dryhead 1 last time, and saw the greeters near Ranger’s Delight.

I decided to run over to Cody to see the rams, and swung by McCullough on the way. After a New Year’s night of listening to owls and coyotes while watching the stars and having a little 14 hands cabernet sauvignon by a rare fire, I spent the 1st day of 2013 watching rams up the North Fork before heading back to Lovell.

I stopped in to see Liesl, Kaibab and Exhilharation at the center, and was fortunate that Lori stopped to feed them about 3 minutes after I got there.
Tuesday morning I woke up and decided to drive up to above Sykes Coulee to see if I could see any one either across it, and to look down on the lower sykes area. I did see 3 horses across the coulee, but decided I wasn’t going to hike over for just 3. While coming back down, I could see that there were more horses out on Turkey Flat than before and snapped a long distance shot.

I was determined to go up Burnt Timber and hoped I could tell who was on the flat by zooming in on the shot and looking at colors.
Another fruitless trip through the park and I was heading to BT. From the road, I looked out to get another view of the flat, but could not see them from this side today. I scanned the lower BT area while I was stopped, and was surprised to see some to the right of the entrance. While I may have been able to get up BT, since the snow was a little wetter and more slippery, I decided to hike and see who was down near the fence before deciding if I should go up.
I had never hiked in this area, so I wasn’t sure exactly how far it would be until I found the horses I had seen from the road. I had a landmark I was looking for, and as I got closer to it I started to notice more tracks in the snow. When I finally reached them, I was a little surprised to see Kitalpha first, because I knew there were at least 3 horses from the road.

Almost as surprised to see me was Greta. She led the group a little further up a hill before stopping and going back to grazing. I grabbed some shots of her, Garcia, Millicent and Kitalpha before leaving this secretive group alone. I did see them from a hill later, heading to an even more remote area to hide from everyone.

I decided since I was already in the right direction, I would continue at an angle to Turkey Flats . Not only is this way a little longer to get there in distance, but the walk along the flat plateau is replaced by some ridges and a badlands area that has steep washes and knobs. It was a lot more work, and I regretted my choice at times, but I did learn a lot about a new area. When I got to the flats, I didn’t see any at first and thought I had made the long hike for nothing. I knew there were some dips and I wasn’t going to leave without looking around really well.
As I came over a small rise, I first ran across Rosarita. Her, Mescalero and Polaris were eating their way toward the junipers.

I looked to the junipers and was surprised to see quite a few horses in them. Galaxy was there with his group. Since I saw them on Sunday, I went toward the group slightly to the left of him. There was a near black horse sleeping, but it was really the dark winter blue roan.

A horse came through the sage and first I thought Kalahari, but knowing that wasn’t possible I realized it was La Brava with Coronado right behind.

I moved around the juniper and saw all of his harem before heading back to the flat. I saw Irial, Jupiter and London again, but they did not have Bristol with them.
By the time we got back to the FJ, Malakai and I decided it was time to head home and have a warm bed to sleep in.

It may be a while before I can get back over, but I know Sandy will let us know what is going on when she gets over in a month.

Shawn