Wild Horses on the Mogollon Rim

 Okay, so these aren't really "wild horses."  My dad calls them "feral free-ranging domestic livestock."  Most were domestic horses at one time that were dumped by people who couldn't take care of them, escaped on their own, or were set free during forest fires because the owners didn't have time/resources to move them out of danger but didn't want to keep them trapped in case the fire came.  Now many are the descendants of those once-domestic horses.  All they've known is freedom.

There's a lot of controversy over them.  Are they pests causing problems for ranchers and native wildlife?  Should there even BE ranchers on public lands?  Do the horses need to be culled or captured and taken to refuges? If so, how can we do this most humanely?  Or are they now part of the local ecosystem and need to be protected like any other wildlife? 

Mostly what I know is that they're beautiful and a treat to see.  

These three later wandered into our campsite, bold as anything, and we got to watch them for a long time while we ate.  Mogollon Rim Dinner Theatre.

  

Escape to the High Country

 A couple of weeks ago I escaped the heat and want to the Mogollon Rim.  It was great (though very muddy after all this fantastic rain we've been having).

Day one:

Under the Rim, by the Horton Creek trailhead:

Rather large mushrooms:

Another fantastic dragonfly (see my post a few days ago with the flame skimmer).  I think this is a twelve-spotted skimmer:

Dramatic clouds at our dispersed camping campsite:

Rain off the Rim at sunset:

Strange Sunset

Though I caught this bizarre effect with my camera, it was even more spectacular in person:

Note:  there is absolutely no photo manipulation involved.  

Beautiful Dragonfly

Here's a beautiful dragonfly that poised for me near Williams, Arizona.  I think it's a flame skimmer (isn't that a fantastic name?)