Cold Creek Trip Notes for 10/01/2014

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This page last updated on 04/12/2018

(Fig. 01)

10/01/2014 Trip Notes: Always a great place to take visitors, I took Jim Herring and his friend Ray Osborne to Cold Creek to find some of the wild horses at Cold Creek. This was my second visit here in two weeks (Cold Creek Trip Notes for 09/16/2014). In addition to seeing three groups with 8-10 horses in each group, we spotted nearly two dozen more in smaller groupings (Fig 01). It was probably the most sightings I've ever seen in any one day visit. Rather than provide individual pictures for this visit, I decided to create a collage of some of the better captures (Fig 01).

(Fig. 02) This area is part of the Wheeler Pass Herd  Management Area (HMA). Covering 273,260 acres, it is actually divided into two separate sections by the Spring Mountain National Recreation Area (SMNRA), the green area in the center of the map (Fig. 02). It has an estimated wild horse population of greater than 80 individuals. When the term “Wild Horses” is mentioned, most people envision running herds of wild mustang. However, most of the horses you see in the HMA are feral horses, horses living in the wild, but descended from from domesticated individuals. They generally appear to be calm, docile, and even tame as they forage for food and water in this wild and extreme desert environment. Probably the biggest attraction for the horses in this eastern section of the HMA are the three ponds, one of which is shown below in (Figs. 03 & 04), that lie just south of town and are fed by a year-round spring in the mountains just west of the town. Most of these horses are colored as pintos, blacks, cremellos, palominos, bays, browns, and sorrels.  Visitors to these areas need to remember that it is illegal to feed, water, pet, or otherwise harass a wild horse or burro and that any individuals found doing so can be subject to a minimum fine of $500.00.

(Fig. 03)

(Fig. 04)

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