Marietta Wild Burro Range

We had a day of good fortune yesterday. It was an easy drive and successful burro watching. I took a zillion pictures. So let's just get to it, shall we?

We first stopped off at McDonald's for our beloved Egg McMuffin. I was trying to remember, but I think this might have been our first Egg McMuffins of this trip. As we were driving out of town, I snapped this image of the area surrounding Hawthorne. There is snow in the mountains all around, but we've enjoyed relatively warm weather.

It was about an hour's drive south to the Marietta Wild Burro Range.

Here's the first sign we came to. It was a little misleading since it was really only 10 miles out to the Marietta ghost town, and so the 20 miles listed was the distance round trip.

As dirt roads go, this was one of the better maintained ones we've been on. We could keep our speed up to a good pace and not get bounced around too much by washboard.

We pulled off for the second informational sign, posted six miles in. I love that our Congress could come together to pass the Wild Free-roaming Horse and Burro Act, although 1971 feels like a lifetime ago given the discord we experience from our government these days. Nevertheless, it's another one of those things that gives me hope for humanity. 

The act was established to recognize wild horses and burros as "living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West." There are somewhere in the neighborhood of 110 burros living on this dedicated range. As we drove on, we could see the ghost town off in the distance.

Around 8 miles in, we spotted groupings of burros on both sides of the road. They certainly have a lovely home.

They were some distance off, and so it was hard to get a very good picture of them.

We spent some time watching them, and then drove on to the ghost town. We found a number of collapsed stone structures. The area is strewn with rocks, and so rocks made good and plentiful building materials.

Looking back from where I was standing, there were a few more.

And, really, they were all around, although collapsed nearly flat, which made it difficult to spot them.

Signs warned of open mine pits all around, and this one was just off the road.

Reaching over the barbed wire with my camera hand, I tried to get a picture inside. This was the best I could do, given the reach.

On the far side of the road and off in the distance, there was an old cemetery.

There are many abandoned and collapsed structures in the area, but some of this land is privately owned and people still live here.

This was one of the more modern structures, but it too has been abandoned.

Rubber hoses are still attached to this water tower, and so it may still be in use.

Also, we noticed the colors in the hillside, similar to what one will see on a visit to Death Valley.

We turned to head back from there. We'd seen the "leavings" of the burros all along the road, and I was wishing we'd seen some of the burros closer up when we came upon this mama burro (known as a "jenny").

An article I read about the burros (find it right here) mentions their coat colors. "Sometimes you’ll see burros that are so dark brown they seem black and others are so light they almost seem white—but they’re usually some shade of brown or gray. One characteristic that [separates] them from any other species is a very distinctive feature: their dorsal stripes. Regardless of coat or color, wild burros will always have markings that look like a cross on their shoulders and back, along with dark earmarks, a lighter color around their muzzle and eye rings, and most usually have a white or lighter colored belly and inner legs." And that description was evident on this jenny.

But oh my, and SQUEE!!! She had a foal nearby. Oh. My. Goodness. Is this just about the cutest thing you've ever seen?!? 

Adult wild burros are about half the size of a horse. Her foal was about half her size. And look at that fuzzy coat!

We kept our distance, but at regular intervals allowed ourselves to idle just a little bit closer. They watched us suspiciously, but didn't seem alarmed.

The jenny grazed on...ignoring us...hoping we'd just go away and take our cameras with us.

As we moved closer, she moved closer to her foal. Eventually, she nudged it with her nose and they both moved on.

Well. That just about made the whole trip for me. 

We headed back to the RV and were back around lunch time. We relaxed for the rest of the afternoon and enjoyed the evening's sunset.

Today we'll be back on the road and beginning the long trek home. We expect to arrive home on Saturday. We'll overnight in Winnemucca tonight. Then move on to Boise tomorrow. Then Pendleton, Oregon, and then home. It will be good to get back. I was thinking earlier that we aren't aware of any ice storms during the past winter, and so we're hoping to find the landscape in better shape than last year's homecoming when we found downed limbs everywhere. What a mess. And it was expensive cleaning up some of our taller trees.

There is still one more time-traveling post to catch up with from Death Valley. I'm not sure when I'll write it, but soon. For now, it's time to make breakfast and get on our way.