Wild Horses of Sand Wash Basin

The week plus long Excursions are a lot of fun to plan and go on, but sometimes the shorter Exploration trips can be a lot of fun as well. Such was the case in June of 2019 when I planned a 4 day trip to the Sand Wash Basin Herd Management Area with my father-in-law.

The Sand Wash Basin HMA is 157k+ acres of land in northwest Colorado with nice dirt roads that make it easy for anyone to get out and see this awesome wild horse. There are some two-track trails that will get you out further into their grazing areas if you have a higher clearance vehicle.

It varies from horse to horse, but some of them will let you get pretty close. Others will after you spend some time letting them accumulate to you.

We were there in June and some areas were pretty green while others were still quite brown. The larger herds were in the greener area and there were lots of foals there!

Four days in the area might seem like a long time, but when you factor in weather, lighting conditions, and just finding the herds, it is really not much time to get really good photos. Being able to camp in the area really helps out.

There was also a lot of action from the stallions!

Sand Wash Basin is about 6 hours from my place, but with these types of photographic opportunities, I’m hoping to make this an annual trip. I mean, being able to hang out with a large group of wild horse in the high meadows of Colorado on a nice summer day is pretty hard to beat.