W
ild horses exist in many areas of the United States; however the Little Book Cliffs Wild Horse Range is one of only three ranges in the USA set aside specifically to protect wild horse herds. Its borders include over 36,000 acres of rugged canyons and plateaus providing a beautiful backdrop where the horses can be viewed and photographed. The range is home for 90-150 wild horses who roam the sagebrush and half dried stream beds that wind through the canyons.
Most of the mustangs which we will find are descendants of horses who escaped from ranchers and farmers as the west was being settled. Smaller numbers have ancestor traced back Indian ponies.
The Little Book Cliffs area is near the city of Grand Junction located on the far Western side of Colorado. Due to the long distance from the Denver area, the tour requires a minimum of two days, while three+ days is recommended (4-5 hours of travel time is required each direction). We usually will stay the night in the small towns of De Beque or Parachute providing the fastest access early in the morning (or late night returns). Since the horses will tend to move during early and late hours we will tend to leave pre-dawn and/or return after dark.
Hiking or Driving? – Many areas of the range are accessible with a 4×4 vehicle and require no hiking for us to find and view the horses, BUT that is limiting. The horses roam where they may and if we want to increase our odds of find a herd hiking a few miles will help a lot. Hiking into the canyons also provides more environmental variety to your final images. The choice of whether to hike or not is totally up to you.
Is finding horses guaranteed? Sorry, I’m a photographer, not a horse whisperer. These horses are wild and as with any wild animal encounter there are no guarantees. For this reason I recommend that a horse tour be integrated with some landscape options (see below) which are far more predictable.
Additional destinations: There are several exceptional locations that can easily be integrated into our route to/from the Little Book location. These include (depending on time of year) Mount Evans, Rocky Mountain National Park, Black Canyon, Colorado National Monument and many more.
Note that you will need a minimum of 300 mm lens to capture these horses properly. It is recommended that you bring as long a focal length as you can. If you wish to rent equipment for this tour we recommend using www.BorrowLenses.com
