The Long Way to Las Vegas - In Search of Wild Mustangs

Bishop to Fallon, Nevada

Tuesday, May 13, 2025

Today we are going in search of wild mustangs, but we had a couple of errands to do before we hit the road.  First off, we headed for the famous Erick Schat’s Bakery to pick up some sandwiches for our lunch today.  Next, we stopped by the Bishop Visitor’s Center to see if they had any information on the best spots to find the wild mustangs.  The lady was very helpful, but she didn’t have any current information, but suggested we drive east from Bishop on US6 to the town of Benton and then take CA120 back towards Mono Lake and Highway 395.

Our route for the day as we take a roundabout way to get to Fallon, Nevada.

We took her advice and started towards Benton.  When we left Bishop, the weather was a bit brisk but fairly nice, but as we headed east, we could see dark clouds and rain ahead.  It was a beautiful drive out on Hwy 6 through a valley of ranchland surrounded by snowcapped mountains.  The weather got colder, and the temperature dropped into the 40’s and we started getting a few drops of rain.

The drive east out of Bishop to Benton was a remote area of ranchland and mountains.

After driving through the small town of Benton, we got on 120 and headed west.  It was a beautiful drive and about thirty miles west of Benton we found Dobie Meadows Road, a dirt road that Val had read was a great area to find the wild mustangs.

We knew we were getting close when we saw the sign warning us of horses on the road.

The turnoff for Dobie Meadows Road.

Doobie Meadows Road was a little rough, but not too bad.  We saw a dark spot off in the distance and realized it was a wild mustang.  We took a lot of pictures, but we were so far away, they really weren’t very good.  We drove on further north taking some dirt tracks along the way, but no luck finding anymore horses, so after a while we gave up and headed back.  We did see two more horses, but like the first one, they were so far away the pictures we took were not very good. 

The start of Dobie Meadows Road.  If we would have noticed the sign, our day would have turned out different - it says "Motorized vehicles use allowed on designated routes only".  Next time we'll know better.

That little dark spot just below the hill in the center of the picture is our first mustang sighting.

We saw two more wild horses off in the distant, but even a long telephoto lens didn't bring them very close.

We were pretty far in and the road started to head up into the hills, so we decided it was time to give up and head back.

As we got back to Highway 120 we noticed another 4Runner coming up behind us so Val waited as she wanted to ask the driver if he had seen any horses.  He told us there was a herd of about a hundred a little east of where we were and started telling us how to find them, but at one point he said, “why don’t I just lead you there”, what a nice guy.

We were about to turn back onto Highway 120 when Val noticed another 4Runner coming up behind us.  Val waited to talked to him and that completely changed our day.

We followed him back on Dobie Meadows Road the same way we had been in but then turned off on a small track we hadn’t even noticed.  After driving a little further we could see the herd, and then to our surprise he led us off the road and overland leading us across a small stream and through the brush.  He led us right up into the herd, but our presence didn’t seem to bother the horses at all.  We did have to be careful though, as these were wild horses and they could turn aggressive if provoked.

Our new friend checked to make sure we could find our way back and we said it wouldn’t be a problem, so he left us and started back.  Once again, I have to say, what a nice guy to go to all the trouble of leading us out there. 

This could have been a great photo, but unfortunately when shooting wildlife you can't predict what's going to happen, so you just quickly try to get the picture and sometimes, as is the case here, the camera doesn't lock in focus and you have a blurred photo, like this one.  I've included it because these two horses weren't done here.

There is definitely a power struggle going on here and the brown horse is not giving up.

These wild horses have a tough life, you can see the ribs on this one.  All of the horses looked pretty rough, and they were losing there winter coat.

We spent a long time viewing and photographing the herd, but finally it was time for us to head back.  There were a lot of colts that were probably only 3 or 4 weeks old and when we got back to the car, we found a mother and her colt close to the car.  The mother ignored us, but the colt just kept staring and edging closer, he (or she) was very curious.  When the mother thought he was getting too close, she would walk over and nudge him back, but soon he was coming over again.

This colt was only three or four weeks old and it was very, very curious about our vehicle, just stared and stared.

Every time it started walking closer the mother would nudge it away.  When we got back in the car, they both came over and sniffed around it.

After we both got back in the car both the colt and the mother came right up to the car and started sniffing around, I’m not sure what they thought they were finding, but it was interesting to watch.

Getting back wasn’t as easy as we thought, because we were just going overland, there was no road.  Luckily, I had my GPS in breadcrumb mode, and we were able to return the way we had come.  Our only problem was finding the stream crossing as our new friend had warned us there were some really soft, muddy spots that even 4-wheel drive wouldn’t help you get through.  We finally found the spot and crossed the stream and found the dirt track we had come in on.

As we drove back toward Dobie Meadows Road, we were surprised to find the herd we had been watching had drifted west and were blocking the road.  Another car was coming from the other direction and was on the other side of the herd.  We took some more pictures and edged our way forward.  The horse didn’t seem to mind our presence and as we got closer to them, they just took a step or two off the road and continued their grazing.

We felt sorry for this old horse, it was standing off by itself and looked like it had led a pretty hard life and was covered with scars.

We finally made our way back to Highway 120 and continued our drive west to 395.  After being initially disappointed and thought we wouldn't find the horses, we had a great time and exceeded our expectations.  On the way out, we talked a bit with the people in the car we passed, and they said they come out here pretty often and it was very rare to see so many of the wild mustangs that we were seeing today.  We felt very lucky.

The dashed line is a representation where the wild horses were, but is not the actual route.

 

We have a SPOT Satellite Messenger for emergencies when we are in remote areas where there is no cell phone service, and you can also use it to track your route.  It only take a position reading every five minutes, but this is our actual positions where we were looking for the wild mustangs.  The dots to the left that are spaced pretty far apart is the first part of our search and the tighter groupings in the middle are where we actually found the herd.  Mono Mills Road is Highway 120, the paved, main road through the area.

Meanwhile the weather had deteriorated, and the temperature dropped into the thirties, and it actually started to snow lightly.  As we gained altitude, the snow became heavier and actually started to stick to the ground.  We had originally planned to stop at Mono Lake and have our lunch, but it was much too cold and wet, so we decided to save our lunch for tomorrow and find a place to eat in Lee Vining.

The weather got worse as we got back on 120 and headed west to Lee Vining.

We started getting into some light snow flurries.

Mono Lake

Blue sky at the western end of Mono Lake, but that didn't last as it started snowing again while we ate lunch in Lee Vining.

While we were eating it started snowing again and we were glad to be warm and dry inside.  Our destination for tonight is Fallon, Nevada and we had a two-hour drive ahead of us so we hit the road again.  We headed east on Highway 167 on the north side of Mono Lake until we got into Nevada where we headed north to Fallon on US 95.  There was no more snow, but we did have some rain, but otherwise it was an uneventful drive.  We got into Fallon around five, tired but happy.

Our search for wild mustangs had exceeded even our most hopeful expectations, it had been a great day.  Tomorrow we’ll be looking for ghost towns in Central Nevada, hopefully the weather will improve.