Lost Creek HMA borders the western edge of Stewart Creek, and as we already drove a few miles through it on our Stewart Creek adventure, it seems only right to travel here next....

Lost Creek is one of my favorite places - and even as I type this I realize I kinda maybe am guilty of saying that about nearly every place - maybe it is just that each HMA is unique and the wild horses are unique in their own particular way, having learned to survive and thrive in the ways needed specifically to the land they call home.

So - let us now go explore Lost Creek HMA!

Lost Creek is an expansive HMA with 251,000+ acres of big open grassy plains, seasonal lakes, and a creek with natural springs that has water even in the heat of summer.

As the area often being the mildest in winter it is wintering grounds to wild horses as well as elk and pronghorn - having witnessed this migration for a few years now I can tell you it is one of the most spectacular things to observe, and one of the reasons I love visiting this area in fall!

It is bordered by the three HMAs of Stewart Creek, Great Divide Basin (this HMA may soon be gone depending on a court ruling), and Antelope Hills - as well as the Herd Area known as Arapaho Creek.

The wild horses here are incredibly beautiful.... because of its location and the winter migrations, Lost Creek is a bit of a melting pot, influenced by the three surrounding HMAs, as well as the horses of Lost Creek migrating in and out of the HMA and leaving their influence on the surrounding wild horse lands.

Lost Creek HMA is a little bit longer drive to access as it is further into the desert than the two previous HMAs of Green Mountain and Stewart Creek - but mostly it is pretty easily accessed and explored with several well-used dirt roads.

You can drive into Lost Creek from the east, south, or north and then explore - if you want to access it from the west you have to come in through Great Divide Basin, and while that is absolutely doable, it is a longer and not always easy trek!

Getting to the east side of Lost Creek is basically repeating how we began our journey into Stewart Creek... if you are leaving from Rawlins the easiest way into Lost Creek is to take Hwy 287 north for about 15mins until you reach the bottom of Willow Hill and turn left onto Min X road..... remember to take it slow through the road damage!

After about 15 more miles and yet another of several cattle-guards you cross into Stewart Creek - make sure to enjoy time with any wild horses that you may encounter along the way here.... and once you have crossed the next cattle-guard you know you have found today's destination of Lost Creek!

Once you cross that cattle-guard Lost Creek HMA is on both sides of Min X road, with plenty of 2-tracks that can be taken to explore along the low hills and sage scattered washes, sometimes there might be some ruts or washouts, but generally the 2-tracks out here are in pretty good shape and easily traversed - the exception being when it is muddy, always be careful of mud!

You will soon reach the intersection of Min X, Sooner Rd, and Riner Rd - at this intersection you are surrounded by Lost Creek and can go in any direction to find adventures in this wild horse land!

Also at this intersection you will see a very small log cabin, an old falling down corral, and an ancient metal container - someone told me that this was a sheep camp many years ago, it is on BLM land and you can check it out if you like... cows often use it as a shady hideout on hot summer days so be prepared for cow-pies! And I have seen raptors occasionally nest here so be aware and if there is a nest please try not to do anything that would disrupt the nest or any fledglings.

If you turn north on Sooner Rd you can follow the road for a few miles through Lost Creek until you reach a cattle-guard that brings you back into Stewart Creek.

To explore more of Lost Creek you can grab one of the many 2-tracks leaving the main road.... following those 2-tracks can take you across to the northern side of the HMA, which borders the road running into the Lost Creek uranium mine, there is a fence along the eastern and northern edges that makes it easy for you to know when you have found the border of the HMA.

If you decide at the intersection to turn south onto Riner Rd it is a bit less used but still easy to travel... and has (of course) more 2-tracks to explore, by now you know there are always more 2-tracks to find yet more adventure!

As you travel south along Riner Road you will soon find signs for a wildlife habitat area - this is outside of HMA lines but horses do find there way down here sometimes.

It has been a few years since I have been all the way down this road and followed the loop through, but somewhere along the way you will find an intersection and you will want to choose the road that is going west and a bit north in direction, there are a few tempting 2-tracks but the most well-used road is fairly easy to follow, and it will bring you back up to Min X road on the west side of the Rio Tinto mine.

Now, if you just want to stay on the main road of Min X you are gonna just keep going straight at the intersection - Min X road will take you past an old uranium mine and to the next intersection of Crooks Gap/Wamsutter Road.

The mine you are passing has a sign identifying it as Rio Tinto, it is an old uranium pit mine that a few years ago reclamation work was started to repair the damage done from mining, but it was recently sold to other uranium developers, so it is unclear now what will happen with the the development of new uranium mining in this area.

After you pass the mine and have driven a 2-track or two you will have found the Min X and Wamsutter/Crooks Gap intersection.

Turning to the south you have a few miles more of Lost Creek HMA, you will know you are leaving the HMA when you reach a cattle-guard, as you drive further south you will see an oil field, and if you keep driving you will eventually find I80 and the small town of Wamsutter - we will come back to this road in a bit.

If you follow the 2-track going west from the intersection, that will take you out into sagebrush filled flats, there is a small seasonal lake out there - but be cautious - there are odd spots that hold water and can be very soft and get you stuck in a hurry!

If you turn north heading towards Jeffrey City you will have miles of road to drive, for a while your drive is though Lost Creek until you reach the cattle-guard and fence line that is the border of Lost Creek HMA and Arapaho Creek HA - most easily recognized because you will see the signs for the Lost Creek uranium mine, this is the western end of the mining road that you saw while exploring Stewart Creek along Sooner Rd.

You can also find your way into Lost Creek from Wamsutter off of I80 - this particular way can be a little bit confusing at first, it is an oilfield road with a lot of well-used roads that are tempting.... so you have to kind of decipher which roads to follow, but if you just stay in a mostly northern direction, you will find your way!

It may seem like a long way into the HMA but is actually only about 22 miles, you do have to be a little cautious as it is a major haul road with semi and other work truck traffic, sometimes it is a little bit rough so be aware, but it is maintained because of the energy workers traveling it daily.

Wamsutter is also a great place to fuel up your rig and get some road trip supplies as there is a wonderfully big travel plaza with all the necessities!

As you travel north on this road, after you have passed most of the oil and gas field things, and it begins to get that lonely desert feeling but before you are in the HMA, you may see a wild horse... they are not (technically speaking) supposed to be so far south, but it happens, especially in winters when the cattle guards are packed with snow and easy to cross, or a fence is so drifted with snow they walk right over it.

Lost Creek is so oddly shaped that anyone looking at the map right now is thinking that really, I just told you two different ways to access basically the same area... and you are not wrong - and next up is going to be a 3rd way in to the same area.

Really this is only because Lost Creek is so oddly shaped that it makes it difficult to break it out in the same way I have done for previous HMAs, and these first few roads are simply the easiest and most traveled ways in to the better known part of Lost Creek, there is much more of this HMA to visit that we are going to explore - I promise!

To access Lost Creek from the north you are going turn onto the Crooks Gap Road from Hwy 287 at Jeffrey City, the tiny mining and rancher town that we visited in the Green Mountain adventures. This is a bit longer drive to reach Lost Creek as you drive past the western edge of Green Mountain HMA and through Arapaho Creek HA - as always - remember to stop and enjoy the company of wild horses you meet along the way!

You are going to drive about 27 miles down the Crooks Gap/Wamsutter Rd until you reach the fence-line and cattle-guard marking that you have reached the northern border of Lost Creek - you will know it also by the Lost Creek uranium mine sign on the road that goes east on the north side of the fence.

You want to cross the cattle guard and into the wild horse lands of Lost Creek... if you came in from the south or east side you may have already traveled this part of the HMA, and by now you know it feels fairly desolate, this stretch in winter can be sometimes impassible, depending on how snowy the winter is and if the road is kept plowed for the mine workers.

The fence line shows you the northern border along the main road, there are many 2-tracks that you can explore, and enjoy some very quiet solitary wild time in the desert.

I have not talked much about the horses.... mostly because I am focused on helping you know how to go where - but where are the horses though?!?

As always in wild horse territory, wild horses can be found in any random place at any random time - they range as they need according to the season and in the life of surviving and thriving, they move as the winds whisper to them of what adventures they dream of - and wild horses have their own secret places that I have learned to not seek out because - well - we all need secret places that are ours only!

In the areas we have driven on this adventure so far you will find lovely bays and some dappled greys, there are very pretty pintos too, and there is the stunning and famous wild stallion Looking Glass - he likes to wander!

As you may remember I first met him as a young bachelor in Stewart Creek HMA, and sometimes he can be found along the borders of Lost Creek and Stewart Creek, other times he may be seen wandering south of Min X or north of the Rio Tinto Mine, and sometimes he goes to the west of Crooks Gap road - it all depends on the season and if he has a family or is fighting for a family.... remember he is a wanderer and just because someone saw him yesterday in one place does not mean he will be there today, when we go to wild horse lands it is never a guarantee that we see them.

I always go with the hope of seeing them, especially the ones that I know best and love most, but I also have learned to go with the intention of learning whatever it is the horses and the land need me to see and understand.

Okay, back to the business of exploring, we are going to back-track a little bit up the Crooks Gap/Wamsutter road.... you may have noticed a really nice dirt road going west, it is almost 4 miles back up the road from the Lost Creek border we just drove to - it is known as Osborne Road, and there is currently a BLM sign that is laying at the intersection - knocked down by who-knows-what, you are going to turn onto that road and head west to access the western part of Lost Creek!

While driving this new road you are in Arapaho Creek HA - I am sorry to say this is one of the areas that was decimated by the 2020 roundup and removal, this is the land of Blue Zeus and much of the family of Romeo... I spent many days here with them and many other wild horses that are forever a part of me.

The winter of 2022/23 further killed several of the wild horses that had begun to reclaim this area, for now there are a few bachelors that can be seen passing through, and a favorite family that I will have to do a blog for another day, as the stallion has chosen to share with me some of his wild secrets.

After driving a few miles along Osborne road you will find yourself at the actual creek of Lost Creek - which runs along several miles and has some nice natural springs along the way, providing a wonderful water source for wild horses and the other wild things of the desert.

You are still in Arapaho Creek HA at this moment and at a crossroads that allows you to continue exploring Arapaho Creek HA, jumping into Antelope Hills HMA a few miles away, or driving a few miles into Lost Creek HMA.

At this point we have two different directions that will take us back to Lost Creek, we are going to go south first... you are going to go back to that road [BLM 3217] you just passed right before the creek, it goes south from Osborne Rd and you want to follow it for a few more miles through Arapaho Creek until you find a cattle-guard and fence-line that is the border of Lost Creek, and now we are back on track for our adventure today!

This road will drop you through miles of Lost Creek HMA, for a while it sort of follows the creek, and there are some really good 2-tracks to take off on and explore, this part of Lost Creek HMA is a little more interesting with the creek running through it and it is a little bit hillier than the more eastern end of the HMA.

Along the way you will see a solar well near the road - they do not always have the well on, and I could not tell you why or why not, but when it is on their is a really gorgeous group of wild horses that like this water hole.

This group of wild horses is also just a little bit extra wild... one of the things you will learn is the horses of eastern Lost Creek are pretty laid back and don't care too much about you being there, but the western herd - well - there are days that if I slow down and think about stopping to see them they give me a big hell-to-the-no look and are gone with the winds!

Some days they have allowed me to get a few flashy videos and images... it really is all about their mood of the day and the weather - and I love their extra wildness because to me this unruly wildness is the best part of them and their land.

As you continue driving down the main road, somewhere along the way is another road heading west that should say something about Eagles Nest - I cannot find the exact spot on a map to give you a screenshot of the turn, but it is a pretty well used road that you can easily follow to go further west into Lost Creek HMA, it will take you across the creek and into what begins to feel like much more remote lands.... and eventually after several miles and some crossing back and forth of roads you could enter into the Great Divide Basin HMA.

I have seen a few horses in the more remote western part of Lost Creek HMA, but they are rare - maybe just hiding is easier in the bigger hills, but I have seen more elk than horses there really.

You can also just keep trekking down the main road until it loops you back to the Wamsutter/Crooks Gap road, and then take one of the routes back out to a highway, if you need to return to the world of humans and civilization.

But we are not done yet exploring.... lets go back to Osborne Rd where you find the creek and the old cabin - a fun thing to know - there is a Raven family that nests every year in the cabin, so if you want to check it out please look out for them and if they have fledglings in the nest, please leave them in peace to finish raising their family!

So, we are now driving along Osborne Rd passing over the creek and by the old cabin heading west.... we are in Arapaho Creek HA here but are going to the far northwestern corner of Lost Creek HMA!

It is a short jaunt past the cabin and you will see a sign for Rocky Crossing pointing west - take that left and follow the road until you find a cattle-guard and fence-line, once you cross that cattle guard you have reached one of my favorite places!

Rocky Crossing road is the border between two HMAs.

On the north side of the road is Antelope Hills HMA and on the south side of the road is Lost Creek HMA - no fences to separate them, the only boundary is created by man on paper, and the horses mix and mingle here the most in the migration months of fall and spring - there is nothing so spectacular as seeing wild horses meandering around with small herds of elk and a couple thousand Pronghorn!

It is one of the weird things that I had driven this road for several years and for a long time would never see more than one or two very distant horses.... something happened that changed their habits following the 2020 roundup though and they have been gathering here to mingle for the last few years.

This place is sacred to me, and a part of me wishes I could keep it to myself, but reality is there are many people who travel this road, some for hunting, some for casual day-trips, and of course BLM staff and ranchers.

I hope that when you come here you are one who stops and walks the land and allows the spirit of the wind to touch your soul.... capturing images of wild horses is often the main goal for many, but if that is all you focus on, you will miss the true soul and the secrets this place has to share with those who have a willing heart.

And still we have not seen all of Lost Creek!

Looking at a map it becomes a bit of a puzzle how to visit much of the western portion of the HMA.... I might have maybe been a little bit lost once or twice exploring the western end of Lost Creek because, fun fact, the maps are not always correct about where the roads go through or where they end!

There has been a lot of trial and error on my part in exploring the western side!

When you are traveling along Rocky Crossing road there are a number of 2-tracks you can take (remember to go south to stay in Lost Creek HMA) to explore in Lost Creek, and if you make it to the end of Rocky Crossing you will turn south on Red Creek road to experience the very western edge of the HMA.

I want to add a caution here that if it is at all wet, DO NOT go past the first couple of miles on Rocky Crossing road.... the mud to the west is just real special and if you are alone and inexperienced it is going to leave you stranded, even experienced 4x4 peeps tend to leave this one alone when it is real wet, I absolutely never go when it is a little bit muddy or if there are storm clouds on the horizon.

If you keep traveling south you are going to see other roads, to stay in the HMA you will mostly want the ones heading east back towards the main roads.

There is a part of the HMA that juts out to the west a bit, easiest way I know to go through there is down Tipton-North road, along that road in that western edge you will cross through a working ranch that sits in Lost Creek HMA and is within less than 3 miles of the border to Great Divide Basin HMA, the owner of the ranch also has holdings in the energy business, and you will see a lake that is a part of the privately owned ranch with oil rigs and oil equipment scattered around.

It is a public road that passes through what is their front yard, and so feels super awkward as you drive through, but the public are allowed to drive through in order to get from one section of public lands to the other side - and of course we want to respect private property so as to not in any way cause that access to shut down.

I have not personally met or interacted in any way with the people that live and work here, I also cannot imagine living out here, it is very remote and the winters I expect are harsh.... the solitary life is appealing, but you would really need to know how to survive completely on your own in this place!

As you continue down Tipton-North road you will encounter Road 20 that travels east to west, you are in Lost Creek HMA still, if you turn west and go a few miles you will hit the end of Lost Creek HMA at a cattle-guard - beyond that cattle guard is an entirely different adventure!!

Turning east onto Road 20 will take you through a few miles of Lost Creek HMA before it drops you into an oilfield - there are any number of roads out here you can take to get out of the desert, hopefully you have with you a Wyoming Gazetteer and a GPS that will help you navigate, many of the roads are signed and that will help you figure out in which direction you want to go.

The best advice I can offer for the western side is that you are going to need time and patience to explore this part of the HMA, and not care too much if you don't see any wild horses, you may see them, but it is a pretty good chance you may not see any.

I have spent a lot of time taking random roads and 2-tracks only to have to back-track and try a new way, or just give up on trying to get to a particular place, it is not a super well travelled area so some of the 2-tracks just disappear after a few miles, snow run-off and summer storms have also washed out other roads that used to be good - it is an ever changing landscape with those things and we take a chance anytime we venture out to explore it.

After years trekking across this place called Lost Creek HMA the western area has become a favored area for me, I love the loneliness of it and if I see only one or two wild horses, those horses have magic and know things we do not yet know - but - maybe we need to know.....

My journey began in innocent adventure, but with time came knowledge and understanding, that all things are connected in the desert, that imaginary lines drawn by man of wild horse HMAs mean nothing to the horses, and in reality some of these imaginary lines could destroy the future of wild horses living in their wild lands.

Years of wandering random lonely roads has allowed me to observe wild horses I know wandering miles from where I had seen them previously.... why?

There are ever so many reasons why - because of necessity for survival, because they are restless and like to, and other reasons I may only guess at - the point is they wander and they will wander across a few miles or across thousands of acres.

And that wandering happens frequently between Lost Creek HMA, Antelope Hills HMA, and Great Divide Basin HMA - these three areas border each other and the wild horses of all three areas crisscross back and forth as they like, maybe not always in large herds, but most certainly in family bands and lone bachelors, and it is those that wander across the land without regard to the imaginary lines, that make the planned zeroing out of Great Divide Basin dangerous for the rest of the Red Desert Complex wild horses - especially the Lost Creek HMA wild horses.

One of the reasons I agreed to join the lawsuit filed by Return to Freedom is that I feel very strongly if we lose Great Divide Basin to the zero out plan, we will also see the slow loss of most - or all - of the HMAs in the Red Desert Complex.

For me it is never just one area we are fighting for.... the wild horses and their wild lands have shown me that all is connected, and if we allow harm to one place, we are inviting harm to another. My wandering across desolate lonely places has taught me this.... the wild horses in these lonely places already know what is threatened and they are waiting for humans to understand and help them protect what is sacred.

And now we have reached the end of our adventures in Lost Creek HMA - thank you for taking it with me, and I hope that soon you are out here finding your own adventure in this wild land and with the crazy beautiful wild horses!