My first memory of White Mountain is.... the day we did not go out to see the horses!

We had lived in Wyoming for just about six months, we were on a road trip for my birthday (what can I say I don't party like normal people), and we had stopped in Rock Springs for breakfast.... this was in early May 2011 after a fairly snowy winter, and we had not yet learned that in Wyoming spring is not like much anywhere else!

Sitting in the IHOP we looked through the tourist brochures that are always in any Wyoming restaurant, and found one that showed the Wild Horse Loop just a little ways north of Rock Springs, the brochure said that you could drive along the main gravel road from one end to the other and come out along the freeway, where we could conveniently continue on our planned trip - sounds nice, right!

I was a little nervous as there was still quite a bit of snow, and we were driving a Ford Taurus, so I asked one of the staff at IHOP, did he think we could make it up the road? Well, when he found out what we were driving he nearly laughed out loud before putting on his polite 'dealing with a tourist' face, and then warned us that absolutely not, we would not make it across this time of year in a car!!

So that was the day we did not see the White Mountain wild horses.... it was the trip I did see my first Wyoming wild horses - but that is another story.

White Mountain HMA, according to current BLM published information is over 393,000 acres comprised of 240,000 BLM acres and other privately own land.

Much of the White Mountain HMA sits in what is commonly called a checker-board area, which means that literally the land is a checkerboard mix of federal public lands and privately owned lands - and in this area the lands are mostly owned by ranchers that are members of the Rock Springs Grazing Association.

The current BLM assigned AML [Appropriate Management Level] for White Mountain is 205 to 300 wild horses.

BLM information pages give us great information and helps you to plan a visit... but mostly they are simple dry facts that fail to give you a feel for the soul of a place.

White Mountain is a place that I have not visited nearly as much as I wish - it has always been a four plus hour drive from anywhere that I lived in WY, it is often snowy six months of the year in Wyoming, the desert is where my soul truly craves to be, and I have yet to win that lottery ticket that would let me quit my job and be a full-time traveling wild horse photographer and advocate.... so my visits to White Mountain wild horses and their land have been few and far between.

But even still it has been a sacred place to me..... the vistas on White Mountain are beautiful and unique, if you happen to be there at sunset as the Wind River Mountains fill the horizon and wild horses wander through the sage - well - it is just one of the most spectacular experiences!

One of my first memories of White Mountain was one of those stunning sunsets.... a snowy afternoon (after I got a 4x4 rig for those sometimes muddy trails!), wandering along the dirt roads and 2-tracks, wild horses near those same roads, and this incredible golden light that surrounded us in gold fire!

Another day wandering about and I remember sitting in the quiet evening, birds flitting on the sage, horses in the distance, as the sun sank down into the skyline, the majestic Wind River mountains rising to meet the sky, an incredible lavender evening light settling in around us - pure magic.

The first roundup and removal I observed was in 2013 of Salt Wells Creek - which is not far away, and when I could no longer breathe from watching wild horses go into a trap, White Mountain is where I ran away to.

And after I stood witness for White Mountain wild horses being removed in 2022, it was a White Mountain mare that offered me comfort, still wild and free herself that day, she gave me strength and healing in a way that only a wild horse knows.

White Mountain horses have greeted me along their dirt roads, 2-tracks, and the highways that pass by along their fence-line, we did not see each other often, but they became a part of my life in a way that is permanent.

White Mountain wild horses see tourists driving across their land in summers, they see locals out wandering the hills looking to get out of town for the day, they see cows and their ranchers, they see hunters, and they see us driving by on the highway.

They are (mostly) really patient with our presence, often allowing us to hang out in the same area as them, although as is true of most wild horses, there are other days they just won't have it and all we see is their tail flowing in the wind as they gallop across their hills to places we humans cannot easily follow.

Sooo... what to know when visiting White Mountain.... the one thing that is always true of any wild horse land in WY - don't go when it is muddy!

I have not had this happen to myself but have heard - after the fact - funny stories from others of sliding down slimy muddy White Mountain roads while praying their car did not slide the wrong way into the deep ditch! They did make it out okay....

Take your time exploring... if all you have is a car, in summer the main road is good enough to travel across, just drive it nice and slow, take time to stop and walk about the sage and enjoy the vistas of high desert and colorful badlands, and bring binoculars to look for wild horses and observe the other wild things of this land.

The easiest entrance (that I have found) to start your adventure is by going north on Hwy 191 from Rock Springs, about 20 mins from Rock Springs and just as the highway begins to climb the mountain, on your left is a dirt road, 14 Mile Rd - that as I recall has a sign telling you it is the Wild Horse Loop!

From there it is up to you what adventures you may find.... if you are wanting to be safer (and there is not a single thing wrong with being safe!), just stay on the well-used gravel road, you can follow it out to Green River or you can go back down to Rock Springs - either way takes you back to I-80.

If you have a more adventuresome rig and spirit, and possibility of getting a little lost does not bother you, there are many 2-tracks and roads that meander across those 393,000 acres! I do recommend having a map and GPS to track your travels!

If you are not up for dirt road travel or you are only there when it is muddy, drive the highway... take Hwy 191 north from Rock Springs towards Farson - horses can be along the west side of this highway until you are about to Eden.

And if you make it to Farson and want to drive a little bit further, hang a left onto Hwy 28, White Mountain HMA is on the south side of that highway, and although I have only traveled that way a couple of times I have seen horses through there.

A little bonus is that on the north side of that same highway is the Little Colorado HMA - those horses are kinda hard to find, I have yet to meet anyone that says they are easy, but they are there and once in a great while you might see them from the highway.

Along the way you will enjoy pretty vistas and some old west history as the Oregon Trail came through here ..... if you are only able to take a day along the highway it will still be a good day.

At this moment White Mountain is targeted for complete removal and zeroing out of all wild horses from this land.... in the most recent RMP [Resource Management Plan] published by BLM they allowed for White Mountain to remain as an HMA, while zeroing out and removing all wild horses from the Great Divide Basin and Salt Wells Creek HMAs, but then the Rock Springs Grazing Association [RSGA] withdrew their consent for wild horses to be able to wander across the checkerboarded portion of White Mountain, and it is my understanding that at this time the BLM Rock Springs office is revising the RMP and plan to re-publish it with the intention of zeroing out and removing from HMA status White Mountain wild horses.

In 2024 a roundup and removal of 586 wild horses was completed in White Mountain, using multiple trap sites and scouring areas for every last possible horse - many (myself included) believe it was a pre-cursor to the expected zeroing out that is planned for these horses. Those who know this land and its horses intimately, having documented them for generations and for well over a decade, believe that much of the herd was decimated, with entire known bloodlines completely removed from the wild, and with very few wild horses now found wandering the 393,000 acres.

It is unknown what the future holds for White Mountain wild horses today... certainly I hope that we do not lose yet another HMA in Wyoming, but it is possible we will, despite this being a known and advertised tourist attraction for Wyoming.

So I encourage you to take time to visit this place soon.... while you may still find a wild horse galloping across that sage scattered skyline on a summer day, as the sun sinks into the skyline and the quiet of evening allows you to feel as if you have stepped into another time, a time where all things were wild and good.