Searching for the
Kiger Mustangsby Deon Reynolds
There are few roads to view Kiger Gorge. The commonly used Steens Mountain loop road is a spectacular road that takes the traveler to just shy of 10,000 feet, the summit of Steens Mountain. It is just north of the summit you can look down the glacially carved valley known as Kiger Gorge.
The road pictured, is a lesser traveled road accessed from the small community of Diamond, Oregon just north of the Steens. This is the home of the Kiger Mustang. It is widely thought that the Kiger Mustang herd is the most representative of Spanish Mustangs in the wild today.
We spent a week camping here, during that time we saw plenty of wildlife, but not a single mustang. A couple of groups of wildlife watchers came through looking for the mustangs, but no luck. Very early in the morning on our way home, bouncing our way to Diamond where the pavement starts again, we spotted a heard of wild horses running parallel to us on the ridge. What an incredible sight: a very large white stallion with tail and mane to the ground, followed by more than a dozen mares, and colts. I did not take a single photo. I did not even think about it. It was just so amazing to see those magnificent creatures, in such a fabulous landscape, a picture etched in my head forever.
I shoot these black and white panoramas with a disposable Kodak panorama camera. The first thing I do is tear off the cardboard cover, pry open the camera, and pull out the color print film. Using a fine file I distort the frame inside. Then I load it with Tri-X black and white film. Some of my disposables have had over a hundred rolls of film through them.
Click here to learn more about Deon's book of photography, Nevada,
with essays by Jon Christensen.