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The Local

Wildlife Tooele County

A wild herd on the Pony Express corridor, and how to watch it right

The Onaqui wild horses.

A few hundred free roaming horses live in the West Desert southwest of Tooele, and because they graze within sight of the old Pony Express Road they are one of the easiest wild herds in the country to reach. The one thing most visitors get wrong is expecting a sure thing. The horses move, the desert is huge, and the rule that protects both you and them is simple: keep your distance.

On this page The short answer Where to look When to go Watching them right The herd FAQ
By Scott Buehler, Moving Utah Updated August 2026

The short answer

Drive out to the Pony Express Road near Simpson Springs, go early in the morning or in the last hour of light, and watch from the road or from a respectful distance off it. The horses are free and there is no gate or fee, but this is open desert with no services, so it is a half day trip from town with a full tank and water. Bring a long lens or binoculars, keep at least 100 feet back, and take any sighting as a gift rather than a guarantee. The drive itself, the restored station, and the campground are covered on the Pony Express Trail page; this one is about the horses.

Where The Pony Express Road near Simpson Springs, in the West Desert of Tooele County
From Tooele Roughly an hour and a half out through Rush Valley, the last stretch on gravel
Season Year round; spring for foals and green, spring and fall mornings the easiest
Cost Free; open BLM land with no gate, ticket, or fee
Time needed A half day from Tooele, most of it driving; longer if you camp at Simpson Springs

Keep at least 100 feet back, and never approach or feed the horses. The BLM asks every visitor to stay 100 feet away from the Onaqui horses and to never approach, chase, or feed them. They are wild animals that can kick and bolt, and crowding a band changes how it behaves and can put the next person and the horses at risk. Watch from the road or from well back, use a long lens, and let the horses decide how close the day gets.

What to know before you go

  • No services once you leave the highway. Fill the tank in Tooele or Rush Valley and carry water, a spare, and a charged phone.
  • The last stretch is graded gravel. A careful car handles it in dry weather; avoid it when it is wet and the surface turns to mud.
  • There is no guarantee. The horses roam a huge area and some trips come up empty, so give yourself time and drive the corridor slowly.
  • Bring a long lens or binoculars. That is how you get a close look without crowding the band or breaking the 100 foot rule.
  • Cell signal fades fast out here. Download a map before you leave town and tell someone your plan.
  • Free camping is at the BLM campground at Simpson Springs if you want a dawn start; the details are on the Pony Express Trail page.

Where the viewing actually happens

Two stretches of road, one famous herd.

The Onaqui horses live along the western foot of the Onaqui Mountains, and the reason they are so easy to see is that they range right up to the Pony Express Road that crosses the desert here. You do not hike to them. You drive slowly and scan, and on a good day a band is grazing a few hundred feet off the gravel.

The main viewing is along the Pony Express Road near Simpson Springs and out toward the Old River Bed, the broad flat where a vanished Ice Age river once ran. This is where most of the famous photographs are made, because the horses cross the open ground in good light with the mountains behind them. A second, smaller band ranges the graded road that runs south from Dugway down to the Pony Express junction, so if the Simpson Springs stretch is quiet it is worth working the north end too.

Getting out here is half the day. The route runs west and south from Tooele through Rush Valley and onto the byway, mostly paved and then graded gravel, roughly an hour and a half of driving with no services along the way. The drive itself, the restored Simpson Springs station, the free campground, and the geode beds farther on all live on the Pony Express Trail page, so plan the road there and use this page for the horses.

The details

WhereThe Pony Express Road near Simpson Springs, and the road south from Dugway
From TooeleRoughly an hour and a half, the last stretch on graded gravel
SeasonYear round, weather permitting; spring and fall are the easy windows
CostFree, open BLM land
Time neededA half day at least; longer if you camp for a dawn start

Before you go

  • Work both stretches. If the Simpson Springs corridor is empty, drive the north end near Dugway before you give up.
  • Drive at a scanning pace. The horses blend into the sage at a distance, so slow down and look well off the road.
  • Pull fully off the road to watch, and do not block the byway for the next vehicle or for a rancher moving cattle.
  • The Old River Bed and the open flats are the classic backdrop; plan the light for the morning or the evening.

The two viewing areas

Simpson Springs, or the north end.

Two bands, two stretches of road. Drive times are estimates from Tooele in ordinary conditions, not published figures, and both roads are graded gravel best driven dry.

Viewing area Where From Tooele Best for Road
Near Simpson SpringsPony Express Road by the station and the Old River BedAbout an hour and a halfThe main band and the classic open desert photosGraded gravel, dry weather
The north endThe road running south from Dugway to the Pony Express junctionAbout an hour and a halfA second, smaller band and fewer peopleGraded gravel, dry weather

Start at Simpson Springs

The restored station and the campground make this the natural base. Most sightings and nearly all the well known photographs come from the flats around here, so give this stretch your first and best light.

Then try the north end

If the corridor is quiet, the road south from Dugway holds a second band and usually fewer vehicles. It is the fallback that turns an empty morning into a sighting more often than people expect.

Either way, go dry

Both roads are graded gravel that turn to slick mud after rain or snowmelt. Check the forecast, and if a storm has just been through, save the trip for a dry day rather than risking a long tow.

When to go

Early light, and the right season.

Time of day matters more than anything else. Early morning and the last hour before sunset are the reliable windows, when the horses are up and moving and grazing and the low light is soft on the desert. In the middle of the day the bands tend to rest, often bunched in whatever shade or high ground they can find, and the light goes flat and harsh, which is the worst of both worlds for watching and for photographs.

Season shapes the trip too. Spring is the famous stretch, with new foals on the ground and a brief green across the desert, and it is when most of the photographers come. The horses range here year round, though, so a fall morning can be just as good and far quieter. Summer brings real heat and the horses go still through the middle of the day, and winter can leave the gravel snowed or muddy and the drive genuinely risky, so a spring or fall morning is the sweet spot for a first visit.

Whenever you come, build in time. The horses cover a lot of country, and part of the deal out here is that you scan, you wait, and you drive to the next rise. That patience is the difference between a quick loop that finds nothing and a morning that ends with a band crossing the flat in front of you.

Watching them right

Distance is the whole ethic.

The single rule that matters is distance. The BLM asks every visitor to stay at least 100 feet back from the Onaqui horses and to never approach, chase, or feed them. These are wild animals, not tame ones, and a horse that feels cornered can kick, bite, or bolt through a group of people in a second. The reason they are so approachable is exactly why the distance rule exists: they tolerate people, and it is on us not to abuse that.

Feeding is the worst thing you can do, even with good intentions. Human food harms them, and a fed horse learns to crowd cars and people, which is how wild horses end up injured or removed. Let them graze on what the desert gives them. If a band drifts toward you, back away and give them the room rather than holding your ground for a closer frame.

The rest is common courtesy that keeps the place working. Pull fully off the road so you do not block the byway. Keep dogs leashed and in the vehicle. Do not drive across the desert to get closer, both because it is hard on the land and because it scatters the band. Watched from a respectful distance, the horses stay calm and the next person down the road gets the same view you did.

Photography

A long lens does the walking for you.

The photographs that made this herd famous are made from a distance with a long lens, not by getting close. A telephoto in the range of 200mm and up lets you fill the frame while you stay well back, which is both the ethical way and, honestly, the way the best light and the cleanest backgrounds happen. Binoculars do the same job for the eye if you are not carrying a camera.

The desert itself is the gift here. Early and late, the sun rakes across the flats and the sage and lights up dust and manes, and the Onaqui and Simpson mountains give the horses a real backdrop instead of a fence. Watch for the mirage that shimmers off the ground on a warm day, and for the way a band strung out across the Old River Bed reads as a single long line in the frame.

Two practical notes. Steady yourself on the vehicle or a beanbag rather than chasing sharpness at a long focal length by hand, and keep the engine and the doors quiet, because sound carries across open ground and a startled band is gone. The best frames come to the patient watcher who lets the horses do what they were going to do anyway.

The herd itself

A few hundred horses on open range.

The Onaqui range across the Onaqui Mountain area on the order of a couple hundred thousand acres of BLM land, spanning Tooele County and reaching into Juab. The herd is a few hundred horses, reported at roughly 450 head in some recent counts, split into two main bands.

Why they are famous

Because they range within sight of the road and are used to people, the Onaqui are widely described as one of the most photographed wild horse herds in the country. That access is the whole story, and it is why the distance rule matters so much.

Two bands

The horses move in two main groups, the larger one on the flats near Simpson Springs and a smaller one toward the north end near Dugway. Numbers shift year to year, so treat any single count as a snapshot rather than a fixed figure.

A managed herd

In July 2021 the BLM carried out a helicopter gather here and removed about 296 horses to ease overpopulation during a severe drought. Wild horse management is a charged subject, and this page leaves it there, as a fact of the herd's recent past.

No sighting is promised

It bears repeating, because it is the thing visitors most often get wrong. This is not a zoo or a guaranteed stop. Some days a band is grazing a few hundred feet off the road, and other days the horses are miles back against the mountains and you will not see one. Go with time to spare, drive the corridor slowly, work both stretches of road, and treat a sighting as the reward for the trip rather than the reason it either succeeds or fails. Even on an empty day, the desert and the drive are worth the miles.

Living near the herd

The towns you would base out of.

The West Desert has no town of its own out by the horses. The places you would actually stay, fuel up, and live are back in Tooele Valley, thirty five minutes from Salt Lake on one side and this empty country on the other.

The county seat

Tooele

The natural base for the drive, with the fuel, groceries, and rooms you will want before you head out.

Open the city guide

West of Tooele

Grantsville

The valley's other anchor town, on the way out toward Rush Valley and the byway.

Open the city guide

Horse country

Erda

The acreage side of the valley between Tooele and the interstate, newest of the county's cities.

Open the city guide

The front door

Lake Point

Where the valley meets I-80, the shortest hop to Salt Lake and the airport in the county.

Open the city guide

More of the West Desert on The Local

The drive

The Pony Express Trail

The 1860 route on the original dirt, the Simpson Springs station and campground, and the road truth for getting out to the horses.

Read the guide

The next valley over

Skull Valley

The valley most travelers never leave the interstate to see, with Iosepa, Horseshoe Springs, and the old Lincoln Highway line.

Read the guide

The whole county

Tooele County on The Local

The salt flats, Wendover, the ghost towns, and everything else out here, gathered on the region hub.

Open the hub

Quick answers

The herd, answered.

The best roadside viewing is along the Pony Express Road near Simpson Springs and out toward the Old River Bed, roughly an hour and a half southwest of Tooele in the West Desert. A second, smaller band ranges the graded road running south from Dugway to the Pony Express junction. The horses often graze within sight of the road, but they move, so plan to drive slowly and scan both sides.

Keep at least 100 feet back. The BLM asks every visitor to stay 100 feet away from the horses and to never approach, chase, or feed them. They are wild animals that can kick and bolt, and crowding them changes how they behave. Use a long lens or binoculars for a close look, and let the horses set the distance rather than walking toward them.

Early morning and the last hour before sunset are the reliable windows, when the horses are moving and grazing and the light is soft. Spring is the famous season, with new foals and green desert, though the horses range here year round. Midday summer heat pushes them to rest and pushes the light flat, and winter can leave the road snowed or muddy, so a spring or fall morning is the sweet spot.

No. These are wild animals on open range, not a zoo or a guaranteed stop. Some days a band is grazing a few hundred feet off the road, and other days the horses are miles back against the mountains and you will not see one. Give yourself time, drive the corridor slowly, and treat any sighting as the reward for the trip rather than a certainty.

A few hundred. Recent counts have reported the herd at around 450 head, split into two main bands that range the Onaqui Mountain area. The exact number shifts from year to year, so treat any single figure as a snapshot rather than a fixed count.

About 60 miles southwest, or roughly an hour and a half of driving, most of it on pavement and the last stretch on graded gravel. From Tooele it is a similar drive out through Rush Valley and the Pony Express corridor. There are no services out there, so leave town with a full tank, water, and a charged phone.

Yes. The horses live on open BLM land and there is no gate, ticket, or fee to drive the Pony Express Road and watch them. The only costs are your fuel and your time, and the nearest gas and food are back in Tooele or the small towns of Rush Valley, so fill up before you go.

No. The BLM asks visitors to never feed, touch, or approach the horses. Feeding wild horses makes them dependent and dangerous, and human food can harm them. Watching from a respectful distance is the only way to see them, and it is what keeps the band calm enough for the next person to enjoy too.

The Pony Express Road is graded dirt and gravel that a careful car can manage in dry weather, though higher clearance is more comfortable and safer after a storm. Avoid it when it is wet, when the surface turns to slick mud. The drive itself, the stations, and the campground are covered on our Pony Express Trail page.

Scott Buehler, Moving Utah

The horses are the draw. The valley is the decision.

A morning with the Onaqui is one of the best free days in the West Desert, and it says something about what living out here is like: quiet, wide open, and a short drive from Salt Lake on the other side. If Tooele Valley is on your list of places to land, tell me what you are weighing and I will introduce you to a Tooele County partner agent who knows these towns, and stay on the file for the research and the financing side.

Talk to Scott Explore Tooele County

Referral disclosure. Outside Southern Utah, I connect home sellers and buyers with partner agents I trust in their area. If you choose to work with an agent I refer, that agent's brokerage pays my brokerage (Real Broker, LLC) a referral fee. The fee comes out of the agent's compensation; it is not an added cost to you. You are always free to choose any agent you wish, and using a referred agent is never required.